When you really look at this group, it doesn't look like it would be that strong. And unfortunately it really isn't. I have a clear cut winner and then the rest. Let's get on with this.
2012 Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
The Academy, for whatever reason, was looking to give this award to Lawrence no matter what. It's like the Academy just fell in love with her (which is easy to do admittedly) and wanted to anoint her America's Next Sweetheart regardless of anything or anyone else. Lawrence was one of the youngest actresses ever to win this award and while this will probably be somewhat vindicated as time goes on, I'm not sure this was the right time to reward her. She almost won the next year in 2013 and is being touted for 2015 also, so there's no doubt she'll end up with another if her career holds up. But what do I think of her performance in Silver Linings Playbook? I'm not as enamored with it as everyone else seemed to be. She plays a young woman whose husband died and hasn't dealt with that in the best way and she matches up with Cooper's fragile character. She's supposed to be this wild child who reacted to her husband's death by sleeping with a bunch of guys and being labeled the local slut but even when Lawrence says it in the film, it just isn't believable at all. Even her surly demeanor rings hollow. She has really good chemistry with Cooper (this was their first of 3 films together, so far) and they play off each other really well. I just don't buy her as the crass, say whatever she wants woman who doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her. When she and Cooper are acting together, that's when she's pretty good in the film. You want to watch the two interact and see how their relationship develops. I like the directness and asshole nature of Lawrence's character, I just don't think she is able to get it across believably. Lawrence doesn't sell the character enough to me to consider her the best performance of the year. There is a lot left to be desired and I just don't see what everyone else sees in it.
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
It still pisses me off that Chastain didn't win. Her Maya is one of the strongest and best female characters I've ever seen, no exaggeration. What I love the most about the performance is that Chastain builds the character along with the film. Meaning in the beginning Maya is this timid new to the Pakistan beat woman who needs to learn and find her footing. She grows as the story goes on and becomes this incredibly strong and important and forthright female character. She is able to react to the ever changing intel world and all the torture the same way a man would, which is part of why I like Chastain's performance so much. She doesn't get bogged down in being a female in a male dominated world or anything like that. She plays the character straight and we see this badass who also happens to be a female and who gets shit done. While watching you quickly forget Maya is a woman and just focus on what she's able to do and her strength in her convictions that she will find UBL and you never doubt that she will. What we get is Maya plugging along and going step by step up the ladder to find her guy. She's determined and headstrong and feisty and brave as hell. She suffers a lot but grows in the process. All of that is so intriguing to watch unfold that we forget we are watching Chastain and certainly forget we are watching a woman. The SEALS love her confidence, her station chiefs know not to fuck with her, the bad guys want to kill her, and we all respect her as a gifted intelligence analyst. I think this is Chastain's best role and best performance. I feel like she grew right along with her character and became even better at being an actress. I think when it's all said and done, Chastain will be able to hold this performance up as her best one and we as the audience will hold it up as being light years better than Lawrence's dreck. Every time I watch Zero Dark Thirty, I get really inspired and motivated and hopeful that we will continue to get great female characters and lead roles such as this one. I get happy that I'm watching greatness and the same cannot be said for Lawrence and the awful SLP junk she was in. I think Chastain's performance is a watershed moment for women characters in film and I hope that she can continue to pump out similar performances.
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Riva became the oldest Best Actress nominee ever which is somewhat fitting since we also got the youngest Best Actress nominee this year, too. I'm not sure if that's synergy or what but I think it's pretty telling that the Academy was really thinking out of the box for this year's group. This is absolutely one of those career nominations where just being picked is the prize but I'll say this performance was also nominated on it's merits, as well. Meaning without the sympathy/career vote, Riva probably would have still been in the group. Critics fawned all over her and I do think some of that is due to her being an old French actress that's been in some highly regarded films throughout her career and being in another very highly regarded film at the end of it. With all that being said, her performance is very natural which fits the style that the Director Michael Haneke was going for. Riva plays an older woman who suffers a stroke and is incapacitated and then gets worse very quickly. It's a very sad and bleak film about the realities of all the sudden losing a loved one and the burden it puts on everyone involved. It's a very heavy, solemn subject and Riva plays it perfectly. It's a realistic portrayal of a woman who declines rapidly and realizes it and doesn't want people to see her as she is and who would rather just end it on her terms instead of becoming an invalid. I guess you could call it a brave performance but I think real and natural work better. Riva doesn't overact or play up any moment in some grand fashion to have her Oscar moment. She just quietly portrays a woman who can't help but be a burden even though she doesn't want to be. It's a very non-glamorous role which Riva succeeds in. When you watch the film, it's as if you're peeking into the lives of these characters and quietly observing from afar. These people go about their life even with the difficulties it brings. I think that alone is a refreshing take on Oscar films and Riva's performance is part of that. I may not want to ever watch Amour again and I may not be all that moved by what Riva accomplishes but it certainly is a strong piece of acting.
Quvenzhane Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Wallis was/is the youngest female acting nominee ever which brings up a lot of issues for me. I think it's pretty awesome that a 9 year old (who was even younger when the film was being made) could not only be in a position to be nominated but actually BE nominated. I mean, how many little girls' dream is it to win an Oscar and be there at the ceremony? Tons! And Wallis got to live that dream, so that's pretty cool. My beef with her nomination is whether or not it's actual acting. I read something from the director of this film that said he was basically just telling Wallis what to do and where to stand and all that, so how much of her performance is acting and not just being in a certain spot and doing as told? Does she bring anything to the role that is actually hers? Does she make a cognizant choice to play the character in a certain way? There's a lot of narration that tries to double itself as acting, too, in this film and that seems a bit cheap to me. She's absolutely the heart and soul of the film but it's like watching a documentary of sorts and seeing this precocious girl run around and do things. And that's about all you can say about her performance, really. There's not much to it after her precocious act wears thin. I'm not sure why it was championed so much and I don't think it needed an Oscar nomination on top of that. Maybe I'm being a little too harsh on a kid but I expect more from Oscar.
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Oh man, a Naomi Watts nomination - ugh. I've let it be known on this blog before that I really dislike most of Watts' performances that I've seen. I find her to be incredibly overrated and talked about way too much as someone who should win and every role of hers should be nominated by super fans online. And that's no different for her turn here as a mother who gets caught up in the tsunami of 2004. I'm not sure what anyone saw in this one, honestly. Critics lauded her with adjectives like brave, vulnerable, emotional, and devastating. Barf, spare me please. In the beginning we are getting to know the family and it's all pretty standard stuff, certainly nothing there that packs an emotional wallop or sets her apart. Then the tsunami hits which is extremely intense but that means we get Watts screaming for a while and, well, that's not very interesting and could be done by anyone. The physical part of it is somewhat impressive. Having to swim around and scream and look terrified certainly takes some acting ability. I'd call it emotional but we as an audience are already amped up from the insane tsunami scenes so it's not like Watts is the one building the emotion or sustaining it - she's just screaming. In fact, her son who is with her is way more impressive and is able to drive the story more as she lays about injured. That is all in the first 30 minutes or so and after that she basically lays around in a hospital moaning and not really doing much for most of the movie. I don't think you can nominate her based on that 15 minutes or so of the aftermath of the tsunami, it just isn't enough. For a Leading performance, I want a lot more than Watts laying around moaning for the whole damn movie. This is a prime example of critics seeing whatever they want to fit their predictions and agendas. This is not an Oscar worthy performance.
I feel like Lawrence was too on the nose in her role. Like someone told her halfway through filming or even before that she will win an Oscar if she really plays it up to what the Academy likes. I think she was too young to be rewarded now and I don't think she gave the best performance at all. I'm not against older or younger women winning here, it's just that it all felt too preordained, for whatever reason. And honestly, that performance is too fucking unsatisfactory to be a winner. It was the Lawrence hype train and nothing else that won her that award. Chastain is the rightful winner. I'd love for the Academy to come out and give it to her and yank Lawrence's win away from her. That sounds as if I hate Lawrence, but I don't. I just hate the win. And her nomination the next year was garbage, too, but whatever. Chastain 4 Life. I've contemplated putting Riva 2nd and you know what, I will. It's a hauntingly beautiful turn as a woman dying, essentially. Wallis is an easy 4th but she would be last in any other year. She is saved from that spot by one of the actresses I dislike the most and feel is super overrated: Naomi Watts. I'm sure she's a lovely woman to meet and I know she's done some good acting work, but not here. This nomination was atrocious. I'm not sure the next year offers much more hope, sadly.
Oscar Winner: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
My Winner: Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Emmanuelle Riva
Jennifer Lawrence
Quvenzhane Wallis
Naomi Watts
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