One of the most recurrent "suggestions" regarding Supporting Actress Sundays has been to "have more recent years." The request has presented proven a conundrum. I am -- both by nature and by training -- a historian. And I commenced Supporting Actress Sundays as essentially a historical project, placing a "moratorium" on the previous ten years of Supporting Actress nominations to permit a productively historical distance. But, lovely reader, your pokings and proddings have won out and I have determined to submit to contemporary bias for the month of May. So, in honor of all you short-term memory types...What year deserves the focus
for MAY's month of
Supporting Actress Sundays?
for MAY's month of
Supporting Actress Sundays?
1997: Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential, Joan Cusack in In and Out, Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting, Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights, Gloria Stuart in TitanicThe choice is yours...
1998: Kathy Bates in Primary Colors, Brenda Blethyn in Little Voice, Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love, Rachel Griffiths in Hilary and Jackie, Lynn Redgrave in Gods and Monsters
1999: Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense, Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted, Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich, Samantha Morton in Sweet and Lowdown, Chloe Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry
2000: Judi Dench in Chocolat, Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock, Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, Frances McDormand in Almost Famous, Julie Walters in Billy Elliot
2001: Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind, Helen Mirren in Gosford Park, Maggie Smith in Gosford Park, Marisa Tomei in In the Bedroom, Kate Winslet in Iris
2002: Kathy Bates in About Schmidt, Julianne Moore in The Hours, Queen Latifah for Chicago, Meryl Streep in Adaptation, Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago
2003: Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand and Fog, Patricia Clarkson in Pieces of April, Marcia Gay Harden in Mystic River, Holly Hunter in thirteen, Renee Zellwegger in Cold Mountain
2004: Cate Blanchett in The Aviator, Laura Linney in Kinsey, Virginia Madsen in Sideways, Sophie Okonedo in Hotel Rwanda, Natalie Portman in Closer
2005: Amy Adams in Junebug, Catherine Keener in Capote, Frances McDormand in North Country, Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain, Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener
Let your voice be heard by voting in the column at right or here.
23 comments:
Somewhat oddly, this lineup contains two of the best in recent memory (1999 and 2005) and one of the worst ever (1997). I voted for 1999 because Collette & Sevigny are both outstanding and Keener and Jolie are both good. I haven't seen Morton's film, but its on my queue.
2005 has three outstanding performances (Adams, Keener and Weisz) and one decent performance (McDormand) and also one performance I haven't seen yet (Williams).
You haven't seen Brokeback yet? Wow. We should probably stage a virtual viewing party whatever the outcome of this month's voting...
That said, 1999 would be good for me, as I've only seen one (!) of those movies. I'll leave y'all to guess which one.
(FYI - there is one field in this batch in which I have seen NONE of the nominated movies....)
Hmm, I'm trying to decide whether it's more likely that you've never seen Shakespeare in Love, Almost Famous, or Gosford Park.
Joe - I have seen one of those three movies.
i voted for 1999 ---such a good lineup and it misses some other great people too
wait STINKY. you've only seen 1 of the nominees from 1999. i am shocked. it's such a strong lineup. I'm guessing you've seen BOYS DON'T CRY
which means you're in for a real treat with BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
or did you mean 2000. i'm so confused (based on Joe's response)
Nathaniel: yes, I have only seen one of the 1999 nominees (Boys Don't Cry). Joe's post actually refers to my earlier statement that there is one entire field of nominees that I have not seen.
2005 is an amazing year for the category. Frances MDormand was kind of same old, same old and Catherine Keener was nodded for the wrong movie, but the other 3 performances were brilliant.
I prefer Weisz of the 3, but Williams and Adams really were something special.
I am one of the few who loved Catherine Keener in 'Capote'. Short but absolutely brilliant - it is rare that AMPAS recognizes perfs like that.
In 1997 three out of five of the perfs get ONE HEART from me, another gets TWO HEARTS and another gets FOUR HEARTS.
For me, it's 1998 or nothing. You have 3 larger than life British actresses (Dame Judi Dench, Blethyn & Redgrave) battling it out with Kathy Bates, proving her Misery nomination was no fluke, and the incomparable Rachel Griffiths upstaging Emily Watson. I haven't caught Blethyn yet, but the rest are true winners.
I voted for 2001, because while it's not my favourite year on the list (2005 and 1999 duke it out for that honour), I think it'd be the most interesting to see a panel take on. I've seen a wide range of opinion on all the nominees, which surprises me quite a bit, actually.
It's still a very good year, though. And I love all of the movies on it, bar the one that stings me.
Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm not the only one who thinks that '99 is the most interesting on the list.
1998 was another good year - I haven't seen Dench, but Blethyn and Redgrave were fantastic and Griffiths was a gem in a terrible film. You could tell that Bates was trying but it never quite translated.
There are some other actresses that were criminally ignored that year:
Jane Adams in "Happiness"
Lisa Kudrow in "The Opposite of Sex"
Patricia Clarkson in "High Art"
Oooh, I'm really pulling for 1998 to make it. I've only seen 3/5, but I've been meaning to see Hilary & Jackie (for Griffiths's performance alone) for a while.
Hilary and Jackie is terrible, but Rachel Griffiths is good in it. I would have slit my wrists had I been forced to watch any more of Emily Watson's attention-seeker antics, however. She can mug worse than any other living actress.
nice to see you nominated Laura Linney and patrica Clarkson
two wonderful actors.
good blog by the way
'97 is a sentimental favorite for me ... I always loved the Oscars as a kid, but that was the first year I was conscious of it, having seen 3 of the 5 nominated performances by Oscar time. Whether or not they were 3 great performances is another story.
Kim Basinger's win is officially the worst Oscar win in history. There were other far more deserving performances that weren't even nominated - a trifecta of Christina Ricci (especially), Sigourney Weaver and Joan Allen from 'The Ice Storm' would have been much appreciated.
Minnie Driver was my favorite of the bunch: she was naturalistic and exuded a warm intelligence, but it wasn't a knock-your-socks-off performance, Julianne Moore (in my mind) played the role as more of an idea than a person, Gloria Stuart was all dramatic gazes into middle distance, and there was really no common ground between her and her younger counterpart, and Joan Cusack only succeeded in being shrill and annoying - but not in a good way.
Even Tori Spelling, who was quite good in 'The House of Yes', would have been a welcome replacement for some of these nominees, but Christina Ricci in 'The Ice Storm' wins my prize, hands down, for the best supporting actress performance of that year.
I found 2001 to be one of the, if not worst, most *boring* years in recent memory. Connelly was turgid, Smith was phoning it in, Winslet was fine but didn't match the Dench portrayal thematically, and Tomei was swallowed up by the oppressive tone of the film. Mirren gave the only really impressive performance for me, but she was hardly in the film - I would have liked to see Carrie-Anne Moss there for 'Memento', Parker Posey for 'Josie and the Pussycats' and maybe even Claudie Blakley in 'Gosford Park', although she was on-screen for all of three or four minutes. Emily Watson in the same film would be a worthy candidate, too - its the only time I've ever liked her (and indeed the only time I've ever perceived her as having even a lick of talent).
I've been quiet because I really can't decide as all these years are so accessible that I've been waiting for someone to convince me. I think I just might leave it up to my fellow smackdowners.
But I did want to say amen to whip-smart's take on the Kim Basinger win. Do not understand the win (and that movie, wow what happened in the third?). If they were giving out an award for successfully wearing an outfit to look like Barbara Stanwyck in your introductory shot, then go Basinger but for the rest? What the heck was that?
Clarkson is easily my winner from '98 so it's nice to hear others excited about her. It's utterly distressing to me that her oscar nomination came for a completely random performance when she's been completely statue worthy in other films.
grrrrr
i guess they always have to make up for missed opportunities
This is late but for 2000, I would have replaced Judi Dench in Chocolat with Pei Pei Cheng in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
I actually liked Patty a lot in 'Pieces of April' - it was certainly a welcome nomination. It wasn't a great film, but it holds a special place in my heart as the only film to have made me cry successfully.
i personally did not like many of the 99 nominees esp sevigny whom i though seemed lethargic and hopeless in her crying scenes no emotion,jolie was showy but showed no depth in her final big scene,keener did her bitch act from the previous years your friends and neighbors and did it better,morton was okay but the praise for mute roles is a bit like deglamming and collette seemed to me the most natural but again some of her big scenes were slightly overplayed and the accent shone through
my 5 from 99 would be
cameron diaz
mena suvari
gwyneth paltrow
angelina jolie
toni collette.
i'd like to see 1997 re done as it is the farthest away.
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