Illustration by Jillian Tamaki
On Sunday, February 27, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences will honour Hollywood’s top talent with its 77th
annual Oscar presentation. Before the stars dance into the
night — or, more specifically, along the red-carpet walk from
their limousines to Vanity Fair’s ultra-luxe after-party
— our critics discuss the presentation’s most prominent prizes.
From now through the end of the week, get up on what’s going
down with Oscar’s best actor, actress, directing and picture
awards.
Contributors
Tara Ariano co-created and co-edits Hissyfit.com, Fametracker.com and TelevisionWithoutPity.com. She is the author of Untitled: A Bad Teen Novel.
Stephen Cole writes about television for CBC.ca.
Katrina Onstad writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
February 23, 2004
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
The nominees: Annette Bening (Being Julia), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) and Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
From: Stephen Cole
To: Tara Ariano, Katrina Onstad
Subject: Best ActressIt’s always a relief to see that there are good performances to consider in the Best Actress category. Some years Hollywood discovers too late it didn’t make any movies with women — like it’s Christmas and you realize you forgot to get a present for mom. I count three great roles/performances here. Kate Winslet won’t win — again — but her darling Clementine with the mood-swing hair-colour changes in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind gave that great film its inspiration and energy. Imelda Staunton was memorably brilliant in Vera Drake, but I have to admit as I sat there watching the movie I kept saying to myself, Boy this is a worthwhile film, I hope it ends soon.
That leaves Hilary Swank, who is developing a career specialty in playing doomed optimists. Million Dollar Baby is an improbable tale made convincing by Swank’s belief and emotional investment in the story. And forgive me for being cynical, but I’ve always believed that the secret to winning an Oscar is a good crying scene or a tortured soliloquy on the phone. Swank has both here. Plus she’s a more convincing boxer than De Niro. I think she’ll win. I hope she wins.
From: Tara Ariano
To: Stephen Cole, Katrina Onstad
Subject: Best ActressShe won't.
The late, great HBO series Mr. Show had a skit that parodied self-conscious acting by gathering its cast to do a superficial interpretation of any Shakespearean tragedy with lines like, "Look at me! I'm the king, and I yell the loudest!" and "I'm the queen! Look at the big actor on the stage!" That skit immediately popped into my head when I first saw the trailer for Being Julia, a dull-looking period adaptation of a forgotten short story no one has read in this century. Annette Bening, in the title role, got to be in almost every scene, behave as though she had a sense of humour about the diva-ish trappings of contemporary actors and wear turbans. I get why she wanted to do it, but not why I should have cared to watch it. And now the big story of this year's Oscars is how she's in her 40s and still has chops and hasn't had Botox and so forth, as though we should all admire the triumphant story of a woman who came out of nowhere to give this apparently brilliant performance. THIS is the underdog we should all be rooting for? SHE'S MARRIED TO WARREN BEATTY.
Anyway. Hilary Swank may have given the better performance, but she's only 30, and she already has one Best Actress Oscar. There are surely many in the Academy who are still pissed that Swank won over Hollywood Royalty© (Bening) the last time; my bet is that it won't happen twice.
From: Katrina Onstad
To: Tara Ariano, Stephen Cole
Subject: Best ActressIt's true; turbans are just a little too tempting for any actress, and there were shades of Carol Burnett doing Sunset Blvd. in Bening's performance, but I do think it's interesting when a sharp performance — and she WAS funny, and deflated her own histrionics for poignancy when it was finally appropriate — saves an otherwise totally mediocre film. (Perhaps this explains Stephen's still unfathomable love of Ray? quipped the perpetually grumpy Norwegian judge.)
I'd love to see Winslet grab it. She is oft-nominated and shined here in a way she just didn't as the TB-coughing, sacrificial mother of Finding Neverland; she wasn't allowed to be too distracting there, since that movie was all about the kids. I was happy to see Winslet loosed from her corsets and finally playing contemporary, and thrilled to see just how contemporary she could be; love the hair, the neuroses, the unsinkable love. Sniff. Great movie.
But what always fascinates me is the "fat chance among us" nomination, often bestowed upon a foreigner; welcome to L.A., Catalina Sandino Moreno, this year's Javier Bardem! She won't grab it Linda Hunt style, but it always seems so perverse, and perhaps lovely, when the stodgy old Academy opens its doors — briefly — to the hot young Other. Let's see how much work this Colombian actress gets in the next few years.
From: Stephen Cole
To: Tara Ariano, Katrina Onstad
Subject: Best ActressWaaaiittt a second, I never said I loved Ray. "Cut above standard biopic" were my exact words. I make no greater claim for Ray than it was an entertaining movie. Unlike say Being Julia where, watching Annette Bening, I sometimes felt like I was trapped beside a nervous horse in a burning barn. Have to admit though that Bening's winning makes a good Oscar night story.
From: Tara Ariano
To: Stephen Cole, Katrina Onstad
Subject: Best ActressIt would be amazing if Catalina Sandino Moreno won, but come on. She didn't even speak English! Does that even count as a movie, technically? I mean, honestly.
The only interest for me in the Swank/Bening face-off — which, really, is what this category amounts to this year — is how it will affect their careers going forward. Swank is a very likable, talented actress, whose Oscar win for Boys Don't Cry didn't save her from doing forgettable crap like The Core. In fact, come to think of it, none of the recent Best Actress winners of the past few years has been cursed that way: consider Gwyneth (View from the Top), Julia (Mona Lisa Smile), and, ugh, Halle (Catwoman). If she had TWO Oscars, maybe Hilary Swank would actually turn into the female Tom Hanks of her generation and quit being in such stinkholes.
But that whole question's academic anyway, since Bening is a lock.
From: Katrina Onstad
To: Tara Ariano, Stephen Cole
Subject: Best ActressI think you're probably right; Oscar loves to honour Hollywood royalty and Bening has a tiara under her turban. But don't forget that Swank did the closest thing to “ugly” this year by bulking up. I thought she looked great, but the fat lips might count for points, like Nicole Kidman's Virginia Woolf nose. Moreno and this year's Dame Dench, Imelda Staunton, can kick back and enjoy the festivities without a cold-penguin-pig-flying chance in hell of winning, but don't count out the Swank!
P.S.: Stephen loves Ray! Stephen loves Ray!
