As most folks know by now Meryl Streep walked away with Oscar for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in "Iron Lady". It was a minor shock as her and Viola Davis in "The Help" were pretty much running neck in neck in prognosticators polls and most had Viola as the slight favorite, probably due to the fact that Meryl has won before and Hollywood sometimes likes to reward good turns by non-winners--and African Americans as people in La-La land try to make up for their lack of recognition of black actors in the past in many of their exceptional roles.
Be that as it may--did Meryl deserve to win? Yes I will say she did. While the movie itself was so-so she did do an amazing performance of pretty much channeling Thatcher in all her guises, hairdos and outfits. As usual her accent was spot on and her mannerisms were also pitch perfect to create a composite and make you feel as if you were actually seeing Mrs. Thatcher herself on the screen. I will say, however, that it was not all due to her performance, as J. Roy Helland, the person who did the make-up for the movie, did an exceptional job and also won an Oscar (for best make-up effects), which they should have. I think credit should be shared as showing Thatcher in old age had more to do with make-up than just solely Streep's performance. Me personally, I think she did a much better job playing Julia Child in "Julia and Julia" and should have won the Oscar that year over Sandra Bullock for that treacle of a movie "The Blind Side." (I like Bullock, I just don't think this role was deserving and she won just as much for like-ability than acting--but the Academy has a history of doing that type of thing--see Paul Newman for "The Color of Money" or Elizabeth Taylor for "Butterfield 8" to name a few.) Sometimes people don't win for their best performances but for a myriad of other reasons.
But back to the topic--do I think Streep should have won over Viola Davis--not so much. Again the movie itself was just okay but Davis did her role pretty much sans make-up. She relied upon the nuance of speech and body movement to portray a woman who looked and felt and burdened by the life she had and lot she was given in life. You could see the pain and suffering on her face, in her movement, expressions and you felt empathy for her and bad for her that this was a life she had little to no choices in. Which makes her emergence as her own person--as a recognized human being--at the end of the movie more revelatory and emotionally impactful. Something that watching Thatcher slip into senility I didn't quite get. Between the two I just felt more for Davis.
Though I feel I could also make the case for Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn." While she has been nominated 3 times now I still think people see her as being young and having a long career ahead of her, which hopefully is true. I felt she did a phenomenal job of embodying Marilyn on screen which hard when you are playing such a well-known icon who has a ton of movies to reference--how do you make it new and believable without becoming a parody of someone who was playing a character herself for the public. To me she captured to the tortured innocence of a smart woman who was driven to do good and to try and live up to people's expectations for the persona she created. She did with subtle body movements and a lilting breathy voice that brought Marilyn to life. Who'd have thought from "Dawson's Creek" to celebrated movie star. Maybe one day she will win or she could go 0 for 7 like Glenn Close, another person who probably should have won by now (though not for "Albert Nobbs"). Who knows, Oscar is a fickle bitch and you never know which way the Academy (mostly old white guys) is going to vote--I mean "Crash"? Really?!
Be that as it may--did Meryl deserve to win? Yes I will say she did. While the movie itself was so-so she did do an amazing performance of pretty much channeling Thatcher in all her guises, hairdos and outfits. As usual her accent was spot on and her mannerisms were also pitch perfect to create a composite and make you feel as if you were actually seeing Mrs. Thatcher herself on the screen. I will say, however, that it was not all due to her performance, as J. Roy Helland, the person who did the make-up for the movie, did an exceptional job and also won an Oscar (for best make-up effects), which they should have. I think credit should be shared as showing Thatcher in old age had more to do with make-up than just solely Streep's performance. Me personally, I think she did a much better job playing Julia Child in "Julia and Julia" and should have won the Oscar that year over Sandra Bullock for that treacle of a movie "The Blind Side." (I like Bullock, I just don't think this role was deserving and she won just as much for like-ability than acting--but the Academy has a history of doing that type of thing--see Paul Newman for "The Color of Money" or Elizabeth Taylor for "Butterfield 8" to name a few.) Sometimes people don't win for their best performances but for a myriad of other reasons.
But back to the topic--do I think Streep should have won over Viola Davis--not so much. Again the movie itself was just okay but Davis did her role pretty much sans make-up. She relied upon the nuance of speech and body movement to portray a woman who looked and felt and burdened by the life she had and lot she was given in life. You could see the pain and suffering on her face, in her movement, expressions and you felt empathy for her and bad for her that this was a life she had little to no choices in. Which makes her emergence as her own person--as a recognized human being--at the end of the movie more revelatory and emotionally impactful. Something that watching Thatcher slip into senility I didn't quite get. Between the two I just felt more for Davis.
Though I feel I could also make the case for Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn." While she has been nominated 3 times now I still think people see her as being young and having a long career ahead of her, which hopefully is true. I felt she did a phenomenal job of embodying Marilyn on screen which hard when you are playing such a well-known icon who has a ton of movies to reference--how do you make it new and believable without becoming a parody of someone who was playing a character herself for the public. To me she captured to the tortured innocence of a smart woman who was driven to do good and to try and live up to people's expectations for the persona she created. She did with subtle body movements and a lilting breathy voice that brought Marilyn to life. Who'd have thought from "Dawson's Creek" to celebrated movie star. Maybe one day she will win or she could go 0 for 7 like Glenn Close, another person who probably should have won by now (though not for "Albert Nobbs"). Who knows, Oscar is a fickle bitch and you never know which way the Academy (mostly old white guys) is going to vote--I mean "Crash"? Really?!
Comments
Post a Comment