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Fandango Film Commentator
Fandango Film Commentator
Best Supporting Actress
Stacie Says:
The Academy Supporting Actress category is an Oscar pool victory killer. It’s nearly impossible to predict who the Academy will go for: on-the-rise comers (Jennifer Hudson)? Lengthy careers (Judi Dench)? Kids (Anna Paquin)? Calling the Supporting Actress category is such risky business, no wonder people still suspect Jack Palance misread Marisa Tomei’s name as the winner for My Cousin Vinny, despite years of Academy protest to the contrary.
© Universal Pictures
This year, I’d go out on a limb to say it might be LESS of a crap shoot than most years, simply because of the dearth of potential nominees. Early word has Atonement’s Saorsie Ronen (meh), No Country for Old Men’s Kelly MacDonald (brief but terrific scenes), Gone Baby Gone’s Amy Ryan (also good in Dan in Real Life), Charlie Wilson’s War’s Julia Roberts (an obvious pitch) and the one nominee everyone agrees is a lock, I’m Not There’s Cate Blanchett (a woman playing not just any man, but Bob “Voice of the ’60s” Dylan? Stunt casting that’s sure to appeal to the Academy’s aging hippies and younger hipsters).
© Weinstein
Others who I think are possible but less likely nominees are Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement), Meryl Streep (Lions for Lambs), and Susan Sarandon (In the Valley of Elah)–but to me, those venerable actresses have turned in better work in better films and will be held to higher standards. Could this be Marisa Tomei’s (Before the Devil Knows Your Dead) year of vindication? Personally, I’d love to see Knocked Up’s wisecracking, ball-busting Leslie Mann at least get a nomination, but that’s a long shot even if the Golden Globes go there.
Ultimately, I think Blanchett, a previous winner in this category for her turn as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, will walk off with Oscar again. She was nominated (for Notes on a Scandal) last year, and she may get a nom as Best Actress this year for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, but I’m Not There is exactly the daring, high-minded experiment that makes the Academy sit up and take notice.Chuck Says:
Stacie's made the right call for Best Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett in the ode to Bob Dylan, I'm Not There. It's a risky, daring and hip move to play the legendary musician and she's already won raves for it.
© ThinkFilm
It would be sweet justice, though, for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead's Marisa Tomei to win one more time and prove the naysayers wrong. She was strong in In the Bedroom and she's even better here, playing the sexy, long-suffering trophy wife/mistress in Sidney Lumet's tightly-wound thriller.
Kelly MacDonald deserves kudos, too, for making her presence felt in a strong boys' field in the bloody Coen brothers' epic No Country for Old Men, and a nomination would be great, too, for Juliette Binoche's warm performance in Dan in Real Life, playing a woman caught between two more brothers of varying maturity.
If the award is meant for making the most of an extremely limited amount of screen time (Shakespeare in Love’s Judi Dench won for her eight minutes of screen time), then Ruby Dee should be commended for her stirring moments alongside movie son Denzel Washington in American Gangster. A former winner of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, Dee is the embodiment of dignity in the film. When she needs to smack a wake-up call into her powerful son, she's powerfully focused herself.
© Fox Searchlight
Also affective and moving in different ways are Jennifer Garner in the upcoming Juno, and Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton. Swinton oozes desperation and corporate deniability in Clayton, and Garner has her best role so far as a yuppie thirtysomething ready for maternity in Juno.
While I think Blanchett will pull off the win, I'd cast my own vote for Catherine Keener (a previous nominee for The 40 Year Old Virgin) as the maternal hippie in Into the Wild. In this story of a young guy's adventure into the great, big world, Keener provides a measure of wisdom that's achingly beautiful.
