5. Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls
Jennifer Hudson has some shaky moments here and there, particularly in the beginning of the movie, but overall she delivers a rather impressive performance, stealing the scene whenever she's on screen and going through her musical numbers with groundbreaking energy.
Best scene: "And I am telling you"
4. Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
Cate Blanchett is moving and believable in portraying Sheba's extremely fragile emotional state and works wonderfully with Judi Dench. Her breakdown towards the end is unfortunately a huge letdown but the rest of her performance is absolutely first-rate.
Best scene: Sheba's monologue about life.
3. Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine
Abigail Breslin delivers a natural and spontaneous performance that is rid of any of the worst tendencies of child actors: she's charming and sweet because she feels so real and easily places herself as the heart of the movie.
Best scene: Olive admits her insecurities to her grandad.
2. Adriana Barraza in Babel
Adriana Barraza brings the needed warmth to her role in her first scenes, and once the tragedy strikes she delivers a compelling and raw portrayal of her character's exhaustion and desperation. Her final scene is probably the finest piece of acting out of the five nominated performances.
Best scene: Her final plea to not be deported.
1. Rinko Kikuchi in Babel
Barraza might have the best scene but ultimately I prefer Kikuchi's exceptional portrayal of Chieko: Kikuchi is fantastic in portraying the loneliness and longing for a connection and her final outburst feels completely earned because Kikuchi gave it an amazing build-up. It's a powerful performance that alone makes the Japanese storyline the best of the movie.
Best scene: Chieko attempts to seduce the detective.
Honorable Omissions: I don't care for the movie but Mia Kirshner's performance in The Black Dahlia is one of my favorite performances ever as she creates a tragic and compelling character in little more than five minutes: she perfectly portrays the bad acting of Elizabeth, who clearly isn't fit to be an actress, but never turns her into a joke and she is simply devastating in showing her desperation. Martina Gedeck is fantastic in the amazing The Lives of Others as she nails all of the nuances and complexities of her character, managing to make you understand Christa-Maria's questionable choices. Emily Blunt gives a delightfully bitchy turn in The Devil Wears Prada and she makes her character's arc surprisingly poignant. Meryl Streep was nominated in the leading category for the same movie but I think she is actually supporting as the whole movie is from Anne Hathaway's point of view: anyway, I think she's excellent, delivering a funny comedic performance while still portraying the humanity inside of the monster. I also really liked Streep's performance in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, in which she delivers a charming, entertaining and, at times, moving turn; the supporting female cast of the movie (which includes Lindsay Lohan and Lily Tomlin) is uniformly very good but the standout beside Streep is Virginia Madsen who brings an otherworldly quality to the mysterious character of Asphodel. Rebecca Hall doesn't have a lot of screen-time in The Prestige but she's very moving in portraying her character's downfall. Eva Green is outstanding in Casino Royale and she makes Vesper Lynd one of the most intriguing, complex and fascinating Bond girls ever. Winona Ryder gets less screen-time than I expected in A Scanner Darkly, but she still delivers a very impressive performance, subtly foreshadowing the twist involving her character without ever giving it away. Toni Collette is very good in Little Miss Sunshine and Anika Noni Rose makes the most out of her role in Dreamgirls. Maribel Verdù was very good in Pan's Labyrinth and she was actually quite chilling in the torture scene.
The next year: As requested, 1950.
Predictions: Congratulations to omar!. You can now request a year.
My Best Supporting Actress Ballot:
- Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia - 5/5
- Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
- Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada - 4.5/5
- Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada - 4.5/5
- Martina Gedeck, The Lives of Others - 4.5/5
- Adriana Barraza, Babel
- Eva Green, Casino Royale - 4.5/5
- Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
- Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion - 4.5/5
- Winona Ryder, A Scanner Darkly - 4.5/5
So glad you liked Gedeck. What did you think of the film overall?
RispondiEliminaGood shout out to Blunt, she was such a delight in that. She should've been nominated this year for Sicario.
I thought The Lives of Others was a truly excellent movie that has a fantastic sense of place as it really captures the atmosphere of Germany in those years. It was fairly slow-paced yet it's a compelling and absorbing experience from beginning to end. The movie's strongest assets are in my opinion the brilliant leading performance and its screenplay, which is probably one of the best ever. It's really a wonderfully written movie that doesn't leave any single aspect underdeveloped. I also thought the score was really beautiful.
EliminaBlunt is so funny in The Devil Wears Prada, I've seen the movie like four times and she always manages to crack me up. I think she's an excellent actress in general and her performance in Sicario was indeed worthy of a nomination.
Also thoughts and ratings on:
RispondiEliminaKeanu Reeves in A Scanner Darkly
Sergi Lopez in Pan's Labrinyth
Ulrich Muhe in The Lives of Others
Christian Bale and David Bowie in The Prestige
Reeves - 4.5 (I haven't really liked him in anything else I've seen but he's great here. I think he is very believable as an undercover cop as he brings the right sort of apparent harshness that the role needs. I really like his dynamic with Downey Jr. and Harrelson as he properly makes him a bit out of the place, although progressively less so as Bob becomes a drug addict himself. I think he really is quite moving in portraying Bob as an empty shell, considering that he has lost his wife and his daughters, and I particularly love the scene in which he tries to get intimate with Donna as Reeves is fantastic in showing his sadness and solitude. Of course he is also excellent in showing how Bob loses his mind due to his addiction and he does so realistically and effectively)
EliminaLopez - 4.5 (I don't know if I'm being a bit too generous as I have not seen the movie in quite a long time, but I remember loving it and really liking Lopez's performance. I think he brings the right amount of menace in the role and the torture scenesare downright chilling because the way he downplays them. As far as I remember, I thought he never made Vidal into a one-note villain but actually managed to make him human and believable. I might be giving him the benefit of the doubt and maybe rewatching his performance I'll like it less, but at the moment my opinion of his work is very positive)
Ulrich Muhe - 5 (He's absolutely amazing in the role. I thought in the beginning he was great at making Wiesler into an almost heartless man: physically, he carries himself in such a cold, stiff manner that he makes you understand the personality of the character and he does some fantastic acting with his eyes that are just so chillingly emotionless. Past that, he really is fantastic in portraying the loneliness of this man who is simply a non-entity outside of his work. Then Muhe is absolutely amazing in portraying his growing disillusionement over the system and his growing interest and, finally, empathy towards Dreyman, and what's even more impressive is that he conveys all of this mostly with silent, reactionary moments. It's an extreme arc but Muhe portrays it to perfection, perfectly earning Wiesler's transition into a good man. His final scene is downright heartbreaking)
Christian Bale - 5 (Brilliant work and probably his best. Bale is excellent in differentiating his work from Hugh Jackaman's as he makes Borden more obsessed with the tecnique and more lacking in charisma. The two actors play off each other exceptionally and even if they don't share the screen that often they strikingly portray their characters' differences. On his part, Bale is also fantastic in showing Borden's erratic and inconsistent behavior that he purposefully makes very puzzling, as he is at times gentle and kind and at others aggressive and off-putting. He completely earns the twist involving Borden and he manages to make it work perfectly while it easily could have felt unconvincing. It's an amazing performance and really I'm not sure whether he or Muhe would be my win for Best Actor)
Bowie - 4.5 (He doesn't have a lot of screen-time but he is just about perfect in the role. He makes the character properly distant and almost otherworldly as if he had some sort of superior knowledge while being an extremely charismatic and magnetic presence. He brings the right amount of gravity to the role and really makes the most out of his brief screen-time)
*nods head approvingly* Exactly what I'd give them all, good man.
EliminaI'm glad we agree about them!
EliminaGreat list! I love it when a supporting performance manages to make a very strong impact within a very few minutes. I'm also very glad that you liked The Lives of Others.
RispondiEliminaThank you very much! It's amazing what Mia Kirshner managed to accomplish with so little screen-time, especially considering how poor the movie actually is (along with the cinematography, she is the only thing I like about the picture). And yes, The Lives of Others is a brilliant movie.
EliminaGreat to see Kirshner as your number one.
RispondiEliminaI really love her performance. She's just brilliant.
Elimina2001
RispondiElimina