Supporting Actress, My Ballot
Monday, February 11, 2013 at 8:30AM With Oscar barrelling towards us (at last) I have no choice but to wrap up my own awards. I don't know where I'll find the time but forward into film bitch awardage...
there's an anchor of grief under those voluminous dresses pulling her down
My Best Supporting Actress Starter Kit, about 20 actresses long, was quite a lot different than the one we heard about all pre-season. For starters Helen Hunt and Ann Dowd, who Oscar season dubbed "supporting", were leading stars for me (Hunt's designation is entirely debatable, Dowd's is not). I am, as ever, more impressed with stylized genre-friendly work than awards bodies, particularly Oscar, ever are. I think Eva Green in a movie that wasn't much good (Dark Shadows), Gina Gershon and Nicole Kidman in movies that might accurately be called "trashy" (Killer Joe and The Paperboy) were all running circles around more respectable names like Maggie Smith or Amy Adams that kept cropping up in "Best of" lists. And though surprise Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver did make my top 12 for her homey egg-shell peace-making in Silver Linings Playbooks, my personal vote for Doing the Most With The Least this year would go to Olivia Munn in Magic Mike... though I didn't go quite so far as to nominate her.
That's all just preface - the point being that I debate this with myself (and with you in the comments) all year long. In the end while Oscar chose an entirely respectable list (save for the exclusion of the incomparable Nicole Kidman which I shall forever deem indefensible) my list has only two women in common with theirs. I had to make room for Diane Kruger (Farewell My Queen) and Lorraine Toussaint (Middle of Nowhere), too.
MY NOMINEES AND WHY I CHOSE THEM
As always I welcome respectful disagreements, fan mail and counterpoint lists. In Actressland many five-top opinions are welcome in "Best" lists.
Reader Comments (52)
1. Ann Dowd, Compliance
2. Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
3. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
4. Sally Field, Lincoln
5. Jennifer Ehle, Zero Dark Thirty
6. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
7. Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister
8. Doona Bae, Cloud Atlas
9. Macy Gray, The Paperboy
10. Isabelle Huppert, Amour
11. Gina Gershon, Killer Joe
12. Corinne Masiero, Rust and Bone
m83: And then, on top of THOSE things, we have Selina Kyle in here because...she's the only costumed female character who starts out as an adult anyone in the mainstream is able to remember from the Batman mythos. (The other female costumed character (Batgirl), is generally viewed as starting somewhere around thirteen-fifteen.) Which is a serious break from the discernible ethos of the previous two entries. (Which seemed to be going: Be as accurate as possible while refusing to touch on the fantastical elements of the mythos.) Seriously, considering the main thrust of conflict is not "she's my SLIGHTLY darker reflection, and I'm kind of REALLY into her sexually" (see also: Mainline comics and Batman Returns (yes, Burton's films had a casually murderous Batman and I'm mostly okay with that), instead mostly amounting to "It's wrong to use lethal force", you'd think Nolan would have maybe realized "oh, crap, this is Huntress. (Helena Bertinelli) Okay then fellas, let's cut the unnatural sexual tension dialogue and fix up the coda to compensate." Does Hathaway do a BAD job? No. Does choosing this character make any sense for Nolan's anti-septic Batman universe and the main thrust of the conflict that Nolan has chosen to focus on? No, again.