Michelle Williams is a very good actress. I suppose for some of you who grew up watching her on
"Dawson's Creek", that may seem hard to believe? I never watched the show (though I do like that pal Busy Philipps is her usual companion to awards red carpets and shindigs), so I don't have that preconceived notion of her. Simply judging by her output, especially in the last four or five years, she's very impressive. This is her third Oscar nomination, having been in the supporting category for
Brokeback Mountain and Best Actress just last year for
Blue Valentine. I thought her work in
Valentine was stunning, definitely her best yet, but unluckily for her it was the same year as Natalie Portman and
Black Swan. This year not only was she good playing an icon in
My Week with Marilyn, but she was also strong in Kelly Reichardt's period indie
Meek's Cutoff. Cate Blanchett won playing Katharine Hepburn not too long back in Scorsese's
The Aviator, so it wouldn't be unheard of for one actress to win an award for playing another more famous actress, but I think the chances of her Marilyn Monroe winning are relatively slim. But she will most definitely be back at the Oscars multiple times over her career.
Rooney Mara was little-known before Fincher cast her as one of the most instantly popular characters in recent years, Lisbeth Salander, aka
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She had a pivotal role in Fincher's last project,
The Social Network, as Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend in the opening scene who breaks up with him, the sting and humiliation of which ultimately leads to the creation of Facebook. But Lisbeth is a commitment, one that Mara accepted wholeheartedly, for example most of the piercings she has in that film are real (the tats are not). That kind of dedication to the craft is appreciated by her peers. Also, I think most are aware that, like Kubrick before him, David Fincher has a reputation for doing numerous takes, as in fifty or a hundred of a single scene, until he thinks he has it perfect. I think putting that reputation in the context of playing such a raw, damaged, angry character (and one who has to endure two on-screen rapes) pushed her over the top, vote wise, and even though the film itself underperformed a bit at the Oscars (no Best Picture, no Best Director) she made it through. However there is almost zero chance she'll win.
Viola Davis has been around for a while, though until recently she was known best as a stage actress, having won two Tony Awards. You may remember her from guest spots on TV series, like a very good episode of
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent". Steven Soderbergh was the first director to start putting her in movies, small roles in his
Out of Sight and
Traffic, and then a larger role in
Solaris. But her real breakout moment came in 2008's
Doubt. Her character has one single scene, but it was so powerful, so wonderful, that she earned an Oscar nomination for it. This year she also has a key role in Best Picture nominee
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, but of course most prominently she is at the center of
The Help. The movie has been criticized, rightly so I think, for being too much of a fantasy instead of a real look at the changes slowly going on during our country's Civil Rights Movement, but while some of that is valid you cannot deny the power and the absolute truth of Viola Davis' performance as Aibileen Clark. The struggle and the dignity are conveyed wonderfully, even if the movie itself is often too easy. That the movie itself has problems may detract for her getting some votes, but she's a legit contender, and I hope that, win or lose, she gets plenty of other great roles over the coming years and becomes a fixture at the Oscars.
Speaking of fixtures, Meryl Streep should have a seat in the Kodak Theater with her name engraved on a brass plate. This is her SEVENTEENTH Oscar nomination, fourteenth as Best Actress. She broke and passed Kate Hepburn's total of twelve a while back, with no end in sight. Mary Louise Streep has won two of those previous sixteen, but they were back at the beginning of her remarkable career, Supporting Actress for
Kramer vs. Kramer (her second ever nomination) and Best Actress for
Sophie's Choice (her fourth).
Sophie's Choice was made in 1982. That's a long time between wins, even for a living acting legend. So, is she simply "due"? I mean strange to say somebody who is the most honored actress, well, ever, is due, but is she? The utterly awesome satiric newspaper "The Onion" had a great piece a few years back, an OpEd as if it was authored by Meryl Streep herself, and the title was "Name One Masterpiece of Cinema That I've Starred In" (link
HERE). Pretty damn funny, but like most things in "The Onion" rooted in some level of truth, or at least a common perception. The last line is a perfect, "Meryl Streep: Great actress, OK movies." And that may, indeed, be part of why she hasn't won in what feels like forever. Not many people will argue whether or not she's amazing, she is. But usually she is the best thing, and sometimes the only really great thing, about the movies she is in.
If
The Iron Lady is remembered at all twenty or fifty or a hundred years from now, is it going to be as a great film, or is it going to be that Meryl amazingly transformed herself into Maggie Thatcher? Meryl is sixty-two-years-old, and one of the few women her age allowed to still star in movies in Hollywood. You gotta figure she'll still have more opportunities, maybe in a film that is as good as she is. Or maybe they'll just give her one to get it over with?
Speaking of due, the sixty-four-year-old Glenn Close is nearly as respected as Meryl Streep, though she doesn't have nearly as many Oscar nominations to show for it and, thus far, no actual Oscar. Close has won three Tony Awards, an Obie, Emmy Awards, and a SAG Award, so she's no slouch. But though
Albert Nobbs is her sixth nomination, no wins in the previous five. She was nominated in the Supporting Actress category for
The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, and
The Natural, and as Best Actress in
Fatal Attraction and
Dangerous Liaisons. But that was all in the 1980s. Since then, nothing, Academy Award wise.
Albert Nobbs is a true passion project for her. She loved the short story and starred as this character in an off-broadway play way back in 1982! Ever since then, she's been trying to get it adapted into a film. Just shy of thirty years later, TAH-DAH! It was worth the wait. Close is quite amazing as the title character, a woman who has been passing herself for a man for decades in 19th Century Ireland. As odd or gimmicky as that premise may sound, it is treated with such care and sensitivity and humor and emotion that it is extremely relateable, even if the situation seems outlandish or contrived. Could this finally be her turn? If so, it will be for one of her very best performances in a movie she sweated and clawed to get made, so good for her.
If enough of the members actually watch their screeners, I think it's going to be Glenn Close. If not, Viola Davis could well be the one running to the stage.
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