Film Feature: The Best Supporting Performances of 2011

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The Best Supporting Actress Performances of 2011

Once again, this is a tough category to fill, but, ultimately, the top five supporting actress performances include a wonderful combination of debuts and living legends. Whether it’s the young lady who was in so many features that she became a virtual studio (Jessica Chastain) or reminders that some of our best living actresses are still delivering the goods (Anjelica Huston, Amy Ryan, Vanessa Redgrave), I love the variety of performances in this category. From comedy to cross-dressing to Shakespeare, there’s much to love here. Make sure you see them all.

Just as the supporting actor section featured a few male-heavy ensembles, the ladies had a few films they dominated this year as well. Strong supporting actress performances dominated “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” (Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Analeigh Tipton, & Marisa Tomei), “Contagion” (Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, & Kate Winslet), “The Beaver” (Jodie Foster & Jennifer Lawrence), and, of course, “Bridesmaids” (Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, and one of the entertainers of the year who you’ll find further up the list). Other notable runner-ups to the top ten include Cate Blanchett in “Hanna,” Judi Dench in “My Week With Marilyn,” Ellen Page in “Super,” Judy Greer in “The Descendants,” Marion Cotillard in “Midnight in Paris,” Octavia Spencer in “The Help,” and Saoirse Ronan in “The Way Back.”

Of course, Jessica Chastain was THE supporting actress of 2011 in terms of not just quantity, but also range, making her strongest impact in “Coriolanus,” “The Help,” “The Tree of Life,” and a performance that lies just outside my top five in the runner-ups below. If she was Oscar-nominated for any of the four, I’d be happy. Literally, ANY of the four. Jessica Chastain rules.

Runner-Ups (#6-10; in alphabetical order): Jessica Chastain in “Take Shelter”; Elle Fanning in “Super 8”; Anjelica Huston & Anna Kendrick in “50/50”; and Amy Ryan in “Win Win.”

MY FIVE NOMINEES FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Melissa McCarthy as Megan in “Bridesmaids”

Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy
Photo credit: Universal

I was mostly joking after I saw “Bridesmaids” and suggested on the way out of the theater that movie-stealer Melissa McCarthy should be in the year-end conversation for Best Supporting Actress. No one could have predicted that the movie would get the acclaim or box office attention that it did, and now it seems nearly likely that the Emmy winner will continue the arc of her skyrocketing career with an Oscar nod. I can’t wait to see what clip they show. The fact is that, while I may not love the film as completely as some of my peers, McCarthy displays some of the best comic timing of the year, male or female - possibly THE best - and comedy is far-too-rarely recognized by awards-giving bodies. There was a brief time when people like Marisa Tomei, Kevin Kline, and Jack Palance could be assured year-end attention for comedy work, but it’s been overlooked for the last twenty years or so. “Bridesmaids” has been acclaimed in such a way that you would think it’s going to change the face of comedy. If that change is that people will finally realize that comedy is just hard as drama, it could be “Bridesmaids’” biggest and most lasting cultural legacy.

Janet McTeer as Hubert Page in “Albert Nobbs”

Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Photo credit: Roadside Attractions

Talk about a movie-stealer. I think what Glenn Close does in “Albert Nobbs” is interesting and will get into it in more detail in a full-length review when the film opens in January, but McTeer completely runs away with the film as the woman who forever changes the life of the title character by jolting her out of her stasis by showing her a life well-lived. As it’s received little press and isn’t out yet, you may not know that both Close and McTeer play women forced to masquerade as men in Rodrigo Garcia’s period drama. Close’s title character is a shy, reserved butler, living a life as a man to keep a job. McTeer plays a character living life as a man in a much more outgoing manner, complete with a wife and social life. And she completely dominates the film in every scene she’s in. In fact, one wishes the movie was about her, as it’s one of those characters you want to see return every time she exits the story.

Carey Mulligan as Sissy Sullivan in “Shame”

Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

Just as some of the performances mentioned in this piece have grounded their respective lead turns in reality, “Shame” is nothing without the warmth brought to it by Carey Mulligan as the fascinating and potentially tragic Sissy. Michael Fassbender may have the lead arc, but it’s the heart that Mulligan brings into Brandon’s calculated world that throws it off its rotation. The brilliance of Mulligan’s work here is how finely shaded it is instead of the broad strokes that so many lesser actresses would have chosen with the same material. There’s melancholy here instead of melodrama. There’s sadness behind the eyes even as her words express otherwise. This is one of the most subtle, memorable performances of the year in any category.

Shailene Woodley as Alex King in “The Descendants”

Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

Long ago, at the start of the feature, I asked if Clooney would be receiving “career-best” praise for his work in “The Descendants” without the support of Shailene Woodley. The answer is a resounding “NO”. And, once again, here’s a part that could have been pure cliché — the snarky, distant daughter dealing with potential melodrama — but this young lady never takes the easy route. There’s no real breakthrough scene for Alex. She’s conflicted at the beginning of the film, given her awareness of her now-dying mother’s extramarital affair and her general resentment toward her distant father, but Woodley recognizes that situations like this are always fluid. One minute, a teenage girl hates her dad. The next minute, she’s his biggest defender. Payne has a gift with performers and it’s clear that he and Woodley were on the same page from the very beginning. There have been a few stellar breakthroughs in 2011 - Chastain, Elizabeth Olsen, Rooney Mara — but I’m as convinced as I am with any of them that Shailene Woodley isn’t going anywhere. She’ll be in a feature like this again.

THE WINNER

Vanessa Redgrave as Volumnia in “Coriolanus”

Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

There’s a scene near the end of “Coriolanus” in which Vanessa Redgrave just makes everyone around her look like they’re doing something different, like they’re in a different profession than she is. Don’t get me wrong. I like what talented people like Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain bring to the piece, but they are consistently blown off the screen by one of our best living actresses, proving yet again why she deserves that title. Some actors and actresses have proven that they “get” Shakespeare more than others, but Redgrave goes a step beyond, making the words and her character come to life in transcendent ways. It’s not just a supporting performance, but rather one of the few this season that becomes impossible to forget. I’ve seen over a hundred movies since I saw “Coriolanus” and Redgrave resonates like I saw it yesterday. She’s mesmerizing and, without question, gives the best supporting actress performance of 2011.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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