Unlike their male counterparts over in Best Supporting Actor, the five actresses chosen for my own personal ballot had a lot of competition to rise above in order to secure this nomination, and even as I write this they're not that secure. Ask me again tomorrow and I may have three or four new names surfacing as my favourites. That's because there's been a deep well from which to draw this year. So much so, that overlap between me and the Academy has been limited to a single performance (which is obviously going to win that Oscar, so you won't hear me complaining).
Check out my Best Supporting Actress contenders for 2014:
Arquette
is superb as a no-nonsense single mom struggling nobly to make a
better life for her children, ill equipped as she is to deal with her
own personal pressures. In many ways the audience surrogate, she
carries the film's emotional torch with tremendous empathy and
authenticity. Her final scene is absolutely crushing.
JESSICA
CHASTAIN in A Most Violent Year
Chastain
brings a take on this crime movie staple – the mob wife secretly
pulling her husband's strings – that is both familiar yet fresh,
mixing genuine spousal affection with venomous disdain. You get the
unflappable impression of a woman who would certainly dominate this
business if gender politics weren't constraining her.
SCARLETT
JOHANSSON in Captain America 2
Scar-Jo's
had another stellar year with Lucy and Under the Skin
to her credit as well, but this is the performance that seems to
epitomize her appealing blend of star charisma and actorly precision.
She's funny and playful, but filtered through a haunting past that
the script only hints at; Works wonders with limited story material.
RENE
RUSSO in Nightcrawler
Russo's
work is just as tenacious as Gyllenhaal's, but she actually has a
more of an arc to navigate than he does. With nary a frame of
scene-stealing or grandeur, she shows us a proud but tragic figure
who's had to fight for everything she has, and whose ethics are
slowly being infected by Lou Bloom's morally blind ambition.
TILDA
SWINTON in Snowpiercer
Swinton
has such an eerie ability to so completely vanish within a character
that she doesn't really need the aid of makeup to render herself
unrecognizable. She splendidly chews the scenery with her prosthetic
buck teeth as the Snowpiercer's haughty magistrate. Her
“shoe-is-not-a-hat” speech is an unforgettable highlight.Just missed:
LAURA DERN in Wild
ANNA KENDRICK in Into the Woods
AGATA KULESZA in Ida
KRISTEN STEWART in Still Alice
EMMA STONE in Birdman
