Though as one would hope would be a given in any year in film, 2006 has been a pretty good year for actresses with some fantastically complicated roles played with skill, luminosity and sheer will that have blown me and the hardened critics away. Though by no means is the list below exhaustive, I have narrowed it down to a select few (in no order) so far - as I have not managed to see everything yet...
Probably the most "famous"performance this year by an actress is Helen Mirren in Stephen Frears' The Queen. If you have not seen this film, stop reading this (it will be up for at least a week) and go. Go now. I am serious. Not only is the subject - the PR, political and royal fall out from the death of HRH Princess Diana - fascinating to see from the inside but Mirren is absolutely sublime. Not only is it fantastic to see her act her socks off effortlessly but to do it as a living person who you can compare her to - a more than daunting. This is also a rare example of a performance that fits itself into the film as they are equally brilliant. Well written, well acted across the board and just the right length ( a secret pet peeve of mine) to make it worth your while but not interminable.
Two of my other favorites (and I group them together because they are both incredibly difficult roles to play) were from Kate Winslett and Cate Blanchett - two actresses that I would pay to watch read the phone book and in Little Children and Babel respectively, do not disappoint. In Little Children, Winslett plays a married wildly intelligent mother who falls into a relationship with a very attractive stay at home married father. The key to Winslett is her complete distaste for and distance from her child, a daughter whom you suspect she loves but just can't bring herself to emotionally connect with. Winslett manages to find her way to an emotional connection with her daughter by way of falling in love with a man that she knows she can never be with. The struggle, the fragile line between beauty and exhaustion, and the ferocity of sexual desire for the man are all played by Winslett in a way that you almost can't believe is possible. She manages to make us fall in love with her even though she is really without much going for her in the strength of character department. Sublime. Unlike Winslett, Blanchett has only 20 minutes of screen time (in an almost 3 hour film) to convey both the emotional and historical life of her character and her relationship with her husband played by Brad Pitt. Blanchett, with very little dialogue, tells us who she is and who she might be. There has not been a more intense scene for me on film this year than the one between her and Pitt as he does the simple act of helping her go to the bathroom. Again, sublime.
Other brilliant performances include:
Isabelle Huppert in Patrice Chereau's Gabrielle - not a film I particularly loved but worth the price of admission to watch a master at playing a woman of deception and cruelty at her very very best.
Slindile from Paul Taylor's We Are Together - not a performance as the film is a doc about this 12 year old and her siblings at the Agape Orphanage. Slindile not only sings like an angel but manages to take us through her life of pain and suffering with a sense of strength and determination of spirit that is rarely captured on film.
Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodovar's Volver - finally a performance that reminds us why we fell in love with her in the first place. Viva Almodovar!
Lei Hao in Lou Ye's Summer Palace - again a film that is far from perfect in any way but a performance which manages to take us through 20 odd years of a woman's life from University in Bejing to the fall of the Berlin Wall with sensitivity, fascination and wonder. The only Chinese film ever to be up for the Palme d'Or.
Shareeka Epps in Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson - this debut performance by this young actress is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Epps has a wonderful maturity and walks the line between naiviete and adulthood that is so fabulous to watch. Her scenes with Ryan Gosling balance between flirtation and familial impeccably and with a sophistication that actresses twice her age and experience can't muster.
This as I said above is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few of my faves this year so far.
Keeping it indie!
Julie
Probably the most "famous"performance this year by an actress is Helen Mirren in Stephen Frears' The Queen. If you have not seen this film, stop reading this (it will be up for at least a week) and go. Go now. I am serious. Not only is the subject - the PR, political and royal fall out from the death of HRH Princess Diana - fascinating to see from the inside but Mirren is absolutely sublime. Not only is it fantastic to see her act her socks off effortlessly but to do it as a living person who you can compare her to - a more than daunting. This is also a rare example of a performance that fits itself into the film as they are equally brilliant. Well written, well acted across the board and just the right length ( a secret pet peeve of mine) to make it worth your while but not interminable.
Two of my other favorites (and I group them together because they are both incredibly difficult roles to play) were from Kate Winslett and Cate Blanchett - two actresses that I would pay to watch read the phone book and in Little Children and Babel respectively, do not disappoint. In Little Children, Winslett plays a married wildly intelligent mother who falls into a relationship with a very attractive stay at home married father. The key to Winslett is her complete distaste for and distance from her child, a daughter whom you suspect she loves but just can't bring herself to emotionally connect with. Winslett manages to find her way to an emotional connection with her daughter by way of falling in love with a man that she knows she can never be with. The struggle, the fragile line between beauty and exhaustion, and the ferocity of sexual desire for the man are all played by Winslett in a way that you almost can't believe is possible. She manages to make us fall in love with her even though she is really without much going for her in the strength of character department. Sublime. Unlike Winslett, Blanchett has only 20 minutes of screen time (in an almost 3 hour film) to convey both the emotional and historical life of her character and her relationship with her husband played by Brad Pitt. Blanchett, with very little dialogue, tells us who she is and who she might be. There has not been a more intense scene for me on film this year than the one between her and Pitt as he does the simple act of helping her go to the bathroom. Again, sublime.
Other brilliant performances include:
Isabelle Huppert in Patrice Chereau's Gabrielle - not a film I particularly loved but worth the price of admission to watch a master at playing a woman of deception and cruelty at her very very best.
Slindile from Paul Taylor's We Are Together - not a performance as the film is a doc about this 12 year old and her siblings at the Agape Orphanage. Slindile not only sings like an angel but manages to take us through her life of pain and suffering with a sense of strength and determination of spirit that is rarely captured on film.
Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodovar's Volver - finally a performance that reminds us why we fell in love with her in the first place. Viva Almodovar!
Lei Hao in Lou Ye's Summer Palace - again a film that is far from perfect in any way but a performance which manages to take us through 20 odd years of a woman's life from University in Bejing to the fall of the Berlin Wall with sensitivity, fascination and wonder. The only Chinese film ever to be up for the Palme d'Or.
Shareeka Epps in Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson - this debut performance by this young actress is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Epps has a wonderful maturity and walks the line between naiviete and adulthood that is so fabulous to watch. Her scenes with Ryan Gosling balance between flirtation and familial impeccably and with a sophistication that actresses twice her age and experience can't muster.
This as I said above is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few of my faves this year so far.
Keeping it indie!
Julie
posted by indieIN | 10:09 AM
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