Smackdown 2018: Amy, Emma, Rachel, Marina, "and..." Regina King
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at 8:39PM Presenting Oscar's Chosen 'Supporting' Actresses of the Films of 2018.
Two warring ladies of the royal court, two desperate mothers, and an amoral ambitious politician's wife. That's the 'supporting' actress roll call for the 91st Oscars, though two of the characters are leading ladies. Still, we're here to talk performances, first and foremost. Who wowed us, whose take on their characters left us wanting, and are these actresses making the most of what's in their screenplays? [Sad Disclaimer: Unfortunately since we did not receive screeners this season (moving/address problems) we were unable to do the normal screentime count portion of the Smackdown though we're just as curious as you surely are about how the screentime in The Favourite actually measures up from actress-to-actress. We won't trust any report till we do our own because we've heard conflicting statements, so we will eventually do the count.]
THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS
Here to talk about these five nominated turns are actress Ginny O'Keefe, blogger Robin Write (Filmotomy), two senior Film Experience contributors Murtada Elfadl, Chris Feil, and your host Nathaniel R. The final collective panelist is the Readers (hey, that means you!!!) who took the time to send us their votes. Okay, let's go!
2018
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN
Amy Adams as "Lynne Cheney" in Vice
Synopsis: The driven wife of a directionless man inspires him on his journey to become a notorious power-hungry politician.
Stats: 44 yrs old, 36th film, 2nd billed. 6th nomination.
Murtada Elfadl: Even a few minutes after seeing Vice I couldn’t remember much of Adams’ performance. The film throws so much at us, and Bale is going so big it was hard to remember Amy. But then it came back to me, in bits and pieces. The faux Shakespeare scene, when Lynne shakes down Dick, going all Lady Macbeth at the party in the White House. And that’s how this performance is, piecemeal, bits and pieces of brilliance here and there. But does it cohere fully? I don’t think so. Not her fault, more the film’s. She’s giving it her all when the films remembers Lynne. ♥♥♥
Chris Feil: I will need Dr. Louise Banks to travel trough time and (after making sure that Arrival nomination happens) remind voters that we don't have to give Oscar nominations to our greatest performers for their worst performances just because they haven't won yet. In fairness to Adams, she commits to following where the bad direction leads her, but it's depressing to watch her left so at sea in the film's gaucheness. Ever the professional, but for the first time, we see the strings as her Lynne is stuck in the exclamation points of the screenplay's mechanics. Why would Adam McKay ask a performer so gifted with nuance to simply bark empty nonsense? ♥
Ginny O'Keefe: Okay…I’m going to start off by saying I love Amy Adams. But if I could swap this nomination for Actress in a Leading Role for Arrival back in 2017, then I would. This performance isn’t a bad one, it just happens to be a performance in a bad movie. She gives off great Mama-Bear energy as her character, Lynne Cheney, and she is ready for anything that might come her way. The power she exudes is amazing, and it’s all from a good place in her heart. She wants the best for her husband and her girls. She makes this politician’s wife seem more human. But she still shouldn’t win for this. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Here's a conundrum: The Master (2012) is my least favourite Amy Adams Oscar nomination but while I bought her far more as Lynne Cheney in Vice than in her previous rendition of Frighteningly Ambitious Totally Amoral King-Maker Wife, this technically more successful performance is far less aesthetically gutsy. No amount of political canvassing or airwave saturation could change my vote in this regard: I'm just not that into it. She's fine, I guess, but can we please quit with the default nominations, AMPAS? She's a very fine actress on the regular but your generosity when she's merely adequate (roughly half of her nomination count) provokes ungenerous feelings within me... and I hate feeling ungenerous! ♥♥
Robin Write: The Amy Adams overdue status was somewhat inflated this year. Her role in Vice was rather slight, though not knocking Adams' consistent onscreen presence, it would be pretty ridiculous if she wins for this. Especially given the competition. A couple of strong scenes for sure, but there were far better, heftier supporting performances that could have gotten in instead. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Dominates the early section. Does what she can with a thinly conceived, thankless role " -Milton T (Reader average: ♥♥¼)
Actress earns 14¼ ❤s
Marina de Tavira as "Senora Sofia" in Roma
Synopsis: A harried mother of four leans hard on her maid/nanny when her husband leaves her.
Stats: 44 yrs old, 14th film, 2nd billed. First nomination.
Murtada Elfadl: Is this a great or merely a good performance? The difference lies in Alfonso Cuarón’s observational way of filming. His camera is almost always at a distance from the actors, preventing us from deeply feeling their performances. Take the scene at the new year’s party where Sofia rebuffs the advances of a drunk. We hear them but they appear as shadows in the distance so we can’t see what Sofia is feeling. Yet de Tavira conveys it in her voice. Even her big scene towards the end where she tells her children that their father left the family, a conundrum the film been’s hurtling towards for all its running time, is shot from a distance, sometimes her face is even obscured. Again we feel it all in her voice. I just wish we got even one close up. ♥♥♥
Chris Feil: A fascinating opposite to Yalitza Aparicio's performance in many ways. Her pain mostly (and rightly) on the periphery as we focus on Cleo, not shying away from Señora Sofía's privilege as she reveals her humanity. The delight in this surprise nomination is that she probably should have been showing up all season long! Though she's playing some version of the director's mother, there is a lack of preciousness to de Tavira's rendering. Bonus points for brilliant drunk acting! ♥♥♥♥
Ginny O'Keefe: In the beginning, I thought that Tavira’s character was going to be another witchy, rich housewife with little empathy for those who she thought of as “less” than her. Boy, I am glad I was proven wrong. She makes the role more human and the messiness of makes Sofia more understandable. This character is going through a crisis and she becomes a better person because of it. Three words: the beach scene. Tavira’s character, Sofia, comforting Cleo and reassuring her that she and her children love her was both a punch in the stomach and a warm blanket being wrapped around me. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: I'm of two entirely different minds on this performance. On the one hand I think she's doing (by far) the best acting in the film -- personal preference but I will just always dig what professional actors are doing more than non-actors guided by a strong director (aka everyone else in the cast). On the other hand is she doing too much? Her attention to detail is admirable -- note the way Sofia's head is almost never in the room (so authentically distracted by her personal tragedy) and sometimes just the direction she's staring in is perfect actorly business. But other times it feels like maybe a lot of ACTING within a film where everyone else is merely existing as part of the glorious images. Torn between 'too much, pull it back, Marina!' and 'Not enough of her, Cuarón. She'd slay a closeup or a subplot if you gave her one!' I'm landing on the inbetween of 'just right! Can't wait to see her in something else more interested in her soon'. ♥♥♥
Robin Write: When I finally saw Roma, given the glorious praise beset on it from all sides, one of my immediate reactions was - why is nobody talking about Marina de Tavira? Yalitza is very good, a non-actor in a central role, but there is far more gusto and emotion through de Tavira's layered performance. Exquisite, underplayed acting, juggling numerous life obstacles. Not to mention, the camera loves her. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "My favorite surprise nomination and one I've appreciated more ever since. Her warm embrace of Cleo after the latter reveals her pregnancy is the moment that opens up ROMA emotionally for me. Accesses a wide range of feeling, scaled to the size of a real woman, inside a film so gargantuan that such an achievement seems impossible to imagine. " - Nick T. (Reader average: ♥♥♥)
Actress earns 22 ❤s
Regina King as "Sharon Rivers" in If Beale Street Could Talk
Synopsis: The resourceful mother of a young pregnant girl fights to keep her future son-in-law from a terrible prison sentence.
Stats: 48 yrs old, 21st film, 11th billed but with an "and..." notation. First nomination.
Murtada Elfadl: King is center of gravity for the film. All the other characters gravitate towards her, and the other actors’ performances are enhanced by hers. She gives Colman Domingo a warm sexy sparring partner to play with. She grounds her scenes with Kiki Lane in a loving warmth. She recedes to give Emily Rios space to express her rage, elevating those scenes and making them heartbreaking for both characters. Yet Jenkins is smart to give her a showcase scene all hers, and never has trying on a wig on screen been more electrifying. ♥♥♥♥♥
Chris Feil: The single element of If Beale Street Could Talk that most embodies its inherent empathy and steadfastness in a racist world that wishes to diminish both. Imagine some of her more rosy speeches in the hands of a lesser performer or one that pushes rather than trusting the text - but, oh wait, you can't because that's the indelible stamp King leaves. Even the iconography is commandingly her own as she stares down into camera and into us: her weariness before Tish's news, that gorgeous arrival to Puerto Rico, applying her wig in her hotel. The weight of her impossible mission, of resilience, of love - all beautifully and equally centered in King's performance. ♥♥♥♥♥
Ginny O'Keefe: King’s role could have easily been a forgettable one in the hands of another actress. But in the hands of King, it is the best performance in the entire film. The warmth, the love and the ferocity that she brings out is one of a great mother. There were times watching the film, when I wanted her to hug me and tell me everything is going to be all right. I believed every single word she said in the film. She is strong, but soft in all the right ways. I want her to be my mommy. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Love this actress so much. While Beale Street doesn't give her the kind of foregrounded intricate psychology OR vivid scene-stealing flamboyance that mark some of her other best roles (think American Crime, Southland, Ray, Year of the Dog, Boyz n the Hood, etcetera), it knows exactly how to harness her innate warmth and authenticity. She rescues the film from its sometimes heavy-handed style by embodying something far more conceptual than a specific character: maternal resilience, faith (not the religious kind), and community. She'd totally get my Oscar vote if I had one to give right here. ♥♥♥♥
Robin Write: Certainly the most passionate character in a rather subdued display of story-telling (and that is not a flaw). So by default, King gets to sink her teeth in the deepest. A compelling screen presence for years and years, it is not hard to see why King was one of the most popular front-runners this awards season. Didn't hit as hard with me as it did with many others, though. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "I think I’m most struck by King’s innate warmth, she is such a charismatic, maternal presence on-screen, and such a great match for Jenkins’ swooning, straight to camera close-ups. Her scene with Tish in the kitchen and then with her family, sharing the news, are such lessons in how an actor can have confidence in simply being present and listening. Her Puerto Rico scenes are probably what is winning her the awards, but I was sold in the first moments. Just hearing her say ’that child is your grandchild’ is like a knife straight to the heart. " - Arun W. (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥)
Actress earns 25 ❤s
Emma Stone as "Abigail Marsham" in The Favourite
Synopsis: A servant girl, eager to work her way back into the nobility, plans to usurp the position of the queen's favourite, a position long since filled by her cousin.
Stats: 30 yrs old, 22nd film, 2nd billed. 3rd nomination, 1 previous win.
Murtada Elfadl: Stone is not getting enough credit for how perfectly modulated the performance is. Technically brilliant with an impeccable English accent. With the perfect pose, walk and gestures that enhance every frame she’s in. Emotionally - aided by the script giving Abigail the clearest arc - she charts the journey so well that the audience can see what Abigail is thinking even though she herself is not sure where she’ll end up. And in a film praised for being anachronistic rather than a stuffy fuddy duddy period piece, hers is the most modern performance. She brings a wry sprite physicality and perfect comic timing that gives the film modernity. ♥♥♥♥♥
Chris Feil: It says something that she's the one of The Favourite women that is most difficult to imagine any other actress in her respective role. Stone has proven uncommonly gifted at playing difficult traits - a balance of innocence and strength, a conscientious sense of calculation, a serpentine ability to play a character who "performs" - and The Favourite not only uses all of them in tandem but also turns them on their head for something deliciously nasty. She's the most clearly selfish and destructive of its characters, and yet Stone makes us feel Abigail's ultimate tragedy. But sure: demerits for being a lead performance. ♥♥♥♥
Ginny O'Keefe: I fully believe this is the best Stone has ever been. In the beginning of the film I really wanted her character, Abigail, to have it all. Then by the end of it, I wanted her to rot where she stood. Stone’s perfect balance of doe-eyed innocence and maliciousness make this character all the more entertaining. You can see the devil and the angel on her shoulders whispering in her ears and you can tell that it isn’t easy for her character to do the things that she does. But she is desperate for a better life and desperation makes you do terrible things. But Weisz still outshines her. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Is any actress more on fire right now than Emma Stone? After a handful of years in the wilderness of uneven work after that star-making brilliance in Easy A she's been pushing herself to greater heights for three consecutive years now with rangier and often dazzlingly rewatchable star turns that also double as whip-smart character-work. At this rate, if she keeps topping her own personal best every damn year she'll give the greatest performance of all time by 2031. She's flawless and fascinating and funny as the complicated Abigail Marsham and what's more she makes it all seem effortless and spontaneous, like Abigail is gambling her life at all moments, winging it as she maneuvers through treacherous waters learning to outviper other vipers. That said this is inarguably, a leading role so I have to remove a heart. ♥♥♥♥
Robin Write: If Olivia Colman's Queen has the decline, then Emma Stone's Abigail has the most fascinating character arc in The Favourite. Stone plays every facade and exchange with so much subtlety, she sizzles with underlying electricity. And she is the lead here, if we have to pick one. Stone is yet again proving herself to be one of the most diverse actresses in the business. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "The best she's been since "Easy A". That wedding night scene with Joe Alwyn is the most memorable part of the movie that doesn't involve Queen Anne." - Rebecca H. (Reader average: ♥♥♥½)
Actress earns 25½ ❤s
Rachel Weisz as "Lady Sarah" in The Favourite
Synopsis: The Queen's right-hand woman attempts to rule the royal Court while also struggling to keep her clandestine relationship with the monarch alive in the face of a threat from her young ambitious cousin.
Stats: 48 yrs old, 42nd film, 3rd billed. 2nd nomination, 1 previous win.
Murtada Elfadl: Weisz should give lessons in how to drop a cutting line. In how to walk with determination. In how to play chilling, intimidating and vulnerable all at the same time. Most of all though she should start a workshop in how to get Lanthimos’ tone just right. If Stone embodies the physicality and comical gestures of Lanthimos’ deadpan tone, then Weisz is the verbose embodiment of it. I was so delighted watching and enjoying every line reading. She’s scrumptious. ♥♥♥♥♥
Chris Feil: "Sometimes a lady likes to have a little fun" and Weisz has a lot here. She is tasked with making Sarah's seeming contradictions all be true at once: hard and compassionate, loyal and manipulative, advantageous of her own interests and also justified. The film's central tragedy is the duality of Abigail's ambition and Anne's need for affection leaving them both ultimately unfulfilled - yet somehow, despite her seeming cruelty we mourn that Sarah's tragedy is that she's the one screwed over. And it's because Weisz is divine and hilarious, earning our sympathy through Sarah's rigorous (and CORRECT!) honesty. ♥♥♥♥♥
Ginny O'Keefe: Weisz has always been an actress that is loved but not nearly loved enough. This role as Lady Sarah gives her a great chance to shine and it has to be the best performance of her career. For me, this is Weisz’s film. She knows how to manipulate, and she knows what is really at stake here. She is one of the two “vipers” of the film, and maybe that is why she sees Stone’s character as an enemy. Weisz could have been walking with the crown on her head the whole movie and I wouldn’t have cared about the inaccuracy, because it would have fit so well on her. ♥♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: The best work she's ever done. Of course there's the way she moves through the court with the kind of confidence that's not remotely a facade but deeply earned. Better still is the absolute meal she makes of every delicious bite of dialogue. Best of all is how cannily precise she is at carving out Sarah's tender feelings (only for Anne) from what initially appears to be an impenetrable block of ice where a heart might theoretically be located. That that slowly exposed heart reads as almost as much of a tragic surprise to Sarah as it does to us is the inspired dessert of this truly gourmet meal of a performance. (But this is a leading role so I have to remove a heart.) ♥♥♥♥
Robin Write: Of course, one of three exhilarating female performances from The Favourite - each a little bit different from the last. Weisz's role is the most directly venomous - especially the first half of the film. You certainly sympathize with her in the latter parts, and Weisz does exceptional work, even in moments of less dialogue. Though, she also has some of the best lines in a film chock-a-block with brilliant dialogue. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "If acting were like figure skating, Rachel's got a planned technical content of multiple quad jumps; and she lands them perfectly. Her role is the most difficult. You have to believe that she is the same woman who could charm a queen in private and charm a room of male politicians. Her voice work is marvelous. While another actress might waver into sassiness or waver in their degree of confidence in the line reading, there's only command and control from Weisz because that's the only way Sarah can take care of the Queen and her country. But there's more! She's also delivering many of the screenplay's funniest lines. Her timing is impeccable, but just as easily as she lands a quip, she can be there with a candle, in a dark corridor, pleading for her life and breaking your heart. 5 vajujus out of 5." -Peter C (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥)
Actress earns 28 ❤s
We'll find out who wins the Oscar this Sunday but while Emma and Regina put up a valiant fight for runner-up honors, Rachel Weisz wins the Smackdown!
We hope you enjoyed this event.
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Previous Smackdowns: 1941, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2016, and 2017 (prior to those 30+ Smackdowns were hosted @ StinkyLulu's old site)
NEXT UP? 1972 feat. Butterflies are Free, The Heartbreak Kid, Fat City, Pete n' Tillie, and The Poseidon Adventure. Spring date TBA
Reader Comments (54)
@Nathaniel - I had the same exact response to de Tavira as you. Since we're spending so much time with such a reserved lead, when de Tavira really goes for it you're like "yes! acting! emotion! bring it! but also...is this really appropriate for this movie?"
but really, there's no reason why a reserved, quiet woman and a more emotional, expressive woman can't occupy the same space, especially since their roles and status in this world explain and feed their differences.
I saw Sofia's mood swings in the movie as jarring at times, but that was surely intentional. If she's ACTING out it's because Sofia is prone to that. I thought De Tavira nailed it perfectly. Looking back, it's unbelievable she wasn't in this conversation from the get-go. I guess it took everyone awhile to warm up to the lead first and then De Tavira just snuck in in time.
@Nathaniel - the purpose was to throw the five performances into the ring, have them fight (smack?) it out and for the best performance to be victorious. And the Winner is the best/most accomplished performance.
For a better wrestler to lose due to a dirty ref tripping her during the match as the ref thought the wrestler should not have been qualified to enter is shitty. If you wanted to disqualify someone before doing the smackdown that’d be fine but to rate them lesser? that’s being a dirty ref.
but semantics! didnt impact the winner.
Cláudio Alves, I really like your list of ideal nominees. Glad you also saw the genius of Dolly Wells in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
From the same film, Jane Curtin deserves to be highlighted too.