Viola Davis in The Help
Neither clumsy
pacing nor on-the-nose dialogue will stop Viola Davis. Where the
urge may have been present in other actors to play Aibileen as a
simple woman with simple, modest goals, Davis turns the part on its
head with her watchfulness, soul and complexity. Through silence and
an unending register of conflicting emotions, Davis spins gold out of
a role that, while not totally thankless as some have reductively
called it, certainly would give no script reader to expect all that
Davis gives here. Bonus points for “I told him I drank too much
coffee.”
Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia
An actress who has
always been gifted, even if she has been adrift in roles that either
don't suit her or don't utilize her talents, Dunst works marvels here
as Justine. What's even more marvelous? I'm not even sure she's
given much to work with on paper. Still, I love the choices she
makes. Though she morphs tragically from apprehension to near
complete catatonia/nihilism (only VonTrier...), she remains the most
recognizably human character in this piece. Even in the film's
earliest moments (the maneuvering of the limousine, for instance) she
makes it interesting and modulated as we watch her play a woman
playing at being happy. I hope this marks an exciting new phase in
the career of an actress I've always been intrigued and impressed by,
but no more so than here.
Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May
Marlene
Watchful, reactive,
without a hugely recognizable external arc. None of these elements inherently make for good
drama, but man Olsen knocks it out of the park here. In one of the
year's most terrifying films, she takes much of the credit for the
eery pall of impending doom that envelopes Martha Marcy May
Marlene. She is quiet, but still recognizably womanly and
damaged. Bonus points for the film's opening scene where Olsen gives
us an incredible, almost unspoken etching of a woman troubled beyond
the telling of it—a promise she makes good on for the rest of the
movie.
Tilda Swinton in
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Swinton
lands her third consecutive Pretentious Film Award nomination (I'm
sure she's proud) for yet another one of her searing, indelible
cinematic marks. Largely a silent, watchful performance, Swinton
plays a woman whose situation we can't help but empathize with (and
we do). But, she doesn't garner empathy for Eva by making her
perfect or even likeable most of the time. The difference between
Eva before the incident and after is not that of a woman who is whole
versus one who is broken, respectively. It is that of a woman who
knows the truth, even if it is self-fulfilling prophecy (how much of
Kevin's proclivities are her fault?) and one who has the truth
horribly confirmed from her. It is fascinating to watch a character
empty out before your eyes. It is even more fascinating the way
Swinton makes interesting watching a woman who has already emptied
out.
Charlize Theron in
Young Adult
In a category of
roles that contains a downtrodden maid, the mother of a serial
killer, the traumatized survivor of a cult and a recently jilted
bride facing the end of the world, Charlize Theron's Mavis Gary is,
believe it or not, the most damaged. I love the way Theron (and
Reitman) don't easily show us the roots of Mavis's jaded and
poisonous core. Theron taps into the comedienne we've seen only
shades of before (her interviews, “Arrested Development”) and
births a compelling, specific and funny creation. The control she
has over her voice, the most important part of this performance, is
something to behold. Bonus points for “I love your sweat-errr...”
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