On the surface, this year is seems pretty interesting. There are three first time nominees and two previous Oscar winners. Initially I'd only seen the winner but have since seen Theron's movie as well. I look forward to the other because I'm hoping to finally be amazed by the Academy's picks in this category.
2005 Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
So this is a strange win. I don't know if I'd really categorize this as a Leading performance. To me, it's more supporting with Phoenix's Cash being the sole lead. And Witherspoon doesn't add a whole lot to the film besides being the love interest for Cash. So it's really hard to understand why this particular performance won. All I can assume is that people just loved Witherspoon's golly gee charm which is in abundance in this film. She's got that down-home, country girl quality that appeals to a lot of people. And that's what June Carter is portrayed as in Walk the Line. But really Witherspoon doesn't do much. She looks pretty, is funny, and sings a bit. I'm honestly at a loss to figure out why this won. I feel like we got a lot of Reese Witherspoon in this performance. It's certainly not a well-rounded character. A lot of times it's Reese acting opposite Phoenix while in costume. For being an Oscar winning Best Actress performance, it is severely lacking in originality, soul, conviction. A winner like this shouldn't leave me wanting way more. Her June Carter never seems to transform into the potential/future June Carter Cash, always staying Witherspoon as June Carter. She's great when we first meet her and see her interactions with Johnny, but she never continues to grow as a character and never really becomes anything more interesting. And Witherspoon doesn't try to do anything more interesting which is why her performance comes off as supporting to me.
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Judi Dench. Again! With her 5th nomination in 9 years (of course, only my 3rd for this blog) she would add two more as of 2014. But does she deserve it? She's definitely an actress on top of her game here but you can't help but think the Academy keeps going to the only well it knows. While watching this movie, I couldn't help but think that I've seen this same exact performance in another movie. Dench is a wonderful actress and she has such a sly, understated sense of humor that comes across perfectly in this role. She plays a widow that grows bored and purchases a run down theater and suggests nude reviews to get audiences to come in. She's the kind of movie persona that movie goers think is charming and assuredly British and funny but if we were to encounter her in real life she would annoy us to no end and piss us off even more. She's selfish, rude, eccentric. But because she's an older British woman we are to accept that as being okay. The parts where Dench is to shine she only comes across as chewing the scenery. The scenes where she is supposed to be carefree and having fun just seem like a serious actor wanting to show a softer, more fun side. It rings as hollow and false unfortunately. If she played the character as a curmudgeon the whole time maybe it would be different, I don't know. It's an ostentatious delivery that I just don't buy into, "simple frippery" as another blogger put it. I have enjoyed some of Dench's roles but only really felt meh about this one. It's light fair at best, one that probably doesn't deserve an Academy Award nomination behind it.
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
You never know what to expect when it comes to performances you might only know the smallest bit of information about. I like that not knowing part because I'm always hoping I'm going to fall in love with a character or be stunned by a performance. It's what makes this blog and experience so great for me. Now Huffman's role as a woman playing a man who wants to be a woman came with some buzz and controversy if I remember correctly back in 2005. Not that I was expecting anything crazy out of this role but I was slightly impressed with how non-outlandish it is. Huffman plays the character as honestly as she can. It's not garishly over the top as you might expect and it's not too insular or brooding. It hits just right, in between the extremes. In the movie, Huffman's Bree Daniels learns s/he has a son in New York and goes to see him and eventually they road trip to LA where Bree wants to get her sex reassignment surgery done. Bree is almost stuffy, she has a very proper way of speaking and her delivery is slow and deliberate, almost professorial. Huffman is very capable in her performance. She plays the character straight and natural but I just feel like it lacks much soul throughout the film. That might be a manifestation of the character who seems to avoid conflict and confrontation but it doesn't have to feel so robotic like it does at times. But Huffman is sincere and at the end she displays some much needed warmth but the whole thing feels like an exercise in acting. Just not enough oomph to bring the character alive for my tastes. Definitely not a bad performance by any means.
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Keira Knightley is perfectly agreeable as Elizabeth Bennet. She really is a perfect choice to play Lizzie as she is an actress that just seems to fit these period roles a lot better than her modern ones. She has the look down, sure, but also the feel of the character down as well. She's more progressive and direct than the other women of the time and this comes across as very natural in the film due in large part to Knightley's acting ability. It's a character and role that many people are already familiar with and as I've said earlier in this blog, it can be hard to impress an audience when that is the case. Knightley is able to do that here without any grandiose displays or typical British acting (which I'm using as a kind of put down) and just simply performs the role with her own version of Lizzie. I really enjoyed it despite not being sure if I'd like a 2 hour movie remake of Pride and Prejudice since the book isn't my cup of tea but Knightley and Director Joe Wright make it worth the watch for sure. There's not much else to say about Knightley here. It's a thoroughly enjoyable performance that has neither the wow moment nor any real strong criticisms to make. She's good and rightly deserves a nomination here.
Charlize Theron - North Country
Ok, so while watching this film, the whole time I was left wanting a lot more from Charlize in this role. Theron gives a very professional acting performance in this film. As another blogger said, she passes a test we all knew she could pass. Meaning she does a good enough job in a film that was lacking in greatness to begin with. But I still felt Theron could offer a lot more to the character than we got, especially considering her Oscar winning turn only 2 years ago. She passes with flying colors on the technical level but this movie and her character as a whole fail to connect with the audience. I was never particularly rooting for Theron during the trial or as she was being discriminated against, which sounds horrible but that's due entirely to the script and direction. I just didn't care. Yes it's a heady subject but I feel like it should have carried more weight. She leads a rough life but the film does nothing to convince us she's actually a good mother. Her familial interactions are always stunted and make us wonder if she's fit to be a mother. Not a good thing for this type of movie. I just wasn't really made to care enough about the character and that's purely the director's fault. I wasn't given enough to like in this film for what should have been an easy message to get across. It felt more like an actress wanting more Oscar nominations and possibly wins going with the tried and true method of an unglamorous, real life character fighting against the odds. It just didn't work here and I'd hope Theron would challenge herself more.
Sigh. This is a pretty weak year for the category. I know it must seem as if I really hate women or something but those two categories just seem to deliver some of the most lackluster, uninspired performances I've seen for this blog. Hopefully it's just a sign of the times because the Academy has had some decent choices in 2012-2014. This year is a tough one to choose a winner for. I think people voted for Reese because they liked her as a person and because there was no one else to vote for. Theron had just won 2 years prior, Dench already had one and was in a little seen British film, Huffman was in an indie kind of film with a controversial topic, and Knightley was young. It's a toss up for me between Huffman and Knightley but I think I lean more towards Knightley. The other 3 are just kinda there. Not a good category!
Oscar Winner: Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
My Winner: Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Felicity Huffman
Reese Witherspoon
Judi Dench
Charlize Theron
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