Smackdown '91: Juliette, Jessica, Diane, Kate and Mercedes Ruehl

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage -- 1991 this time -- and explores. 

THE NOMINEES Oscar went with two sentimental favourite veterans (Jessica Tandy and Diane Ladd) and three first-timers (Juliette Lewis, Mercedes Ruehl, and Kate Nelligan) who were having hard-to-ignore years. This shortlist was full of characters: a chatterbox octogenarian, an agressively needy video store owner, a sexually mercurial teenager, a monstrous southern matriarch, and a proto-feminist in the deep south.

THE PANEL  Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, entertainment journalist Mark Harris ("Pictures at a Revolution", "Five Came Back"), Tony winning actress Nikki M James (The Book of Mormon, The Good Fight), Tony nominated actor Rory O'Malley (The Book of Mormon, Hamilton), Vanity Fair's deputy editor Katey Rich, Drama Desk winning actor Nick Westrate (Casa Valentina, Turn: Washington's Spies), and your host at The Film Experience, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1991
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

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Months of Meryl: Marvin's Room (1996)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

 

#24 —Lee, a frazzled single mom and aspiring hairdresser who reunites with her ailing sister.

JOHN: Marvin’s Room begins with a slow outward zoom of assorted pill bottles and other medical paraphernalia scored to whimsically upbeat music that immediately establishes the film’s split personality between dysfunctional family comedy and sentimental illness drama. We soon learn that the titular Marvin is the bedridden and near-death father of Bessie (Diane Keaton) and brother of Ruth (Gwen Verdon), three members of a looney Floridian family. No sooner than Marvin’s illness and medical routine is introduced, Bessie is herself diagnosed with leukemia by Dr. Robert De Niro (who also produced the film). He recommends that Bessie's family members be tested for a possible bone marrow transplant. This diagnosis is the film’s engine, reuniting her with her sister Lee (Meryl Streep) and nephews Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Charlie (Hal Scardino), bridging a twenty year gap between this estranged family...

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25th Anniversary: Prince of Tides (1991)

by Eric Blume

Twenty five years ago, director Barbra Streisand delivered her big-screen adaptation of the Pat Conroy novel The Prince of Tides for Christmas.  The film went on to win the Best Actor Golden Globe for Nick Nolte, as well as seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture (but famously not a Best Director nod for Streisand).  

Looking at the film now, The Prince of Tides feels like a remnant from a lost Hollywood genre:  the mainstream, gimmick-free adult drama.  Streisand’s instincts lean to the commercial, and she’s fully devoted to the film’s rather banal psychobabble that purports how one good solid cry can heal a childhood rape.  The script may be as deep as a raindrop, but it has its strengths as well, and they’re strengths that align with Streisand’s own...

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