I am so excited to finally be in the 70s! I am actually making progress in this crazy little project of mine. I haven't seen most of the nominees in this decade with a few exceptions of the obvious big films. This year is interesting because it features Streep's first win, Alexander who I was intrigued by the first time I reviewed her, a TV icon, and two other unknowns.
1979 Best Supporting Actress
Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer
I know I go on and on about being Streep'd out and how many nominations she has and all that junk, but I have been looking forward to actually watching her first Oscar win to see just how good it is. The film is really great and was part of that run in the late 70s and early 80s of realistic dramas, which I happen to love. Streep plays the mother in the film and is divorcing Dustin Hoffman. We first see her saying goodbye to her sleeping son and then scrambling to get her things together so she can tell Hoffman she's leaving when he gets home. The desperation and fear are readily apparent on Streep's face and we know immediately the gravity of the situation for her. The film, however, is mostly about how Hoffman deals with being alone and a single parent and his fight for custody, so Streep's reasons for leaving are never made known to us besides in the courtroom scenes where she tells how she didn't like not working and being productive. But the film essentially paints her out to be a villain who doesn't love her own son and wants to be free so she goes away for awhile. Streep brings an intensity to that first scene that stays with you and makes you wonder just when is she going to show back up in the film. Her courtroom scenes are pretty great as well, since it shows the brutal nature of divorce proceedings. She remains somewhat friendly with Hoffman and still seems like a decent person but things come up that show she isn't pulling any punches when it comes to getting custody of her kid. That seems very true to life and the scenes hit with a good emotional punch. I read that Streep rewrote her monologue for the courtroom scene so that it read more authentic and made her character come off not looking like a total villain. I think it makes her performance better that she took that initiative and speaks to her instincts as an actress. She brings the right amount of realism to the role, as well, and we see a mother who loves her son but is also conflicted in taking him away from his home. Streep gets all these emotions across in a wonderful way and makes for a very good performance. Streep was showing that she was a force to be reckoned with and that would of course continue for the next 40 plus years. The win for Meryl also makes sense when you remember at this time she was the next big thing. She had been in three consecutive Best Picture nominated films and had other notable performances this year. She was due for a win, I'd say.
Jane Alexander - Kramer vs. Kramer
After watching her first nomination (which was really her fourth one) for Testament, I was really impressed by Alexander and was looking forward to the rest of her work. Alexander continues to impress me because if not for Streep, she possibly probably would have won herself an Oscar for this role. What I love the most about this performance is how real it is. Even in a film like this that deals very frankly and realistically with divorce and its effects, Alexander is the most honest and realistic part of the film. She's the one who gets to tell it like it is when it comes to being a single mother and dealing with being divorced and raising a kid and trying to date and all of those things. She was the across the hall neighbor of Hoffman and Streep, who break up, and Alexander becomes the calming factor for Hoffman as she helps him raise his son a bit and is his shoulder to lean on. I like that she treats the character naturally. She's not an actress going over the top and she's not playing up the subtleties or nuance. She is just matter of fact and it is refreshing to see this in a performance every once in awhile. I most enjoyed the film whenever she was onscreen because she brought the film back to down to earth. Alexander is just a thoroughly good supporting performance for the main characters and the film as a whole. Everyone talks about Streep in this film, who is also very good, but Alexander shines in a different way for me. Can't wait to see her next nomination and if it lives up to the first two that I have seen.
Barbara Barrie - Breaking Away
Okay, so Barbara Barrie wasn't going to be winning any awards with this role and performance but I loved it. I thought she was perfect for the role and brought what was needed for it even though the role itself is relatively minor. Barrie plays the mother to a young man who is way into pretending to be Italian because he loves cycling. Barrie is hilarious in the role because she is so understated with her humor but she has great chemistry with her onscreen husband and the two make a great pair. The two playfully bicker but it's heartfelt and funny and speaks to their relationship. She is so kind and warm to her son who annoys his dad with the whole Italian thing and really encourages and pushes him to keep up the cycling because he's good at it. She and her husband even have a date night to the Italian opera music her son listens to and it's a nice moment intertwined with the son serenading a girl at the university with the same music. The best scene is where she has a sit down talk with her son who doesn't want to race and talks about how she shows off her unused passport because it gives her joy just to have it and tells him he will actually go places. It's heartwarming and effective and Barrie is tremendous in the scene. And that's what Barrie is to the film, perfectly supporting and charming and a joy to watch. If not for the Kramer vs. Kramer women, who knows, maybe Barrie would be my pick for a win. Also, fun fact, she was nominated for an Emmy for the same role in a short lived television series based on this film. Not sure how many other people can claim that distinction.
Candice Bergen - Starting Over
It's crazy because going through this project, I have found some Oscar nominees that I never expected. Such as Candice Bergen here who everyone should know from being a TV Emmy Queen but yes, she does have an Oscar nomination to her name. There are a few others like this and it's always surprising that some TV person or character actor is an Academy darling at some point in history. Her nomination is just that - a nomination. She shows up for a brief moment in the beginning as Burt Reynolds' wife and she dumps him to go start a singing career and has cheated on him, too. She is gone for most of the film and comes back at the very end when Reynolds is getting along great with Jill Clayburgh and wants him back. He caves and gets back with Bergen who is a successful song writer yet can't sing for shit, still. She tries her best at being funny and sexy and nearly succeeds at both but the character is a mess. Though Bergen does infuse the character with some real emotion at times which adds to the performance overall. But Bergen can also be a bit wooden at times so the performance is up and down and crazy and collected and good and bad. It's fun to see her before she launched her mighty TV career because you can see what made her a star. Her character isn't all that much which is why she isn't even a thought for a win but I like the nomination. The film is a romantic comedy that would probably never get nominated in today's Oscars, so it's kind of interesting to see that this managed two female nominations back then. I don't mind Bergen's nomination, though, it's one of those interesting factoid type nominees.
Mariel Hemingway - Manhattan
I wanted to say first that this film has one of the greatest openings in cinema history. I love the mash up of the music of George Gershwin with the black and white scenes of New York City. And when it crescendos with the piano and the fireworks framed against the skyline - man, it's pretty amazing. What wasn't amazing is Hemingway's performance. She plays the 17 year old lover of Woody Allen (there's a ton of comments that could go here but I honestly don't care about his personal life) and she comes and goes throughout the film. Hemingway has zero range as an actress, at least in this film. She is the exact same throughout the entire film and I don't buy her being a teenager as an excuse. Many people have and will give her too much credit for the performance. They will associate things with Allen's history and their own beliefs and whatnot by building her performance up to something it really isn't. She's just a young girl who is speaking like a mature, older adult in a Woody Allen film. Her voice doesn't ring true no matter how many other reviewers will state her maturity and poise and even keel nature, among other dramatic blah blah blahs, point to her performance being this transcendent point about growing up or some such nonsense. She's just a teenager being ascribed Woody Allen's thoughts and voicing those unconvincingly. Sure, the adults are fucked up in this film but treating Hemingway as a voice of reason lends her too much importance. Her performance is only okay and she just isn't up to par with all the other Woody Allen female nominated performances. This one is entirely forgettable and not really all that well deserved.
Not a bad group at all! Even Hemingway, who I didn't much care for, wasn't actually bad. She was more forgettable and young than anything else. Bergen was alright and was funny at times but it was a romantic comedy that probably wouldn't get anyone nominated in today's world. But it's cool that she has a nomination and the film was enjoyable so can't get too upset with her being here. I really liked Barrie, she just gives a pleasant, effective performance. I wasn't sure it would be much of anything before watching knowing it was just a mother/wife role but she was super enjoyable and I can see why she was also nominated for an Emmy for the same role in the TV series. I had been anticipating watching Alexander again because I really liked how natural and nuanced her portrayal of a mother in a post apocalyptic world turned out in her first nomination I saw. I thought she was good here as well, giving a realistic look at being a single mother in the dating world. Streep dominates, though, as would be expected. She's intense in this performance even when she's being nice and pleasant. She had a few notable performances up to this point so this was the Academy recognizing a brilliant actress who had recently burst onto the scene. A decent start to the 70s (though this was ending the 70s...) and I look forward to the rest of the decade!
Oscar Winner: Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer
My Winner: Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer
Jane Alexander
Barbara Barrie
Candice Bergen
Mariel Hemingway
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