Best Actress in a Supporting Role 2015: Ranking

 
5. Rachel McAdams in Spotlight
Rachel McAdams delivers a natural, realistic performance that fits perfectly her own movie. She never tries to steal the scene from everyone else, but brings her character to life with subtlety and honesty instead.
Best scene: Sacha watches her grandmother reading the article.

4. Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl

Even if the movie's thin screenplay ultimately brings her performance down, Alicia Vikander still delivers a powerful performance beautifully realizing her character's transition from rejection to acceptance and nailing every emotion in between. 

Best scene: "I need to talk to my husband, I need to hold my husband"

3. Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs

Even if she doesn't get too much to do, Kate Winslet delivers a memorable performance establishing herself as the emotional center of the movie and developing a terrific chemistry with Michael Fassbender.

Best scene: Joanna threatens to quit. 

2. Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight
Jennifer Jason Leigh delivers an incredible performance and makes Daisy a character that is magnetic and repulsive at the same time. She creates one of the most chilling and unforgettable villains I've seen in recent years.
Best scene: The last act.

1. Rooney Mara in Carol
Rooney Mara gives an extraordinary performance as Therese and manages to express a thousand words just with her face. She gives a quiet, natural performance and portrays beautifully her character's coming into her own while carrying a tremendous emotional punch.
Best scene: Therese's and Carol's first lunch.

Honorable omissions: If Alicia Vikander had rightfully been nominated in the leading category for The Danish Girl, she definitely should have been nominated here for her breathtaking, mysterious and layered performance in Ex Machina. Marion Cotillard would have been very deserving of a nomination for her heartbreaking and original take on the role of Lady Macbeth in Macbeth: most of Lady Macbeth's portrayals consist of a huge build-up to the big, insane, explosive - Cotillard's Macbeth, instead, seems to fade away in front of our eyes and her final scene is devastating in its subtlety. Cynthia Nixon delivers a fantastic portrayal of her character's mental and physical decay in the underseen James White. Jane Fonda delivered an explosive one-scene wonder in Youth, bringing the right amount of star power and fierceness to the role of Brenda but with that brief caress at the end of her scene she conveys a lifetime of friendship with Keitel's character. Rachel Weisz was very effective in that movie, too, with her monologue to Michael Caine being an absolutely phenomenal moment. Mya Taylor was fantastic in the excellent Tangerine with her singing scene being one of the most devastating scenes of 2015 and Jennifer Jason Leigh's beautiful and touching voice work in Anomalisa is definitely worth-mentioning. Toni Collette is terrific in Glassland, shifting artfully from a furious rage in her drunk scenes to self-loathing and desperation in her sober ones: she has a 5-minute-long monologue midway through the movie in which she adds so much nuance and depth to her character it's unbelievable. Tessa Thompson is a tender and remarkable presence in Creed, making a real person out of a potentially stock role, and Cara Delevingne is excellent in Paper Towns, slowly revealing the desperation and loneliness behind Margo's carefree attitude. Cate Blanchett brings both menace and nuance to her role as the step-mother in Cinderella while being extremely entertaining in each of her line-deliveries, and Bebe Cave is a compelling and heartbreaking figure in Tale of Tales. 

What's next: In the next few months I'll definitely review a few sets of nominees from Best Actor (Leading and Supporting) and Leading Actress, but I think I'll mostly focus on Best Supporting Actress, since it's the category in which I've seen the most nominees. I'm still very much of the idea of covering all four of the acting categories, I'll just give a bit more importance to Best Supporting Actress.

My Best Supporting Actress Ballot:

1. Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina - 5/5
2. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight 
3. Jane Fonda, Youth - 4.5/5
4. Cynthia Nixon, James White - 4.5/5
5. Marion Cotillard, Macbeth - 4.5/5
6. Toni Collette, Glassland - 4.5/5
7. Mya Taylor, Tangerine - 4.5/5
8. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anomalisa - 4.5/5
9. Bebe Cave, Tale of Tales - 4/5
10. Rachel Weisz, Youth - 4/5

So my first year is done. Thank you all very much for the support and for commenting! Hope you'll keep reading and commenting under my reviews of the following sets of nominees, which I'll reveal very soon. Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!