I am back! And hopefully writing these reviews with some regularity now. Playoff hockey is gone (but a new season has arrived) and my infatuation with Netflix has since waned. This year's crop of supporting actresses only gave me one movie to watch that I haven't seen which means I pretty much know what my order of liking these roles will be (and that is somewhat anti-climactic for me). Hopefully I don't have too much rust to knock off while writing these. Enjoy!
2008 Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
I must say I expected a lot more out of this performance. It was decent, sure, but I'm not sold on it being Oscar worthy. Cruz's character does breathe some life into this incredibly cliche and stale movie but I also felt her character suffered from being built from a very worn out mold. She was the only thing that actually felt real and authentic about this film due to the fiery passion she exudes while onscreen. But like every other character in this movie, she is a cookie cutter representation of what Allen thinks of, in this case, a Spanish woman is. Meaning she is loud, emotional, violent, fiery, and irrational. This does help break up the monotony of the movie at times and Cruz deftly portrays her character without it seeming too much like a cliche. I just don't think even Cruz's best can elevate this role to anything more than a decent portrayal of a terrible character.
Amy Adams - Doubt
This is the type of role that suits Adams perfectly and I feel she is at her best in these innocent, almost precocious, performances. In Doubt, she does a great job of doing what is required of her character. Her role is essentially to be the go-between for Streep and Hoffman's characters. It is almost like Adams' character is just like the audience: being preyed on and plied by the other two characters so that she'll believe their version of events surrounding the boy and his troubles. For this reason, I feel Adams becomes mostly a blank canvas on which anyone to paint what they want (including the director) and getting the audience to feel a certain way thus making her performance hit without any real effect. Adams does well with what she is given but ultimately cannot elevate it into something other than a vessel to move scenes along.
Viola Davis - Doubt
I think Davis' performance really encapsulates what Doubt is all about. In her very brief role, she is able to further make the audience doubt not only whether or not her son is being abused by the priest, but if it is even a good thing to try and punish the priest which would surely bring to light the boy's actions in a negative way. It makes one wonder if Davis is a good mother protecting her son or a careless mother more concerned about not getting involved in any kind of drama at the school. At first, I wasn't exactly wowed by this performance but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to capture the movie's point. Davis conveys a lot of different emotions in her very short scene and all of them while remaining very collected and deliberate in her words. It's a powerful performance that really takes the movie to another level.
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This nomination felt like it rode the Benjamin Button wave in making its way on this list, since that movie had the most nominations this year. When I was trying to remember anything interesting or memorable about this role before I re-watched it, I honestly could not remember anything about it besides she was the one who raised Brad Pitt's character. Henson does a decent enough job of portraying the caring mother figure, but it just never stood out past the supporting role it is. She makes the relationship between Pitt and herself seem very genuine but I feel that any other actress could have produced the same result. And I'm not so sure one of the other supporting actresses in this movie (Swinton, Blanchett, etc.) couldn't have easily taken her place here.
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
One thing is obvious about this film from the start, Mickey Rourke gives an amazing and powerful performance as an aging pro wrestler. Marisa Tomei's character, however, really helps to humanize the larger-than-life Randy "The Ram" Robinson persona. Her character is somewhat vulnerable herself as an aging stripper and Randy mistakes her trying to make a buck for actual friendliness. Tomei displays such a depth to this character when she agrees to help him buy a gift for his estranged daughter and they end up having a good time together. When Tomei's character realizes she is letting a client get close to her and that she is letting her own personal guard down, she takes off. The next meeting is tempestuous at best and it is clear she is conflicted inside about being a stripper and a friend to Randy. Tomei really balances playing Rourke's emotional outlet with maintaining her need to make money very delicately and is what makes this a strong performance.
This was a very interesting group to me. The performances all seemed to be of the same sort of caliber, so to speak, as nothing really stood head and shoulders above the rest. Viola Davis' performance really shocked me because on my first watch, I was really perturbed to find out such a short role was nominated and thought it had to be one of those Oscar token nominations given to someone for their past body of work. So I think re-watching these films and doing this blog has really helped me to see things a different way than I'm used to and it's pretty awesome to be able to say that. I like to think I don't pretend to get things or not get things just because it's the trendy thing to do and I definitely don't try to be "deep" with my choices in hopes of someone somewhere thinking I'm really smart or hip. I just really enjoyed her performance as much as that surprised me. Honestly, the other four nominations could easily be arranged in any order and I wouldn't fight too hard for a performance to go either way. I knew what to expect already from Tomei, Adams, and Henson and was somewhat annoyed that Cruz wasn't as amazing as I thought (and was led to believe by many Woody Allen lovers that that hide as film critics) she was going to be in a Woody Allen movie, which was my first by the way. Another one of the things I can continue to look forward to as I work backwards is finally seeing movies and directors I've heard about for ages but have never seen. Anyway, that was way longer than I intended but I'm definitely glad to be back writing and excited for such a great Supporting Actor group to come!
Oscar Winner: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
My Winner: Viola Davis - Doubt
Marisa Tomei
Amy Adams
Penelope Cruz
Taraji P. Henson
