Supporting Actress Smackdown - 1999

The Year is...

1999

And the Smackdowners for the 72nd Annual Academy Awards are...

BRAD of Criticlasm
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTER of Boy on Film
JOE R of Low Resolution
JS C of He Thinks He's A God
MIDDENTO of when i look deep in your eyes
with
yours truly, STINKYLULU.

1999's Supporting Actresses are...
(Each Smackdowner's comments are arranged according to ascending levels of love. Click on the nominee's name/film to see StinkyLulu's Supporting Actress Sunday review.)

Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense

BROOKEA rather surprising nomination, but not a bad one. Collette, despite being in a rather neglected role, delivers a decent performance. If only the role was written a bit more, this offbeat talent could really have shone.
STINKYLULU Stirring a heady mix of ferocity and vulnerability, Collette avoids cliché while layering complexity and compassion into Lynn's every gesture, providing a formidable and funny emotional anchor for the film.
MIDDENTO I hate to say that I was sold on this flick, manipulative as it is, from Collette's performance alone. Touching and real, yet (despite the tears) unsentimental, the performance grounds the film in a subtle, nuanced way.
JS C"Do... Do I make her proud?"
BRADCollette dropped doing too much and did just enough. Though the nomination is probably based on the car scene, watching the film again makes me realize it's the woman she's set up – the woman who cares for her son deeply – that makes Lynn as resonant as she is. My favorite performance in the film by far – even more than Mischa Barton as Linda Blair.
JOE RKills me dead every single time. Fierce strength and shattering vulnerability, at once. The way she acts with her fingernails. And that scene in the car -- the rare "Oscar clip" scene that lives up to the billing.

TOTAL: 25s

Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted

MIDDENTOAs we are supposed to venerate actressing at the edges, EDGES THAT CUT HAHAHA, I ask whether the uneven, JAGGED YAAAAAH rollercoaster ride Jolie takes us on supports the movie by foiling a subdued Winona WEEPING PAIN or her own clear ascent WHEEEEEEEEEE! to stardom
STINKYLULUJolie's palpable emotional clarity ably steers the film and the actress delivers a generally lucid performance. Not bad, but rarely subtle, and never deep.
JS C"Playing the villain, baby, just like you want. I try to give you everything you want. Because it makes you the good guy, sweet pea. Is that a dare or a double dare? I like that. How am I supposed to recover when I don't even understand my disease? That's everybody. So, what's your diag-nonsense?"
JOE RThe movie utterly fails her at the end, but I've long been a fan of an actor's ability to channel his or her charisma into a laser beam, and Jolie's Lisa has hers focused so tightly she could cut diamonds.
BRADJolie delivers what by now feels like a standard Jolie performance – fascinating, energy sucking, combative, more than present. She takes any light in the room, and is fascinating on screen. The perf feels almost bigger than the movie though, in the end, I was more emotionally interested in the scenes with Britanny Murphy – even to the point of feeling that hers is the most surprising performances of the film.
BROOKEA visceral and unflinching performance by this talented actress. Jolie manages to portray the crazy while still keeping the ever-changing moods of the character nailed perfectly.

TOTAL: 16s

Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich

STINKYLULUKeener’s charismatic restraint maintains Maxine’s entrancing mystery even as the character transforms unsubtly before our eyes. It’s a thin characterization, long on style and short on subtext, but a consistently delightful performance nonetheless.
BRADKeener does a fantasia of her own tough cookie, smart and sassy broad roles, seemingly speaking only in lines that most actors would have as subtext for something much more polite. I don't think there is much of a transformation in the character and it feels that she's having such a great time being arch that the other stuff gets short shrift. And without that, I don't quite believe the ending.
JS C"You're right, my darling, it's so much more. It's playing with people!" (Gestures toward a 7½ story high window.)
JOE RThere's a fierce competition, in Malkovich, for Maxine's attention, and in Keener's hands, she wields her gaze like a weapon. There's an emptiness to the character, by design, but Keener slowly doles out pieces of Maxine. You can't know her, but she gives you enough to keep chasing.
BROOKEA stunning, scathing and sexy performance by this still criminally underrated actress. She balances the surreal comedy with the underlying emotions perfectly, a true display of actorly talent.
MIDDENTOSmart, sassy and conniving without being sorry for it: Maxine could be the villainous femme fatale hated in every other movie. Here, however, Keener mesmerizes with just enough restraint to make her (and the role) delicious.

TOTAL: 24s

Samantha Morton in Sweet and Lowdown

JS C"I had a wonderful evening. I don't need a genius to have a good time."
JOE RShe works her angelic, expressive face to its greatest advantage here, but it doesn't add up to much. Particularly when it's in service to Woody Allen's fucked up issues with women (better that they can't speak at all!).
STINKYLULUMorton inhabits Hattie's silent clarity and wordless integrity with endearing wit, yet even Morton's savvy performance can't ameliorate the creeping misogyny of the role. An adept, adorable but ultimately negligible performance.
BRADUnfortunately, she's constructed as something for Penn's great characterization to bounce against. As such she does her job, and some of her luminosity comes forward, but I was left confused by the character, wondering if she was slow, challenged, or just easily confused. A disappointing performance – sad, because I was really looking forward to it.
BROOKEIn her silence, Morton manages to steal scenes out from under Penn, on top form. She manages to elevate the character out of the pothole of dull writing, but traces do sometimes show.
MIDDENTOMorton electrifies here with the face and movements of a silent movie star – and I don't say that just because she's mute. She brings a lot to the role – which, oddly, I don't care for as much, tired as I am of Allen's simple girls.

TOTAL: 12s

Chloë Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry

BRADSevigny’s native insouciance works for the bored teenager Lana, but she's unable to break through it later in the film. Though she's definitely present, she comes alive more in the intimacy of the relationship than when the sh** really starts to hit the fan. It's during the violence and the difficulties where she feels a little lost to me, losing the screen to what's happening around her.
JS C"I hate my life."
STINKYLULUWhile often excellent "in the moment," I remain unconvinced that Sevigny’s as excellent "in the character." Still – a most astonishing, breakthrough performance in a year loaded with them.
MIDDENTOI remember not rooting for this to win that year; seeing the movie again for the performance makes me appreciate the small moves Sevigny makes to make this more than a simple "lust object" characterization.
BROOKESevigny is essential to the success of the movie, perhaps even more so than Swank. She keeps the film grounded with her truly humane and naturalistic performance; she doesn't overplay any moment and keeps it uncomfortably real.
JOE RI was initially ready to dismiss Chloe's as a nomination based on the audience's projected infatuation, via Brandon. But as Lana begins to leap impulsively off a series of cliffs, Sevigny's ever-intense face belies her desperation, and later gives way to the ecstasy of a way out.

TOTAL: 23s

Oscar chose...
Angelina Jolie
in Girl, Interrupted

But the SMACKDOWN forcibly dissents and, in a single heart squeaker, appoints...

Toni Collette in
The Sixth Sense
as
Best Supporting Actress of 1999!

BUT, lovely reader, what do YOU think?
Please share your thoughts in comments.