OVP: Actress (2021)

OVP: Best Actress (2021)

The Nominees Were...

Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter

Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers

Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart, Spencer

My Thoughts: We're finishing off the 2021 acting races with Best Actress, a category that reads as kind of weird even though the actors themselves don't.  Three former winners, a multiple-time nominee, and a promising newcomer playing a princess is the bread-and-butter of this category, but if you look at the films, these are good actresses (and largely good performances) in somewhat forgettable movies.  Featuring some films that were relegated to streaming platforms, a lot of the majesty of this lineup feels a bit underwhelming even if the actual work at hand doesn't read that way.

A good example of this is Colman, who is in a fine film, and is giving a splendid performance in a movie, well, few people seem to have seen.  Colman is marvelous here, though, so I can't quibble with the choice itself (and generally I'm fine with Oscar picking obscurity, it just feels like every film was kind of "ehh" here in a way the other acting categories didn't).  She brings such pathos to her character, even when the character wouldn't want that, and does a marvelous job of giving us a complicated look at womanhood, maturity, and the unrealistic expectations we give to mothers.  One of our best working actors, hopefully this isn't her last outing with AMPAS.

Colman's movie is good, which you can't really advertise for Jessica Chastain.  The movie brushes by huge swaths of the real life Bakkers, particularly anything involving the complicated sexuality of husband Jim.  Chastain is the best part of the movie, and does her darndest to sell Tammy Faye, a walking cartoon who is hard to make fascinating because she's so devout & has such faith in the people around her, she reads as two-dimensional even if that's basically who she was in real-life.  But Chastain can only do so much in a movie that's not interested in some of her character layering, and she's working so hard in some scenes it feels like she's trying to make a bad movie good (and she's not going to do it).

Nicole Kidman, likewise, is much better than her movie.  Kidman was such an unusual choice to play Lucille Ball, but it largely works.  She doesn't do Ball's voice & she doesn't look like her, but she gives a decent performance as a woman who spent a decade trying to get what she currently has, and feels she constantly needs to prove to herself that she's worthy of her success, she's been trying to retain it for so long.  But the movie is dreadful, and she's saddled with huge speeches that go nowhere and do nothing...a script this poor is going to hurt any performance, and I think it sometimes makes too indulgent in later scenes.

Kristen Stewart is, for the record, a wonderful actress; in my mind she already had two nominations by 2021 for Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper.  But her work in Spencer is not good.  Some of that is based on Pablo Larrain (unlike Aaron Sorkin, Larrain has proven before he's a very strong director so this came as a surprise) not knowing how to ground this film in any sort of reality (even a fantastical one).  Stewart's accent work & observation of the real-life Diana's facial expressions are to-die-for (particularly given her LA roots), but she feels adrift in a movie that's largely rudderless.  The film (and her work) just can't find a center, and this becomes a missed opportunity as a result.

The best movie of this bunch is probably Parallel Mothers, though it reads more as a classic because Pedro & Penelope have made so many good movies that you could be forgiven for forgetting that this is only "pretty good" (the third act is filled with too many swings that don't connect).  Cruz is superb, though, hanging on during all of the soap opera moves that the movie gives her titular mother, and reminding us that she's capable of greatness when given the chance.  Like Colman, one of our best working actors, and I hope she doesn't make us wait another decade for a performance this stylized & moving.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards.  For Drama we came very close to Oscar's lineup, with Kidman winning and the only new nominee being Lady Gaga (House of Gucci) instead of Cruz.  For Musical/Comedy, Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) won against Marion Cotillard (Annette), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Jennifer Lawrence (Don't Look Up), & Emma Stone (Cruella).  SAG favored Chastain for their win, with Colman, Gaga, Kidman, & Jennifer Hudson (Respect) the remaining nominees, while BAFTA went totally balls-to-the-walls crazy by giving Joanna Scanlan (After Love) the win atop Gaga, Haim, Emilia Jones (CODA), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World), & Tessa Thompson (Passing), the first time since 1987 that none of the BAFTA nominees for Best Actress also got in with Oscar.  In sixth place was surely Lady Gaga, and honestly...what a relief that Oscar went with Stewart or Cruz over a performance as bad as hers.  Gaga, I'm sorry, has yet to give a decent acting performance (she's a very good singer & songwriter, but she's no thespian), and getting in for work as bad as Gucci...ooph, that would've been a bad look for Oscar (and given her precursor support, she might well have won!).

Actors I Would Have Nominated: The name that did show up quite a bit during precursor season that would've been a great choice would've been Alana Haim, who (like Gaga) is a singer who is in a storied director's vision, but she actually seems well-matched for it, and sells the unusual duet at the top of Licorice Pizza.

Oscar’s Choice: Due to the chaos of the year, and a quick-trending "overdue" narrative that surrounded Jessica Chastain late-in-the-race (even if it's not entirely clear that was super true), she won against Kidman & Cruz, Tom Cruise's exes competing for silver.

My Choice: In a very tight race, I'm going to go with Cruz over Colman, if only because I think Colman is held back by not feeling connected to Jessie Buckley's work as her younger self.  Behind these two are Chastain, Kidman, & Stewart, in that order.

Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours!  Are you fine with Chastain getting her big moment, or would you have stood with me for a second round of Cruz?  Am I on my own in thinking this lineup is kind of a shrug even if it has some world-class actresses?  And am I the only person who doesn't get Gaga: Movie Star?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Also in 2021: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, International Feature Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2021

Past Best Actress Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

No Globe? No SAG? No Problem!

This morning, we officially got our SAG Award nominations, which means that we are now able to write one of my favorite annual articles on this blog.  We don't have a lot of traditions here about the current Oscar season (frequently we are stuck in the past in that regard), but we have written every year for the past ten years an article about the weird phenomenon involving the Golden Globes & SAG Awards.  Oscar, particularly predictable in the past twenty years or so, generally will pick most of his nominations from these two award shows.  However, awards followers always forget that Oscar will pick at least a couple of nominees that are not contenders for either of these major shows.  The last ten years have produced this crew of nominees that weren't mentioned at the Globes or SAG Awards:

2020: Paul Raci & LaKeith Stanfield

2019: Florence Pugh

2018: Marina de Tavira & Yalitza Aparicio

2017: Lesley Manville

2016: Michael Shannon

2015: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Hardy, & Mark Ruffalo

2014: Bradley Cooper, Marion Cotillard, & Laura Dern

2013: Jonah Hill

2012: Quvenzhane Wallis, Emmanuelle Riva, & Jacki Weaver

2011: Gary Oldman & Max von Sydow

You actually have to go back to 2006 to find the last year where all of the Oscar nominees were cited for either the Globes or the SAG Awards.  As you can see from this lineup, the list generally falls into two camps.  Most of the nominees are from films that were being nominated already for Best Picture or one of the major acting nominees.  People like LaKeith Stanfield, Paul Raci, & Florence Pugh in recent years fall into this camp, where they managed to impress in a movie that was already being screened, and the Academy went for it.  Occasionally we get someone like Gary Oldman or Charlotte Rampling who get on this list without such a citation, but in that case they almost always have to be famous (preferably screen legends or former winners/nominees).  Below, I have assembled a list of ten actors that have not been nominated for the Globes or SAG Awards this season, and ranked them based on the likelihood that they will join the list above, becoming Oscar nominees against the odds.  I will state that the below list is predominantly focused on the supporting categories, which feel far more influx than the leads do (we don't normally have this imbalance, but I feel like the supporting categories aren't nearly as defined as they usually are by now).

10. Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

For Her: Hunter is generally getting the best-in-show citations for Macbeth, even as Denzel Washington is scoring most of the nominations.  Though Hunter isn't all that famous, it's easy to see people watching this movie, which just opened (and might not be at the top of the screener list), and nominating her-it's the sort of performance where if you see it, it stands out.  You don't have to be super famous to make the cut in this regard (look at Lesley Manville above, who would be a very similar scenario to Hunter).

Against Her: Obviously, she's not all that famous, and it's easier to get into the race if you're a big name.  I also wonder if she's got some internal competition from 3-time Oscar Winner Frances McDormand, who is by all rights a lead, but is in a small enough portion of the film that I'd totally buy some people putting her in supporting.  For a film this small, that will matter.

9. Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)

For Her: Though her film isn't a threat anywhere else, Cruz is a famous, Oscar-winning movie star...that gives you a crib sheet when it comes to getting into the Oscar ballots.  More importantly, she's in a movie that's opening late...but Oscar voting is also happening later than we typically see for the Globes & SAG Awards.  Could Cruz break late ala Marion Cotillard in 2014...word is she's superb in this movie, which could definitely help.

Against Her: Two things.  First, she has no momentum at this point because her studio opened the film too late & you'd think that Cruz (and Pedro Almodovar) would have been enough to get her into some of the precursor DVD players...that she wasn't is a telling sign.  More importantly, Best Actress feels, very, very wrapped up with Stewart, Kidman, Colman, Chastain, & Gaga all feeling about right, and if they are getting kicked out wouldn't Rachel Zegler (Globe-winning & in a Best Picture nominee) or Jennifer Hudson (SAG-nominated & in a biopic) make more sense?

8. Judi Dench (Belfast)

For Her: For starters, she's Judi Dench, which for a while there was literally all the answer you needed for something like this.  Dench is also in a prominent role in a likely Best Picture nominee (I still think it's one of the three films that is contending for the actual win, all the more reason to endorse it), and she's good in the movie.  She's one of the emotional centers of the film, gets a lot of fun scene-stealing, and if you like the movie enough to cite it as your best picture, it's easy to see someone sparing room for Dench...

Against Her: ...so why is she missing so many citations?  Honestly, Judi Dench is not a new name to the Globes & SAG Awards (she's been nominated plenty of times), and they clearly saw Belfast cause they're nominating her costars.  Is it possible that the Academy has moved beyond the "Grand Dame" route for their nominations-Dench, Helen Mirren, & Maggie Smith have all had plenty of major films in the past decade, but the last time any of them were cited was Dench's nod for Philomena.  It's possible that the Academy feels they've been given enough.

7. Jon Bernthal (King Richard)

For Him: One of the ways that you get in, as I mentioned above, is by being a major part of a serious Best Picture nominee.  Bernthal definitely has that in King Richard, which is a surefire Best Picture nominee and a near-certain winner for Best Actor (sorry, SAG nominations are out, I'm using word like "near-certain" for people like Will Smith at this point).  He's been in the business forever (they like giving character actors like him a random nomination if they can), and he's a highlight in the back-half of King Richard.

Against Him: Is it possible that King Richard is really just the Will Smith show?  The miss this morning for Aunjanue Ellis makes me think that in a year where there appears to be a lot of favored films for acting (the nominations are kind of all-over-the-place save for Best Actress), that giving a win to Smith will be enough for King Richard.  Bernthal would've been higher if Ellis hadn't missed, but I do wonder if the reception to King Richard might be more appreciative than celebratory.

6. Ann Dowd (Mass)

For Her: Dowd started out the year relatively strong.  She got lots of citations for her work in Mass from critics, got a Critics Choice nomination (generally a good indicator of a nomination), and she was singled out by a number of critics as the best-in-show of the stellar cast of Mass.  She's also been working toward this nomination for a while.  You'd be hard-pressed to find a character actress who has dominated more prestige film & television projects in the past decade than Dowd...shouldn't Oscar give her her due?

Against Her: Dowd is the only person on this list who is neither a known movie star or featured in a legitimate Best Picture threat.  She's famous, but probably not famous enough to get through this on her own.  I do wonder if Mass might've been too heavy for an Academy that is favoring a lot of escapist fare this year...or if the Academy thinks that the Emmy she got for The Handmaid's Tale was good enough.

5. JK Simmons (Being the Ricardos)

For Him: Few films this season have exceeded expectations quite like Being the Ricardos (in terms of precursors...its reviews feel, if anything, more-than-generous based on my humbled opinion).  Both of the leading stars of the film (Kidman & Bardem) scored nominations from the Globes AND SAG, and I now have moved this into a probable Best Picture nominee.  Simmons gets a plum part, he's the most famous supporting player in this movie, and a former Oscar winner.  The question is less why Simmons, and more why he doesn't already have traction?

Against Him: It's a good part (alcoholic actor trying to stay afloat), but it's not the center of the story.  Honestly if Simmons misses he can blame Aaron Sorkin for ripping out a lot of the best parts of the I Love Lucy story that might've worked for someone playing William Frawley (his struggles with booze are somewhat glossed over, and his brutal feud with Vivian Vance only gets tertiary importance).

4. Meryl Streep (Don't Look Up)

For Her: She's Meryl f-ing Streep.  Streep has a very, very short list of performances that she was in that fit the term Oscar bait that she didn't score for, and an even shorter list that were nominated for Best Picture that she didn't get in for (basically the only time they've crossed before this is The Hours).  As a result, Streep is in a plum role in a film likely to score a Best Picture nomination, and yet she hasn't been dominating all year.  It's possible, though, that Oscar will default to his regular ways & give her a nomination for her vulgar president in Don't Look Up...after all, if they're into it enough for Best Picture, it'll probably get an acting nod.

Against Her: There's a reason that Streep isn't scoring for Don't Look Up-she's terrible in it, which is honestly not something that Meryl Streep ever gets accused of.  The lack of nominations from especially the Golden Globes, who normally are on her side, makes it seem like no one really wants to shine a light too brightly on this performance (I honestly think Streep would be embarrassed to get this nod).

3. Rita Moreno (West Side Story)

For Her: She's a screen legend, an icon really from the Golden Age of Hollywood, in a year that we lost a lot of links to that era.  She's also a great trivia question, as she was cited for West Side Story before, and gets a major emotional moment late in the film that could help get her attention.  She'd be the oldest Oscar nominee ever...what more do you want in terms of narrative, AMPAS?

Against Her: If last year's snubs of Ellen Burstyn & Sophia Loren are any indication, Oscar is not feeling as sentimental as he once was.  The SAG Awards were probably Moreno's best shot at gaining steam (Disney totally screwed up by not giving out screeners), considering they love to honor older actors, but her missing there might make you think that Oscar only has room for one Maria this year.

2. Nicolas Cage (Pig)

For Him: Part of me wonders if Nicolas Cage is the "Charlotte Rampling" of this year-someone who kept showing up in critics lists to the point where their nomination materialized simply because the people who had seen him in the movie kept putting him #1.  Cage is obviously famous enough to get by on his big name, and the people who love him in Pig really love him.  Also the Academy might want to remind the public that Cage was once considered one of the best actors of his generation before he became something of a Steven Seagal-style punchline.

Against Him: You've got four locks in the Best Actor category (Smith, Cumberbatch, Washington, & Garfield all fell pretty sewn in), and only one slot remaining.  Cage could make it (he's #2 on this list for a reason), but he needs to hold back the very serious threats of Leonardo DiCaprio, Javier Bardem, & Peter Dinklage, the former two both Oscar winners & the latter a major TV star in a film that could break late.  The flip side of the Charlotte Rampling coin is Ethan Hawke in First Reformed, which could be where Cage lands.

1. Marlee Matlin (CODA)

For Her: Let's examine the evidence.  Best Picture nominee? Almost certainly, and it comes by it honestly rather than it feeling manufactured.  Other nominees from her film nominated?  Yep, it looks probable that Troy Kotsur gets in.  Is she famous?  I mean, Marlee Matlin is an Oscar-winning actress who has worked steadily in a Hollywood that has not often had a lot of great roles for deaf actors.  This feels like the sort of late-breaking campaign that should be able to materialize in the coming weeks, and with a lot of chaos happening in Supporting Actress (I don't buy that anyone other than Kirsten Dunst is safe), there's lots of options for Matlin to make it.

Against Her: I'm confused why this campaign doesn't have more traction, particularly after Kotsur scored some major precursors even without being as famous as his costar.  That, and the fact that competition is fierce for this field (five of the women on this list are trying to make it in this lineup, and it's possible they all miss if Dunst, Ellis, Balfe, DeBose, & Negga all get in) are her biggest deterrents.  But I do think she's a serious threat, and honestly (as of today), I'd be predicting her for the fifth slot.

OVP: Actress (2006)

OVP: Best Actress (2006)

The Nominees Were...

Penelope Cruz, Volver

Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

Kate Winslet, Little Children

My Thoughts: On Wednesday, we talked a bit about how weak-sauce the Best Actor field was-one of the worst lineups that Oscar has ever pulled together, and definitely one of the dullest.  The Best Actress field in 2006, though, pulls together (for my money) one of the best that Oscar has come up with.  The rare field to host five winners (though two had to wait a few years to get their statue), and has a quintet of women at the top of their games.  Sadly (but in true Oscar fashion) most of the films that are cited here are not films we saw a lot of in terms of nominations in other categories, so we'll segway into this field with one of the few performances that did.

Helen Mirren won the Oscar in 2006-this is not a spoiler alert, but it does sort of ruin the climax of this article, so I generally don't mention this in the write-ups.  I say it here because this victory has been chalked up in retrospect as the kind of win that happened inevitably-a storied actor at the top of her game getting into an Academy-friendly biopic.  What gets lost in that (not inaccurate) description is that Mirren is glorious in The Queen.  She gives to Elizabeth II (before The Crown tried to three-dimensionalize her) a sense of detachment combined with duty & authenticity.  It would be easy for Mirren to play Elizabeth in private as some broken figure during a moment of national tragedy, but that's not what she does.  Her Queen remains elusive, unknowable, even in her private moments someone who has spent so much time not revealing herself that she sometimes struggles to know where duty ends & Elizabeth begins.  A true triumph from a world-class actor, and the rare case of an overdue performer getting in for some bravura work.

Meryl Streep had been hunting for her third trophy for several decades by the time Prada rolled around, and the "overdue" drum had been beating to give her a statue since at least Bridges of Madison County.  Had it not been for Mirren, it's probable that she would've won it here.  Streep's work here is some of the best of a career that is defined by being "the best."  Miranda Priestly would also be easy to humanize, a woman of immense power who has had to sacrifice much of herself to get where she is, but Streep doesn't play her that way.  Miranda is not a saint, she's not perfect or even a hero, but she is a woman who knows what it takes to succeed, for the good or the bad, and Streep gets that.  It's a small part (she's in less than a third of the film...Dench & Cruz are double that), but she lands every second with a brilliant iconography-Streep has not been this good since.

Judi Dench has made a career out of playing a similar breed of aging British woman-sometimes with money, sometimes without, but a pleasant scene-stealer who is there to please your aunt.  Notes on a Scandal is the closest that Dench has (since becoming a bonafide movie star) come to playing against type, which is a risk (sometimes such things fall flat), but here she nails her part.  Dench is jaw-dropping as a closeted lesbian in lust with a flawed younger teacher, and totally nails every inch of this sociopath.  As an audience we're taught to understand how deep Dench's malevolence goes pretty early on, but it's still a juxtaposition to have sweet Judi Dench tear apart an unknowing Blanchett's life simply for not conforming to her twisted fantasy.  The final scene, in particular, with the cool lies & lack of perspective, totally sell the movie.

It's hard to believe, but at one point it was a question mark as to how good of an actress Penelope Cruz was.  Between the mixed views on Vanilla Sky (which I will be watching later this month, but haven't seen yet) and the press's preoccupation with her love life (specifically dating Tom Cruise), Cruz felt before 2006 to be an actress that was more for the tabloids than the Oscars.  With Volver, she quickly proved herself to be a proper actress, playing the complicated role of Raimunda (a woman with secrets who is being "haunted" by her mother), flawlessly.  Cruz is so good at combining Almodovar's cheeky sense of humor with his propensity for dark plots, and has marvelous chemistry with the cascade of women in the cast.

Kate Winslet was not, in 2006, someone that we were wondering if she could act (this has never really been a question mark in Winslet's storied career).  But in 2006 we were wondering what direction her career would take as she played yet another earth goddess-style figure, ready to be worshiped by Patrick Wilson.  Turns out, this was still essential viewing.  Winslet brings a specific kind of bored energy to her Sara, someone who knows that she can seduce a man, but wants to test exactly how he'll make her feel, as she's walled up so much of her true self.  Little Children is not an easy film to love, but Todd Field's ability with actors is shown best with Winslet's work here, as he lets his actor's natural strengths shift the way we view the character.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards.  The Drama categories gave it up to Mirren, with all save for Streep among the nominees (in her place, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby), while Streep won Comedy/Musical over Annette Bening (Running with Scissors), Beyonce (Dreamgirls), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), & Renee Zellweger (Miss Potter).  SAG & the Globe went with an exact replica of the Oscar race, both winners & nominees.  Gyllenhaal was probably sixth, but as someone who lived through this year, it was one of those seasons where no one was taking down this Top 5...

Actors I Would Have Nominated: ...and with good reason.  I will reveal my final ballot next week, but the only name that is remotely in contention to take out one of these top five is Naomi Watts in The Painted Veil (a great portrayal of a complicated, thawing woman), and she'd be going for fifth place at best.

Oscar’s Choice: In a different year Streep might have won a third or we would've gotten an early coronation for Penelope Cruz, but in 2006, there was no beating Helen Mirren.

My Choice: I know this will shock the collective internet, but I'm also going to agree with Oscar here. Streep (my silver) gives an iconic turn, but I feel like Mirren ultimately has layers in her performance that go unnoticed until we rewatch.  It's a close race though, with Cruz, Dench, & Winslet bringing up the back.  The rare year where Oscar could have picked anyone & it would've been one of the decade's better decisions.

Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours!  Are you with the collective awards run (including me), or will you go with Miranda Priestley & her legions of memes?  Who's another actor like Judi Dench we want to see play against type as a villain?  And has there ever been such a lock-step Oscar field?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Also in 2006: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2006

Past Best Actress Contests: 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019

OVP: Pain & Glory (2019)

Film: Pain & Glory (2019)
Actors: Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Asier Exteandia, Cecilia Roth
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Actor-Antonio Banderas, International Feature Film-Spain)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Few working directors have the consistent motif and style of Pedro Almodovar.  In many ways he is the true heir to Alfred Hitchcock, not in terms of subject matter (though Almodovar is not above making a great thriller), but in the way that you know it's his movie from the film's start to the eventual finish.  He repeats cast members, he repeats stories, but they always feel full of feeling, of depth.  Even when it doesn't work, it still pretty much does-few directors are as well-equipped to handle style to get past gaps in substance as Pedro.  As a result, I was curious what Pain & Glory would do for the director.  In many ways, this feels like one of the most autobiographical movies in his filmography, and like so many directors who stray into their own stories, would this feel too indulgent, too personal, to work on a big-screen?

(Spoilers Ahead) As you can imagine since it's autobiographical, the movie is about a film director, in this case Salvador Mallo (Banderas), a once great filmmaker who is most noted for his picture Sabor, a movie he didn't approve of when it was released but nonetheless has been rediscovered by audiences.  The initial moments of the picture show him trying to reconnect with the film's star Alberto Crespo (Exteandia) whom he loathed at one point, and bad-mouthed to the point that Alberto's career never recovered (due to Crespo's drug use).  However, Mallo, suffering from debilitating pain due to a series of ailments, becomes hooked on heroin due to Crespo dealing with him, and we slowly see him remember his life during heroin highs, recalling his domineering mother (played when she's young by Cruz, and as an older woman by Julieta Serrano), and his lust after a local painter when he was a young man, Eduardo (Vicente).  We get brief interludes where we see Mallo with the love of his life Federico (Sbaraglia) one night (a man whom he abandoned, but still pines for in his work), and ultimately we see redemption, as Salvador kicks the heroin habit, gets surgery for his ailments, and goes back to work, circularly making a film that resembles Pain & Glory.

The film, like all of Almodovar's work, has a lot to offer.  Banderas has been getting Oscar buzz (though I don't think it's going to be loud enough for him to land for this), and it shows.  This is a big role for an actor who has long been Almodovar's muse, and while he doesn't play this as Pedro (his Salvador is more introverted, less flashy), you can see the director's inspiration in the care he gives his work & consideration of it.  Cruz is also good as the mother, an atypical part (in the last scene it's not entirely clear if Cruz has been playing the mother or an actress playing Salvador's mother), but she brings an understanding to the role that other actresses might have biffed.  She knows why her son is obsessed with Eduardo, and why he literally passes out after watching Eduardo bathe in front of him (to be fair-if you've seen this scene I'm surprised they didn't have resuscitation paddles outside the theater for patrons who passed out due to Vicente's sex appeal), but she's reluctant enough in her acceptance of it to not mention such a thing, for fear she'll have to condone it.  Other actresses would have found room for a "big scene" here, perhaps in an Oscar play, but Cruz (who already has an Oscar) doesn't need to to make sure that we know that her mother is all-knowing.

The film's drug haze feels tired at times-we've seen so many movies about the damages of drugs with famous artists recently with music biopic fever that I didn't really need this in yet another movie, and the "haziness providing clarity" is a pretty lazy trope for the flashbacks.  But Pain & Glory has a lot to offer even if it's not going to be one of the "mountains" in Pedro's filmography.  The scenes between Salvador & Federico are sweet and felt, the way we rarely see from mature romances onscreen where only young love is worth celebrating, and I loved the way that Pedro's script invests in a love of movies without ever having to have a series of expositional studies about classic cinema. Pain & Glory takes some turns and risks that don't pay off, but at it's best it's more than worth the price of a ticket, the price of admission to see a master of his craft.

OVP: Supporting Actress (2008)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2008)

The Nominees Were...

Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

My Thoughts: In one of those truly rare moments for this category, all five of these women are actually in supporting roles.  Almost always there's at least one lead performance that sneaks in, and quite frankly there almost was with Kate Winslet dominating the precursor awards before The Reader managed to sneak her into Best Actress, a blessing for this category (though less so for Sally Hawkins, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Winslet herself, all of whom were vying for that fifth Best Actress slot), resulting in a very competitive race for the Oscar and women who actually seem like they should be here.  As a result, we'll start out with the woman who benefited most from the Academy's good sense, Penelope Cruz.

Cruz is in the only film we haven't really discussed yet, as this is Vicky Cristina Barcelona's only Oscar nomination.  It seems odd that Woody was able to score an acting nomination when he couldn't for writing (this almost never happens), but it's easy to see what led them to Cruz-the film lives off of her energy.  Here is the Penelope we always dreamed of onscreen, where she casually throws her intense sexuality around, vivaciously owning everyone onscreen, and creating a great, outward performance without ever resorting to scenery-chewing.  I love the way you can see her Maria Elena plotting, thinking-this is a woman who wears everything on her face, and Cruz knows this-she doesn't hide that she's emotional, just what her next move is.  I love the care that Cruz gives her, and I love that she effervesces so much under Woody's minimalist direction.

The same cannot quite be said for Taraji P. Henson.  Henson has become such a treasure both onscreen and off since then (she's always super fun in interviews), and has clearly had talent for years, but this isn't what you'd generally consider her best work, even if it's her most-noted.  Her work is all surface-level, frequently attractive surface-level, but surface-level nonetheless.  The film doesn't really care about her Queenie, and so she has to be gregarious and a bit over-the-top to gain attention in Benjamin Button, but as a result we never really learn much about the woman behind Queenie, and Henson never goes beyond the script here to show it.

Marisa Tomei is in a similar situation with The Wrestler.  This is one of those performances where the critics and I probably differed the most.  I do get the appeal-Tomei is too intriguing of a performer for this not to feel like a particularly interesting role, and I love the way that she alternates between her world one-on-one with Randy and the one that she has in the club.  However, that's about all I have because I thought so much of this felt surface-level as well.  Tomei is too interesting of a performer to not be watchable, but I feel like the film and she are only interested in Randy, and not in her Cassidy.  As a result, there always feels like there's something missing in the film, with Tomei holding back on some key ingredient.

The final two women are the Doubt-ers.  Amy Adams gets the considerably larger role of the two women, but I just don't fly with this particular piece.  I secretly was hoping that she'd have a little more than flighty protest in her, and there's not really a scene where she stands out as a performer, even though it's easy to see how she stands out in her character.  Even in her vain protests about Father Flynn's theoretical innocence, she cannot carry the film against Streep's massive personality, and so frequently in a film filled with bombast, she's on the sidelines, squeaking "me too!"  It's probably in her character, but Adams doesn't find more in the character like she would in a film like Junebug, and this feels too surface-level.  We never understand her motives as a character, and we're left more with Adams' charms as a screen presence, but not great acting.

Viola Davis, on the other hand, proves that there are no small parts, only incredibly talented actors who know their big moment has arrived.  Davis in roughly ten minutes of screen-time completely steals the movie, playing Mrs. Miller as a woman with so many secrets.  Her scene with Streep is so good-at first she's just in a hurry, defensive, and then she slowly starts to play more and more cards.  The way that she has such a complete understanding of her son and the way she says "it's just til June," you get the sense that she knows more of what is happening than anyone involved, and has been desperate for someone to talk to, even though she continually holds back.  It's the sort of work that could have been much bigger or much larger, but Davis knows that she needs to hold back to maintain the questions surrounding Father Flynn's guilt.  There's a reason that Meryl Streep proclaimed, "somebody give her a movie!"

Other Precursor Contenders: Like many of the precursors, the illusion that Kate Winslet was supporting in The Reader stuck here, with her emerging victorious while replacing Taraji P. Henson from the lineup (all of the other acting contenders stuck around).  The SAG Awards also chose her, with Marisa Tomei getting the boot there.  BAFTA had a slightly different take on the matter, though, with Winslet being nominated in lead, so Penelope Cruz was able to take the trophy, but again we were left without Taraji P. Henson and in this case Viola Davis, as Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire and Tilda Swinton in Burn After Reading both were considered.  While it's obvious to assume that Winslet was in sixth place (or, quite frankly she was considerably higher but wasn't eligible despite already being listed in lead), I wonder who else was right behind her.  I suspect that had they expanded the field a little wider it would have gotten several names like RoseMarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) or Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler).  Or it would have been my worst nightmare realized and Freida Pinto's awful work in Slumdog Millionaire would have made the cut.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Surely I would have found room for Catherine Deneuve in A Christmas Tale, who brings sublime restraint to her cancer-ridden matriarch, and I definitely would have included Debra Winger's bitter mother in Rachel Getting Married (another role, like Davis, who found a lot to do with very little screen time).

Oscar’s Choice: Without the default answer of Winslet, this was likely a battle between Cruz, Davis, and Tomei, with Cruz having the showier role and Woody's magic with Supporting Actresses, so she won (she also had massive momentum at the time, though she never seems to work anymore).

My Choice: Like Oscar it's a battle between Davis and Cruz, but I'm going to go with Davis who does more with less and gives, in my opinion, the female performance of the year.  Cruz follows, with Henson, Adams, and Tomei behind. With this win Viola Davis becomes our first actor to take two OVP's. 

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Does everyone agree with Cruz as Oscar's choice, or are you with me that it should have been Viola?  Anyone want to make the case that Kate Winslet was actually supporting?  And what names other than Kate and these five were close to an Oscar nomination?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

Also in 2008: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2008

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

OVP: Supporting Actress (2009)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2009)

The Nominees Were...

Penelope Cruz, Nine

Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

My Thoughts: And let's do one more before we break it up with another post (then we'll hit the Big 4).  Considering the recent bout of category fraud that has hit a number of races in recent years (Julia Roberts...seriously?) it's quite impressive that all five of these women seem to have fallen into actually being a supporting performance, which is definitely cause for celebration.  Gyllenhaal arguably comes the closest to lead, but I feel stays on the sides enough to not quibble.  And there's my segway into the race-let's start with Maggie.

Gyllenhaal's nomination was the giant surprise of Oscar nomination morning.  Aside from not knowing what would happen in the Best Picture race (A Serious Man triumphing over Invictus is definitely a headscratcher) and The Secret of Kells stunner, the only other real surprise that morning was that Gyllenhaal made it over a number of more likely contenders.  Gyllenhaal likely benefited from what was a major Jeff Bridges love-in at the time; the man could do no wrong.  As a result, she got an Oscar nomination many of us had been expecting for her eventually, but unfortunately it was for a role that was SO poorly cast.  Gyllenhaal cannot seem to get inside of this woman-she's far better at dark comedy, and this is a dramatic character study.  It's the sort of role that Marisa Tomei was born to play.  With Gyllenhaal, she tries to find some wryness where there is none, and doesn't get the emotional bouts with alcoholism and her inner demons that Bridges does to flesh out her character.  Plus-that soppy ending does her no favors, and she doesn't know how to sell conceivable forgiveness in such a quick time frame.  A throwaway nomination for an actress who can do so much better.

That's kind of how I felt, quite frankly, about Penelope Cruz in Nine, to be honest.  This is an actress who has been consistently spectacular, and was coming off a trio of great performances (is this streak over now-I feel like while Cruz will stage a comeback the heat from this giant brilliant run has subsided...that's what working with Johnny Depp will do to you, apparently).  The problem I have with this performance, and the movie in general, is that I don't feel a lot of what she's feeling-she doesn't have the same connection with her character (who is mostly surface level) that her costar Cotillard is able to achieve.  I know it's not in the spirit of the OVP to compare a non-nominated performance (click the link up top for a further explanation, but the goal really is to be an Academy voter and just consider these five women), but it's hard not to when you have such a strongly felt character happening on the other side of the screen.  Cruz can sell sex, and her "Call from the Vatican" is a sultry delight, but this is all surface level, and a performance that got nominated more from the heat of the performer than from the actual work onscreen.

The same could not be said for Mo'Nique (I'm throwing you off and not starting or ending with the presumed frontrunner, but putting her squarely in the middle).  So much has been written about this work I don't really know where to begin, or if I can possibly be original (or not just throw out superlatives).  What makes Mary Jones so special is the way that Mo'Nique grounds her into our world.  This is the sort of monster that we could encounter every day-we see people in the supermarket and at the bus stop who could be Mary Jones-regular, average people with a nightmare in them.  Mo'Nique finds that terror in her character-think of that monologue at the end, where Mary confesses to the abuse, of knowing that her daughter was being raped, and then justifying it in her words.  So many great speeches in movies are from characters who have clearly rehearsed them.  Mary Jones is not a character that thought she'd ever need this speech, and you can see the ever-so-real pain in her eyes as she says things she didn't realize she believed.  All three women (even Mariah) sell this scene brilliantly, but it's Mo'Nique that makes it devastating.  Her Mary is a monster, but one that is grounded in true life, and that's what's so chilling about her work.

It's hard to come off of Mo'Nique, but I do want to be an advocate for one Anna Kendrick.  I know that she's found her niche in musicals (god bless her for that), but her work in Up in the Air is fascinating.  I know this wasn't a performance suited for everyone, but it was for me.  I love the way that we're left to believe that Vera is the true threat to George Clooney's Ryan Bingham, but in reality it is bright, young Natalie.  She's the embodiment of his worst nightmare-being on the other end of the table, forced to find a new worldview.  Kendrick knows this, and though Ntalie is shaky and constantly looking for reassurance, she has the knowledge to be able to take the upper-hand occasionally (and sometimes without realizing how she did it).  And the moment where Natalie actually has to look someone in the eyes, over the computer, and see what she's doing-it's haunting acting from Kendrick.

Her costar gains points over Kendrick in the sense that she seems to know her character much better than Kendrick does, but doesn't always share that with the audience.  Farmiga's Alex is a standard movie trope-the gorgeous fantasy woman, the perfect companion to Clooney's Ryan, and during the early scenes with the seduction and them showing off their cards-it's soulmate sort of stuff, even for potentially soulless people.  The later scenes, though, when Farmiga's secret family comes to light and her coldness pulls through-we see in Clooney's eyes what this is doing, but we don't quite get there with Farmiga.  She's not bad (she's never bad), but I don't feel the pull that I did with Clooney's work in these same scenes-Farmiga doesn't seem to give as much in what her character can show, there's no slips and she's clearly trying to make one happen.  It's definitely a performance with promise and some of it is delivered (and she can connect sexy to her character better than Cruz did), but it's not in a tier by itself.

Other Precursor Contenders: This category wasn't quite as lockstep as some of the other fields, though the Globes were close.  Mo'Nique won, and all but Gyllenhaal were there, with Julianne Moore in A Single Man taking the final slot.  Gyllenhaal also missed at the SAG Awards with Diane Kruger taking her spot for Inglourious Basterds (Mo'Nique won again).  Finally, there were the BAFTA Awards (who were off on their own beat in 2009 which was great in such a monotonous awards season), giving the trophy to Mo'Nique but skipping both Gyllenhaal and Cruz in favor of two actresses in Nowhere Boy (Anne-Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas).  For the sixth place, I think I'd call it for Julianne Moore, but this was a VERY tight race.  I honestly could have made a very solid argument that Samantha Morton in The Messenger or Marion Cotillard in Nine could also have been sixth place (when everyone is going to cheer for one person to win, the nominations can be surprising-see also 2003 Best Actress race).

Actors I Would Have Nominated: I would probably throw out three of the nominees, and definitely find room for Julianne Moore's boozy frenemy in A Single Man, Melanie Laurent's silent warrior in Inglourious Basterds, and especially Marion Cotillard's neglected ex-wife in Nine.  Cotillard's inability to get an Oscar nomination since her giant victory for La Vie en Rose continues to baffle me (I personally would have given her three since then), but for some reason the Academy cooled on her right around the time the rest of the world felt enamored.

Oscar’s Choice: It was clearly more about the performance than the politics, or so she said in her speech, as Mo'Nique emerged triumphant.  One of the great puzzles of 2009 remains who was in second place here.  My gut says Kendrick, who is the pretty young ingenue in this category, though I honestly could be convinced that anyone but Cruz was in second.  I also think that had Precious never been made this would have been the year that Julianne Moore finally won an Oscar.

My Choice: Like every sane individual, Mo'Nique also makes the top of my list.  I'll follow her with Kendrick in silver, then Farmiga, Cruz, and finally Gyllenhaal.

Those are my thoughts-how about yours?  Is there anyone who doesn't side with Mo'Nique for the win?  Does someone want to defend the Gyllenhaal nomination?  Which of the Up in the Air ladies was your favorite?  And who was the best supporting actress of 2009?  Share in the comments!

Also in 2009: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Film, Animated Feature, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2009

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2010, 2011, 2012