What is it with this category having like 15 total things to review for the blog? Each of the movies in this category has at least 3 total reviews. By finishing this category I'll have finished like 60% of the reviews which is kind of insane! But I'm pretty eager to dive in because I've only seen the winner and none of the rest so this should be a fun category.
2001 Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind
I'll say right off the bat that I don't like Jennifer Connelly as an actress. For some reason she just annoys me in everything I've ever seen her in. There's been nothing of hers that I've seen where I was like oh yeah that's really great! And that's not any different for this performance. We are introduced to her as this super confident sexpot but the character comes off as too Hollywood, too unbelievable. Not to say women can't be both beautiful and a genius but Connelly's character is just too immediately a femme fatale. She seems added only to give Crowe's Nash a love interest. Connelly is all sexy sultry with no heart thrust in our faces in the beginning by the writer and director without any buildup. She is toned down once the romance turns to marriage and Connelly floats through scenes until a not so climactic, but certainly cliche, yelling in a bathroom smashing a mirror scene. I don't think she adds all that much to the film as a whole and I could easily see any number of actresses taking over the role and doing an equally satisfactory job if not better. It doesn't help any that Connelly is plagued by resting bitch face which makes it hard for her to emote physically. Obviously I'm not a fan, but I really don't see what was so Oscar worthy here. I guess she plays the concerned mother and wife ably at the end of the film but nothing stands above and beyond anyone else that's played a role like that. I wish I could see what the Academy saw because I just don't get the love.
Helen Mirren - Gosford Park
To say I was beyond excited to watch this film is a huge understatement. I never knew what this film was about but the more I read about it, the more excited I got. I knew Robert Altman films (the first film of his I've ever seen by the way) were known for their humor and large casts so I was looking forward to something really intriguing. A sort of whodunit in an English manor with lots of interesting actors was right up my alley. The two nominations in this category made me think I was going to get some fine acting and memorable characters, especially since Oscar darlings Mirren and Maggie Smith were involved. The film itself was interesting, Helen Mirren's character was not. She was the head lady in charge of the downstairs crew of the manor and basically had no impact on the story until the very end. I mean the very end. Without ruining the film, she knew one of the guests and that's the big reveal but Mirren added nothing to the film. Like I have no fucking clue why this was nominated. Okay so maybe they wanted to honor Robert Altman or his movie or the old folk of the Academy wanted to highlight Mirren and Maggie Smith. I have no idea. She is barely in it. Like super barely. So why did the Academy focus on these elder statesmen I don't know. I kind of understand the impact based on the ending of this one but it's not worth it. A very unsatisfying nominee.
Maggie Smith - Gosford Park
Okay, I mean Maggie Smith did even less than Helen Mirren in this movie! I was tempted to say just read the above bullshit because fuck it, there's nothing to either performances. I was super excited for Gosford Park. It was this Best Picture nominee with two Best Supporting Actress nominees that seemed way interesting but there was nothing of note in these performances. These two ladies don't contribute much at all to the film. Mirren was the head maid and Smith was a gossipy, sourpuss Countess or Lady or something. I can't believe they nominated two people from this movie. Neither deserved this reward and we may have gotten more inspired choices or an up and comer or anything else at all. I did think Smith was a hair better than Mirren. She gets more clever lines and has the stuffy British character that says things that are funny but doesn't laugh at herself thing going on. But again, there's just not much in either one and it's frustrating. I really wanted to like these two performances and was hoping to be angry that I hadn't seen the movie earlier. It's also frustrating when there were other actors from this movie that would have been better suited for a token nomination. I really liked Kelly Macdonald's Irish servant and Clive Owen was decent, as well. Sure, Smith and Mirren are the bigger names but that shouldn't equal automatic nominations. Not sure I've been this frustrated with a nomination (or two) since I started my project. At least Gosford Park itself was entertaining.
Marisa Tomei - In the Bedroom
Let's talk about how underrated Marisa Tomei is for a second. Yeah, she's got one Oscar win and three total nominations under her belt but everyone ridicules her win because they think Jack Palance misspoke her name and because it was a comedy (for the most part). She never gets mentioned with great actresses even though her two other nominations are both pretty damn good. She's quietly created some memorable performances and no one seems to care. Or at least that's how it seems to me. In this film, she plays a separated mother of two who is engaged in a relationship with a college kid. Her ex still comes around begging to be taken back and turns menacing when she rebuffs his overtures. This leads to the tragedy that the film deals with. The essence of her performance is that it's so authentic, which is something I'll say a lot about In the Bedroom. She has this natural ability to portray the every woman convincingly with little effort. In The Wrestler, she's an aging stripper that sees the good in Mickey Rourke's character. In My Cousin Vinny, she grounds the character in realism even though it's a highly comedic role and can be an exaggerated depiction of the character at times, she still reminds us of the every woman. This role shows great honesty and is an entirely believable character. I wish she was in the entire film and we got to see more of how she dealt with the tragedy instead of the family, but that's the sign of a good performance - wanting to see more. It's a mostly low key performance and it might not wow everyone, but it connected with me and I really enjoyed it. This might just be my winner.
Kate Winslet - Iris
I was super pumped to see this film finally. This is the most current year when I start looking back where I haven't seen the majority of the films or at least recognized what they are. Besides the winning film in this category, I had no idea what the other three were even about! So that means I'm getting to experience films like this one with a fresh, untainted perspective. I'm definitely not the biggest Kate Winslet fan, but I was able to overlook that going in and tried to just view the performance as a singular experience. It's a perfectly supporting role which I'm glad for. No category fraud, no 10 minute drive by blip. Winslet plays the younger version of the title character, Iris, and it's certainly the easier role to portray due to the character being flighty and free spirited and being someone that does whatever she wants, a very progressive character. That freedom to not be bound to a certain trait I think makes it easier on the performer to inhabit the character. It's a broad role that doesn't ask too much of Winslet and honestly, I don't think Winslet gives too much in return which is the right thing. It doesn't need an over the top performance. Winslet gets it right by giving a solid portrayal of the young Iris and nothing more. It's fine for a nomination (which might be due to it being a Miramax film and the Weinstein power) but doesn't deserve a win. A nice little nomination for Winslet to add to her collection and that's about it.
Welp, a year after praising this group for not having a bad performance in the bunch I get a group of boring, frustratingly lacking, and uninspired snores - save for Marisa Tomei. She is my clear winner although her performance doesn't jump out and scream Oscar, but of course not every winner has to be loud and over the top. Connelly would be next because she did a lot more in her role than the next three combined. She put in work and I can respect that even if I wasn't a fan. Then it's basically I don't care from here down. Winslet next because she wasn't bad at all, but she didn't really make an impression either. Smith and Mirren bring up the rear due to barely being in their film and not making much of an impact on me or the film, really. I'm so glad that I got one surprise in this group, at least. In the Bedroom was one of the reasons I started my project: to find performances and films I would have overlooked that simply floor me. Hopefully 2000 offers a bit more for me.
Oscar Winner: Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind
My Winner: Marisa Tomei - In the Bedroom
Jennifer Connelly
Kate Winslet
Maggie Smith
Helen Mirren
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