OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2013)
The Nominees Were...
My Thoughts: I have frequently talked about how 2013 is
about as stereotypical as you can get for an Oscar Supporting Actress
lineup. You have the ingénue,
making her film debut. You have
the recent winner, getting an afterglow citation. You have the legend of the Best Actress category “slumming
it” to get some career traction after a bit of a slump. You have the octogenarian, getting
nominated for playing an “I’ll-say-anything” old person. And you have the character actress
finally getting her shot at the sweet end of the lollipop after much suffering
in lesser roles. Yes, we have our
long-suffering wives, our saucy scene-stealers, our category frauds, and our real-life
women. About the only thing
missing is a hooker with a heart of gold, but pretty much every other cliché is
checked off the list.
Because her iconic face is staring down on me from the top
of this list, let’s begin with Julia Roberts. This is the first OVP where we’ve tackled one of Julia’s
four (so far) nominations (we’ll of course get to the other three at some point, but it’s
been a while since Erin Brockovich,
so don’t hold your breath too intensely in anticipation), and I have to admit
that I’m not happy this is where you’re getting my first in-depth opinion of
the woman. Roberts’ role in August: Osage County is hampered for a
few reasons. For starters, she’s
not the most charismatic character onscreen (that would be Violet or Mattie
Fae), and as a result, she doesn’t get the giant acting moments that Meryl
Streep or Margo Martindale get to enjoy.
Secondly, she has one of the worst cases of category fraud I’ve seen in
my years watching the Oscars.
She’s arguably a more pivotal character in the film than Streep
herself-she’s in nearly every scene.
Precisely what is supporting about this? I know that I am not judging the OVP solely on whether
someone actually should have qualified for the nomination, but in this case
Roberts loses points because I cannot abide by anyone thinking what is surely a
lead performance should be included against other supporting work (it’s not
fair to the other women who are, regardless of performance quality, actually
supporting parts).
That being said, I’ve given supporting parts the win before
in the OVP (see Philip Seymour Hoffman in The
Master), so that cannot totally rule out Roberts. What does is that this is also a pretty badly miscast part,
in my opinion. Roberts is a movie
star, and is best when she’s using her natural charm and skill onscreen in
films like Pretty Woman or Erin Brockovich. She has never been particularly strong
at playing dour (one exception being Closer,
but she had a really strong director to work with there). Here she confuses dour with bland, and
I found that her character didn’t have the bite and subtle resentment that the
part called for (someone like Laura Linney or Cynthia Nixon would have been a
better choice to find that balance).
Overall, I left feeling underwhelmed by Roberts and disappointed that
they would so egregiously campaign her as supporting to get the film another
Oscar citation.
We’ll move on to a different performance I felt a bit
underwhelmed by, but which is clearly a supporting part, even though she’s
second-billed, and that would be Sally Hawkins. This film is entirely the Cate Blanchett show, and as a
result I’m genuinely surprised that Hawkins managed to gain this nomination,
though it feels like the sort of thing that even AMPAS realized was a long-time
coming (she was SO close with 2008’s Happy-Go-Lucky). The performance has occasional shades
of subtlety and informed emotion: I enjoyed how she was always making excuses
regarding why Jasmine was so much more “successful” than her Ginger, and the
way that she tries to emulate the big sister that she could never hope to live
up toward. The problem is that
Blanchett is so much life force as Jasmine that she sucks the energy out-of-the-room,
and Hawkins cannot compete. It’s a
fine performance from an actor who deserved to be an Oscar nominee at some
point in her career (I’m guessing this will end up being like Patricia Clarkson
in Pieces of April and we’ll never
hear from Hawkins again at the Dolby), but it’s not something that I would call out as
superb.
Anyone reading at home is probably thinking that I’m going
to head straight to June Squibb and leave the major acting duel of the year as
the finale…and you would be right, though I feel like I shouldn’t write more
about June Squibb, as it all seems to come out as a bit hateful. This is particularly sad because June
Squibb seems like a lovely person in interviews, and she was easily one of the most
enjoyable aspects of the Oscar red carpet in 2013. In that regard, I was glad she was nominated (it certainly
beat the constant McConaughey obnoxiousness that seemed to consume every
conversation that year). However,
this is an extremely easy part with no real depth. I hated Nebraska,
but this part in particular-there is nothing special here. Why not just nominate Ellen Dow for The Wedding Singer while we’re at it
(PS-did you know she’s still alive and about to turn 101?!?)? It’s the same level of skill-there’s
nothing particularly in-depth or interesting about what Squibb is doing here,
and it’s by-far the most overrated performance nominated in 2013 (though I
don’t know if it’s quite the worst).
And now the main event…Lawrence v. Lupita. I’m going to be honest here-I’m not
sure who I’m picking quite yet, so we’re both in for a surprise. We’ll start with Lupita. The thing that’s so haunting about this
performance is her facial expression.
So many actors rely so heavily on their face to sell a particular part,
but Lupita’s character is haunting because she remains so stoic earlier on in
the film. We don’t really get to
know Patsey until later on in the film-we don’t know what her depth is as a
person. We see her with Mistress
Shaw, and wonder if this is what she dreams of for her life-essentially being
one man’s prostitute, surrounded by doilies, but eventually succeeding in at
least being spared the whip. As
Nyong’o slowly lets us in, though, we find that she just wants to be rid of the
man, rid of everything-we see how deadened she has become from years of sexual
assault and beatings, of being hated by Mistress Epps and being the obsession
of Master Epps. The moment when
Nyong’o screams “I will be clean!” you know that the film has slipped into
metaphor, but Nyong’o keeps you grounded in the work that is happening
onscreen. That this is her film
debut makes you wonder what sorts of other souls she’s going to bring to life
onscreen.
Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t get the meatiness of a Patsey
character, and some might quickly chalk up Lupita’s work as the easy win, but
Lawrence is doing something else that few actors can do: she is commanding that
screen. She quickly makes you
forget she’s too young for this part.
That she’s not really essential to the overall plot. That she’s supposed to be the enemy
(we’re supposed to cheer for Sydney and not Rosalyn to end up with
Irving). This is an actor who was
born to be a star, and you see it in every line reading. She rings every joke for maximum
effect, every line for its fullest catering to her whim. She makes Rosalyn the most intoxicating
presence in the movie (admit it-the film dies when she’s not onscreen), and I
love the way that she is able to give enough of her character for us to know
that she’s in on the act. There’s
no stupidity here-she’s entirely in charge of Irving, and knows when that gravy
train has been wrung of its worth.
This is the sort of performance that, like Nyong’o, we would call a star
turn if Jennifer Lawrence hadn’t already proven before that she clearly is one.
Other Precursor
Contenders: We had a carbon copy of the Oscar lineup at the Golden Globes,
though the winner changed (here Lawrence triumphed over Lupita, hence where an
actual “battle” emerged for the Oscar).
The SAG Awards mixed it up slightly, giving Oprah Winfrey the nomination
for The Butler in place of Sally
Hawkins (Nyong’o was the victor).
The BAFTA Awards also chose to nominate Oprah Winfrey, but here we saw a
snub for June Squibb rather than Hawkins (and once again Lawrence was
victorious). All-in-all, it’s
quite clear that Winfrey was sixth place, and I tackle this subject a bit here,
but I’m still flummoxed how she missed out on that nomination.
Actors I Would Have
Nominated: I don’t know if I’d 100% go with Nyong’o and Lawrence, but
they’re clearly on a different playing field, so I’ll throw out three names
rather than getting too picky. Emma
Watson has continually proven to be an actor to take note of, and her vapid
Valley Girl in The Bling Ring is just
the latest in a series of performances that prove this girl is a star. Octavia Spencer is wonderful as a
mother who is at her wit’s end in Fruitvale
Station, an underrated movie with a killer piece of work from the actress
who won an Oscar for The Help, but
was better here. And then there’s
Sarah Paulson, just as good (actually, perhaps better) than her fellow costar
in 12 Years a Slave, giving
horrifying layers to an underexplored aspect of the American pre-Civil War
South: the plantation mistress.
Oscar’s Choice: Though
I would assume that Lawrence (and perhaps Squibb) was close, Lupita pulled off
the win on her opening film.
My Choice: We’ll
go backwards. Squibb is fifth,
Roberts fourth, and Hawkins third…and, ugh, I don’t know. Nyong’o is clearly the more artistic
achievement, but I genuinely think that Lawrence is giving a stronger piece of
work. I’m going to therefore make
the unpopular choice of Jennifer Lawrence for the win here (it was close!) with
Lupita in second place.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone agree with me, or is
everyone else Team Lupita? Does
anyone else share my (harsh) sentiments regarding June Squibb and Julia
Roberts? How the hell did Oprah
miss? And who was your favorite
supporting actress of 2013? Share
in the comments!
Also in 2013: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Live Action Short, Animated Short, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2013
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