So far, I’ve been just setting Doubt to one side, and sticking a pin in it, and pretending it doesn’t exist in the Oscar pool; maybe I’ll decide to let the writer/director collect something, and not bother with any of the performances. So I’ll continue to do so and also ignore Amy Adams and Viola Davis in this category (although I do think that the fact that there are only two non-white acting noms this year, both ghettoized into the Best Supporting Actress field, has a role to play—so Davis could surprise us). Or Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona Which I’ve not seen. Mostly because I actively disliked Match Point and Woody Allen’s recent stuff and his Scarlet Johansson fixation. (Although, since seeing Spirit, she’s now one of my favorite Hollywood Jews.) I was intrigued by Vicky Cristina Barcelona though, because I’m not-so-secretly convinced that Cruz is a lesbian, which dating Tom Cruise for a minute-and-a-half seemed to sort of confirm. I’m also convinced that Cruz can’t act in English-language films, though.
I think this comes down to Taraji P. Henson and Marissa Tomei. And that’s probably a function of the fact that I’ve seen both performances.
I described Henson as “sublime” in my discussion of Brad Pitt’s negligible shot at a leading man trophy. This is a movie where the racial aspect is intentionally discomfiting: the narrative frame moves us between eras in which her character, “Mama Queenie,” is born only a generation—maybe two—removed from slavery, and the present day. And one of the connective elements between the frame and the narrative is physically strong, emotionally strong black women caring for elderly white folk. Henson takes what is essentially a Mammy role and she owns it, and she is utterly powerful and really takes over the entire film. I mean, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is definitely just not that good a movie. But she provides it with a strong grounding emotional center that almost makes the movie successful. And that’s a big task, and I think that’s enough to win over the Academy. They really want to give something to Button. And it’s really not good enough on any other merits to earn an Oscar. Plus, according to my boyfriend, Henson’s a Hustle & Flow alumna. And that seems like a help here.
And Marisa Tomei; I just don’t know. She’s not a Streep– or Dench–caliber sure-thing, but every decade or so she pulls a nomination out of a decidedly non-Oscar-bait film. She definitely should win some sort of best body over age 45 award maybe, because she flashes more boobie in this role than she has in her entire career up to this point.
