This is a funny year for me, because I've seen ALL of these performances, but apart from 'Gosford Park' I've seen the films so long ago that I can barely remember Winslet's performance and I can't remember Connelly's or Tomei's at all.
The nominees for this year were: Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind as "Alicia Nash" Helen Mirren in Gosford Park as "Mrs. Wilson" Maggie Smith in Gosford Park as "Constance, Duchess of Trentham" Marisa Tomei in In the Bedroom as "Natalie Strout" Kate Winslet in Iris as "Young Iris Murdoch"
My Ranking: 1. Mirren - I compare Mirren's performance here to another actress in another Robert Altman film - Lily Tomlin in "Nashville" - because of her ability to say so much with this performance while doing so little. "Gosford Park" is full of actresses doing electric bit work at the edges of scenes (Blakley, Scott Thomas, Watson, Atkins etc) and I think Mirren was one of the best in the film - giving an excellent "mood" performance where you could feel her presence even when the spotlight was not on her. And her scene at the end is very sad and moving.
2. Smith - Smith is funny here as she always is, but I feel less inclined to reward her for this performance because she has played this same kind of character a million times both before and since this nomination. She could do the role in her sleep and what she does here with her wisecracking duchess isn't really that fresh or unique.
-.Connelly (saw the film when it came out, I was 10 years old) -.Tomei (saw the film ages ago) -.Winslet (saw the film ages ago)
My Personal Ballot: 1. Claudie Blakley in Gosford Park as "Mabel Nesbitt" 2. Annie Girardot in The Piano Teacher as "Erika's Mother" 3. Helen Mirren in Gosford Park as "Mrs. Wilson" 4. Parker Posey in Josie and the *****cats as "Fiona" 5. Carrie-Anne Moss in Memento as "Natalie"
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Posts: 2714 | Location: nz | Registered: January 12, 2009
Close call once again. Also, I haven't seen any of these performances since the movies came out in 2001/02 so my opinions my change if I see them again but here is how I would rank them from what I felt at the time and still feel now.
#1. Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom -I don't object to her win for "My Cousin Vinny" although if she had won here then her previous Oscar could've gone to Miranda Richardson. I found "In the Bedroom" to be a very powerful movie with amazing performances (with the best being Tom Wilkinson), and while I would rank Tomei's performance as 3rd in the film behind Wilkinson and Spacek, she was still great and would've been a worthy winner in Supporting.
#2. Kate Winslet, Iris -Of her past nominations, I was more inclined to give her the wins for this and "Eternal Sunshine". I thought this was a lovely performance in a film that also had two other people that "overshadowed" her (Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent). I still am not sure if I would award her over Tomei but I need to see this movie again in order to make a better decision.
#3. Maggie Smith, Gosford Park -One of the greatest actresses of all time, and her two Oscar wins for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "California Suite" were very deserved. She was a delight and one of the highlights in this slightly overrated Robert Altman outing. Still, like puxzkkx said, she has played this same kind of character before (including her Oscar winning turn in "California Suite"). Good performance but the nomination was her reward.
#4. Helen Mirren, Gosford Park -With her SAG win thanks to Connelly being bumped to lead, Mirren seemed like the only person who could've beat Connelly at the Oscars but she was too much of a lock and was in the Best Picture frontrunner. Helen Mirren would get her deserved due in "The Queen" five years later, and I think that with this performance, she was a standout but it wasn't one that I would've given her the Oscar for....although she would've been a better choice than Connelly.
#5. Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind -This wasn't a bad performance but it was nowhere near as great as the top 2. I must refer to something Fritz said when he ranked the Supporting Actress winners a while back and what he said about Connelly's performance. I am going to paraphrase, but he basically said that the 1st half of Connelly's performance was very bland, and she seemed to whisper all of the time instead of talk (which I agree with), and then in the last half, her performance improved and so did her chemistry with Russell Crowe (which I also agree with). For the 1st part of her performance, and combining that with the fact that her performance was close to being a lead and the fact that the movie was weak, she gets my last spot.
Posts: 1293 | Location: WV | Registered: October 23, 2005
Marisa Tomei, who was charming and ultimately heartbreaking in her role! Wonderful! Helen Mirren would be my second choice, then Maggie Smith then Kate Winslet. I really don't care for Jennifer...
I like Jennifer Connelly, but this is one of the worst wins E-V-E-R in this category. What's strange is that Connelly was phenominal (and should've been Oscar-nominated) for the previous years' Requiem for a Dream.
1) Tomei 2) Smith 3) Winslet 4) Mirren 5) Connelly
To be totally honest, I don't think I would've minded one bit if all of the five spots came from any combo of the Gosford Park ladies. But I suppose that's what the SAG Ensemble win was about. Quel cast magnifique!
That said, Carrie-Anne Moss was amazing in Memento.
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Posts: 1181 | Location: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: May 08, 2003
