12 Days of Oscar: Day 3 - Acting in Supporting Roles

The Oscar acting categories are the best of the best every year and are, in some respects, unfair. This is because comedies are lumped in with weightier dramas, thrillers and tragedies.  When a musical enters the mix it often confuses the matter further. 

However, this year the musical performances and the comedic performances were just as relevant and powerful as the heavier social commentaries. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES

Amy Adams – The Master

Sally Field – Lincoln

Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables

Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Amy Adams gave the best performance of her career as the outspoken yet doting wife of a charismatic cult leader in The Master.  In most other years I would say that Ms. Adams should wait on the edge of her seat when the envelope tears.  This year, besides having a clear frontrunner, I would say that the timing of the film release and its mixed reception overall will keep her at the back of this pack.

Sally Field gives a wonderful performance as the controlling and sharp witted Ms. Lincoln.  The difficulty here is that the amazing brilliance of Daniel Day Lewis eclipsed the scenery, sets, props and unfortunately for the rest of the cast… the other actors.

Helen Hunt transcended the nakedness of her character, both literally and ultimately figuratively in The Sessions.   I was amazed at how believable a “sexual surrogate” who is married could be, as it falls outside the norms of our society.  Her performance was nothing short of brilliant.

Jacki Weaver was the epitome of the worried mother of a bipolar son.  She was the definition of the accepting wife of an OCD husband.  She was the glue that held together a volatile mix of family and friends dealing with some form of mental illness.  Unfortunately for her Oscar chances, she played perfectly the mother/wife who takes a backseat for her larger than life family. 

Anne Hathaway.  The guttural mourning and angst of a promising life lost, even for as short as the performance was, will be a long lived cinema memory.  A performance that wrings the emotion from you is too powerful to ignore.

My Favorite: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables

My Oscar Prediction: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES

Alan Arkin - Argo

 Robert DeNiro – Silver Linings Playbook

Phillip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln

Cristoph Waltz – Django Unchained

Alan Arkin provides a compelling character study of a producer who is involved in a top secret extraction process to free American Hostages from Iran.  The balance he provides between the external bullying producer and the internal worrying patriot is wonderful.

Robert Deniro gives, in my opinion, one of his best performances ever as the OCD father of a bipolar son.  He is so vulnerable and real in this role that during the film you forget every other DeNiro role.  That is no small feat with films such as Taxi Driver and the Deer Hunter.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant as a cult founder and leader.  That, however, is just the point.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is always brilliant.  He gives nothing but Oscar worthy performances.  It is sometimes hard to recognize just how good he is because it all looks so easy for him.  To some extent he is becoming the Meryl Streep of male actors whose nominations are obligatory, but is often overlooked for the actual honor because of his skill.

Tommy Lee Jones gives a memorable performance in Lincoln as the lawmaker whose wish to outlaw slavery is personal.  It seems that most have a soft spot for Jones, even though he seems to always play a quick-witted but verbally abusive southerner.  Tommy Lee may come away from the Oscar as a sentimental favorite.  However, Alan Arkin could stand in that role as well.

Finally, Cristoph Waltz is perhaps the character with the most “panache”.  His character is so fun to watch with his counter culture views and verbal flourishes that you look forward to the next dimwit that provides cannon fodder for his dialogue.  Cristoph gets Tarrantino and plays his characters brilliantly.

My Favorite: Cristoph Waltz for Django Unchained

My Oscar Prediction: Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln