What a lineup, huh? We have Shohreh Aghdashloo giving a performance that made American critics and Hollywood sit up and take notice, Patricia Clarkson riding the momentum of 2002’s Far from Heaven and her other 2003 indie The Station Agent, Marcia Gay Harden returning in a Best Picture nominee after her shocking Oscar win in 2000, Holly Hunter back for the first time since her 1993 double-header, and Renee Zellweger on her third consecutive nomination after just missing out on a win the previous year (so we assume, anyway). Zellweger had the ol' "When are we giving it to her already?" going for her, and just like Tim Robbins, her win was considered "in the bag":
The performances, ranked from 5th to 1st:
5. Patricia Clarkson as Joy Burns
Pieces of April
only nomination; National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actress of 2003; Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actress, SAG Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress
It gives me no joy to place one of my favorites at the bottom; more depressing, it’s not due to some “everyone is so good, someone has to be the bottom” superlative or category fraud. Clarkson’s exhausted anger at her daughter, her cancer, her life, has little variety. She looks as bored by the film as I am.
4. Marcia Gay Harden as Celeste Samarco Boyle
Mystic River
past winner, second and last nomination; SAG Awards nominee for Best Ensemble
As a woman beginning to suspect her husband may have killed her cousin’s daughter, Harden plays heartbreaking helplessness…she wants to help him but she’s afraid she doesn’t know him or what he’s capable of. Denial, fear, sorrow…but I never get the feeling that this character really makes sense. Not Harden's fault, she's delivering and does her best to make this plot device into a person, but...
3. Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadereh Bahrani
House of Sand and Fog
only nomination; LAFCA Awards winner for Best Supporting Actress, NYFCC Awards winner for Best Supporting Actress
Like Harden, another wife trying to make sense of her husband's refusal to share. She really only gets one scene where she "blows up" at him, and she nails it. For the rest of the time, she must watch, put it all together, and finally reach out to the woman tormenting them, conveying empathy and desperation. That doesn't end the suffering, but she plays it all very well.
2. Renee Zellweger as Ruby Thewes
Cold Mountain
first of two wins, third of four nominations; BAFTA Award winner for Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe winner for Best Supporting Actress, SAG Award winner for Best Supporting Actress;
I said on Letterboxd that she reminded me of a Thelma Ritter role as played by Betty Hutton, or maybe vice versa. Such a combo sounds terrible but Zellweger pulls it off: she's the solid, witty friend you can lean on and an unvarnished gal of the soil. I believe her strength of character, I believe her rough warmth, and I believe her romance with Jack White! Yeah, I don't know what else to say, I'm glad she won, she's great here.
1. Holly Hunter as Melanie Freeland
Thirteen
past winner, fourth and last nomination; BAFTA Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actress
But Hunter is my personal pick. A recovering addict who works out of her home and is still the hot, atypical, pretty cool mom who's still trying to set some boundaries, to give her kids the structure she knows they spent too long without but reluctant to be "strict." She cares, she's open, there's conversation as equals...and there's surprise when her daughter starts rebelling. I loved watching Hunter process it all: "rebelling against what?" you can see her thinking - and perhaps, too, "I sobered up for this?" You see the traces of the old Melanie and how she's working to keep that woman at bay. A detailed performance (the frozen look on her face when Nikki Reed pecks her on the lips!), a believable performance, a great performance!
Next time, the nominees for Best Director: Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River), Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Fernando Meirelles (City of God), and Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World).
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