domenica 6 agosto 2017

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1975: Ranking

5. Sylvia Miles in Farewell, My Lovely
Sylvia Miles admirably tries to rise above the clichèd nature of the role but ultimately her lack of screen-time and the movie's lack of interest towards her character prevent her from becoming anything particularly memorable.
Best scene: Marlowe's first visit at Jesse's house.

4. Lee Grant in Shampoo
Lee Grant tries to add depth and complexity to an underwritten, stock part and even if she does succeed to an extent the overall result is a solid though not especially remarkable performance in a very forgettable movie.
Best scene: Felicia realizes she is losing both her husband and her lover to the same woman.

3. Brenda Vaccaro in Once is Not Enough
Once is Not Enough is an unbelievably terrible movie but Vaccaro's performance rises above the quality of the movie. It's hardly a great role but she brings energy and life to an otherwise lifeless experience and even manages to be somewhat moving in her final scene.
Best scene: Linda is fired from her job.

2. Ronee Blakley in Nashville
Ronee Blakley delivers an outstanding performance in perhaps the movie's most challenging role. She brings an enormous amount of charm and grace to the role of Barbara Jean, she is amazing in the musical numbers and she does a heartbreaking job at portraying her character's underlying emotional distress. It's a terrific, endlessly fascinating performance.
Best scene: Breakdown on stage.

1. Lily Tomlin in Nashville
Blakley used to be my pick, but on a rewatch I was surprised by how much I was impressed by Tomlin's small but unforgettable portrayal. She makes the absolute most out of her limited screen-time creating a three-dimensional character with whom the audience can relate and then Altman hands her the most delicate and moving scene of the film and she's absolutely incredible in it. It's a subtly amazing performance.
Best scene: "I'm Easy"


Honorable Omissions: It doesn't really count as an omission since she not only was nominated in the leading category but she actually won, but personally I think Louise Fletcher's performance as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest belongs her. I won't discuss her performance in depth for the time being as I'll eventually review her when I'll come to Best Actress 1975, but I'll say that it's a far more complex performance than it seems at first and it's easy to take her work for granted. Rachel Roberts does an amazing job in Picnic at Hanging Rock, impressively portraying every facet of her complicated characer: Miss Appleyard starts off as a somewhat typically stern headmistress and Roberts is great at it, but as the movie progresses she's phenomenal at unleashing her character's venomous cruelty as well as conveying her own emotional turmoil and distress. Helen Morse is effective as the movie's emotional and moral center, and Anne-Louise Lambert is unforgettable in her small role as the graceful, mysterious, almost otherworldly Miranda. In Nashville, Geraldine Chaplin delivers a wonderfully hilarious turn as Opal, being so deliciously off-putting in every single scene in her portrayal of the completely inadequate and insensitive reporter. In the same movie, Gwen Welles is also especially moving in her portrayal of the desperate yet stubbornly hopeful Sueleen, with her striptease scene being particularly devastating. Faye Dunaway is terrific in Three Days of the Condor - it's a surprisingly tender and subdued performance from her and she does a wonderful job at elevating a potential plot device into a three-dimensional, relatably touching character. Plus, her chemistry with Robert Redford is top notch. Veronica Cartwright is terrific in Inserts: she is very entertaining in portraying a certain degree of ditziness in her character without ever overdoing it, which could have been something very easy to do especially as far as the voice is concerned; but past that she is very moving in her portrayal of her character's underlying desperation and the helplessness of her addiction. Jessica Harper is also very memorable in the same movie - she brings the needed mystery and allure to the character and her chemistry with Richard Dreyfuss is absolutely astonishing as the two of them play off each other in such a compelling fashion; on her own, Harper is also great in her portrayal of Cathy's underlying ambition to achieve her goals, creating a fascinating, puzzling and often undecipherable character. Barbara Feldon is great in Smile - it's a very tricky role that borders on caricature, but she excels in it by portraying the sheer emptiness behind her nice façade. She does a striking job at showing the two sides of her character, warm and welcoming in front of others and cold and detatched in her home. Some of the actresses portraying the contestants at the beauty pageant are pretty good too, especially Annette O'Toole, who is quite touching in her portrayal of her character's desperation, and Joan Prather, who delivers a nicely subdued performance as the least pretentious of the girls. Clara Calamai is excellent in her small but pivotal role in Deep Red and, though I can't say much more about her performance without spoiling it, she is quite simply unforgettable. Macha Mèril is very good in the same movie - in little more than a scene, she's disturbing, unnerving and chilling, setting the tone perfectly for the rest of the movie.
The next year: Best Supporting Actress 1992, as requested. 

My Best Supporting Actress Ballot:
  1. Lily Tomlin, Nashville
  2. Rachel Roberts, Picnic at Hanging Rock - 5/5
  3. Ronee Blakley, Nashville 
  4. Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 5/5
  5. Veronica Cartwright, Inserts - 4.5/5
  6. Geraldine Chaplin, Nashville - 4.5/5
  7. Gwen Welles, Nashville - 4.5/5
  8. Clara Calamai, Deep Red - 4.5/5
  9. Barbara Feldon, Smile - 4.5/5
  10. Jessica Harper, Inserts - 4.5/5

6 commenti:

  1. Great top 5, though I still have to see Inserts.

    I can't wait to read your review on Redgrave's turn in Howards End.

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. See Inserts! It's a very peculiar movie, personally I liked it quite a lot. Cartwright is terrific and the MVP, but the whole cast is very good.

      I can't wait to see Redgrave's performance!

      Elimina
  2. I haven't seen Inserts yet but it seems interesting, what do you think of Dreyfuss?
    Have you seen Night Moves?

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. Dreyfuss - 4.5 (First off, he does a great job at playing drunk, especially as he doesn't do it in a one-note fashion but effectively portrays his character's behavior more and more erratic as he grows progressively more drunk. Past that, he is terrific in the first half of the movie at portraying his character's quirks and eccentricities in an entertaining but most of all believable fashion while hinting at the character's desperation that lies beneath. In the second half, he is terrific at fully revealing the broken state of the man while sharing such a compelling, unpredictable chemistry with Harper and the two of them are so captivating at portraying the mutual manipulations of the two characters)

      I have not seen Night Moves.

      Elimina
  3. Oh, you and Louis have collided in terms of the years you're doing! :)

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. I know, it never happened before! I look forward to read his reviews, as always.

      Elimina