Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1999: Samantha Morton in Sweet and Lowdown

Samantha Morton received her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown.

Sweet and Lowdown is a fairly unremarkable movie by Woody Allen about a fictional jazz guitarist, Emmet Ray. It's not a bad movie but not exactly a good one either: it's a rather forgettable experience that, despite having a few good things in it, never amounts to anything particularly substantial. It doesn't truly work neither as a drama nor as a comedy: its more serious parts are something quite effective but often rather dull, and its attempts at comedy fail almost completely. It's not among Woody Allen's worst movies (To Rome with Love) but its one of his least memorable efforts.

Samantha Morton plays Hattie, a mute girl who starts a relationship with Emmet. Hattie is not a very challenging role: she is a shy, simple-minded girl who gives love and affection to Emmet who mostly gives her for granted and rarely gives her the attention she deserves. It's a role that evokes sympathy in the audience and it's impossible not to be touched by her plight but at the same time Samantha Morton doesn't quite have to do that much acting-wise. In a way it would be proper to say that it's not quite Samantha Morton's acting style and approach to the role that moves the audience, but rather the role itself. So, Morton benefits from a role that is bound to connect emotionally with the audience, but at the same time she suffers from the writing's limitations and the role's mostly one-dimensional nature. But even if Hattie is not the greatest of the roles, Samantha Morton still gives a rather remarkable performance that might not be truly great by any means but a good effort that stands as the shining light of the movie and, ultimately, the only reason why it is truly worth-watching. In her first scenes, Morton portrays Hattie's shyness very convincingly while still having a low-key, endearing charm that makes you understand why Emmet would find her appealing to a certain extent. Their chemistry is nothing amazing by any means but Sean Penn and Samantha Morton still manage to find some rather touching and tender moments in their relationship and Morton is in particularly very good in portraying Hattie's sincere and genuine love towards Emmet in such an emotionally honest fashion.

My problem with the role of Hattie is not quite the fact that it's simple: in fact, simple doesn't mean limited and sometimes simplicity is actually what makes a performance beautiful (Virginia Cherrill in City Light, for example). The point is that Morton is mostly required to repeat her loving routine over and over which makes her performance becomes extremely one-note - and while Samantha Morton is lovely at playing that one-note, it all still seem quite limited. Her subplot about Hattie's brief career in movies seems more like a time-filler than anything else as it never becomes funny as it wants to be and Hattie is a surprisingly passive presence in it. She still has her moments in the movie though and there a few scenes in which she does some memorable, affecting facial acting: the pure love in her eyes as she gives Emmet her birthday present is hard to forget; and she makes the scene in which Emmet leaves Hattie for another woman truly heartbreaking to witness and, again, she doesn't need to speak to convey her character's devastation.

But her best moment in the movie is easily her final scene towards the end of the movie, in which Emmet meets Hattie again hoping to rekindle their relationship but he finds out she is now married and has a family of her own. It's actually a rather beautiful scene and Samantha Morton does some truly great acting in it: through her expression she manages to convey a wide range of emotions, such as a bittersweet tenderness and a certain pity towards Emmet, maybe a bit of sadness remembering the past but also a quietness and a happiness that she didn't have before.

In the end, this is not a particularly amazing performance but, even if the writing doesn't work in her favor, Samantha Morton gives a touching, tender and poignant performance that stands out as the best thing about the movie. She creates an endearing character that might not become anything great but still manages to move and entertain the audience. 

3.5/5