Best Supporting Actress Nominees 2009

Anne Hathaway has spoken. The Oscar gauntlet has fallen. And we're off...
A month of Supporting Actress profiles will commence this Sunday, each attending to the golden boy's favorite actresses at the edge in...

2009

Oscar's Supporting Actresses for 2009 are:


Pénelope Cruz in Nine
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Mo'Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

Supporting Actress Smackdown for 2009:
Sunday, February 28.
Featuring an excellent panel of Smackdowners, including:
Nathaniel @ The Film Experience,
Criticlasm, Jakey On, Brooks 4 Media,
Encore Entertainment, Silver Screening Room,
Awkward Is What We Aim For & Alex in Movieland...
and, of course, yours truly
STINKYLULU

Very quick analysis from StinkyLulu:

If there is a "shocker" this morning, it's Maggie Gyllenhaal's presence among the nominess, especially in the absence of Samantha Morton or Mélanie Laurent (though Nathaniel called Maggie's "coasting" in a week or so ago).

What's perhaps most notable about this field is that, with the exception of Cruz, they're Oscar newbies. This morning marks the first nominations for critical faves Vera Farmiga and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and first time attention for breakthrough performances by Mo'Nique and Anna Kendrick. That said, the roles for which these women are nominated are classic Oscar. We've got the Heartbreaking Harlot, The Mouthy Broad, The Girl, The Precocious Princess, and The Monstrous Mother. New nominees playing the same old roles that Oscar loves to actresses at the edges playing in. Not the most thrilling field, on some levels, but not embarrassing either.

But what's most clear: this year's Best Supporting Actress Oscar is Mo'Nique's trophy, with none of her worthy colleagues really poised for an upset.

What are you thoughts, lovely reader?
Spill, please, in comments.

Cast Your Vote for which RAZZIE NOMINEE should receive StinkyLulu's "Supporting Actress" treatment?

One of the more peculiar rituals of "Nomination Eve" comes when those odd folks over at THE RAZZIES announce their nominations of the "Worst" of 2009. Perhaps because I'm peculiar in my own way, I have developed what has become, since 2007, my own Oscar season Razzie ritual in which I will throw myself on the sword and give StinkyLulu's full Supporting Actress treatment to at least ONE of each year's Razzie Nominees. And YOU, lovely reader, get to choose WHICH performance it will be...

The Razzie nominees for the
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF 2009

Candice Bergen in Bride Wars
Ali Larter in Obsessed
Sienna Miller in G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra
Kelly Preston in Old Dogs
Julie White in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

So cast your vote in the column at right and tell StinkyLulu which performance you think most deserves this extra bit of attention. (I've not seen any of the movies, so I'm surely in for a treat!)

THE 2009 LULUs: StinkyLulu's Best Supporting Actresses of 2009

Continuing a tradition begun just last year, I offer the 2009 LULUs - recognizing those actresses at the edges who most impressed me in 2009. Once again, the LULUs embrace the perennial question of "what's too big" and "what's too small" to be considered "supporting" actressness and, to that end, the LULUs offer recognition in three supporting actress sub-categories: Long Form, Short Form, & Traditional Scale. Each category acknowledges the different work being done by the increasingly broad array of performances that find themselves, rightly or wrongly, gathered under the umbrella of "Supporting Actress." (Please note that -- as of this writing -- I have yet not seen the following films and, thus, do not rank performances contained therein: The Messenger, In the Loop, Public Enemies, The Stoning of Soraya M., The Maid, The Last Station, etc.) So, without further ado...

Best Supporting Actress - Long Form
excellent performances from women at the center of their films,
in what might arguably be leading (or co-leading) roles

Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning
Keeps it simple; makes it great.
Marion Cotillard - Nine
An unfailingly generous performance.
Penélope Cruz - Los Brazos Rotos/Broken Embraces
This portrait -- of an actress who seems to star in (but who somehow stays "at the edges" of) everyone else's story -- soars with comedic light while plumbing devastating depths.
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Steady verve and ready wit anchor this memorable breakthrough performance.
Mélanie Laurent - Inglorious Basterds
A deft, haunting and deceptively beautiful portrait of rage-curdled grief.

* * * * *

Best Supporting Actress - Short Form
memorable work by women in a mere handful of scenes

Mariah Carey - Precious
Solid. Sincere. Shows the glimmer of formidable chops.
Julianne Moore - A Single Man
A delirious, messy blast of color and life.
Rosamund Pike - An Education
Undeniably dim. Brilliantly witty. Utterly believable.
Carrie Preston - Duplicity
Preston's precision and pluck scene-steals the movie right out from under her megawatt costars, if only for that moment or two.
Deborah Rush - Julie and Julia
A tiny, inconspicuous performance that somehow stirs great depths of feeling within both the film and its star's turn.

* * * * *

Best Supporting Actress - Traditional Scale
a pivotal character, essential to more than a handful of scenes,
though in less than 30% of film's total screen time

Penélope Cruz - Nine
Staggering. Sexy and tragic (while delivering the only genuine laughs in entire the movie).
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Gorgeous and glib yet also heartbreakingly human.
Kerry Fox - Bright Star
A stirring, sweet and cliché-smashing portrait of sensible motherlove.
Mo'Nique - Precious
Not since Carrie has a mother's "love" been so voracious, so vicious, so contradictory, so monstrous yet so real.
Olivia Williams - An Education
An uncommonly subtle, complex characterization of an all-too familiar character.

* * * * *

The LULUS
StinkyLulu's Best Supporting Actresses
my favorites, in roughly descending order

1. Penélope Cruz - Broken Embraces
2. Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
3. Olivia Williams - An Education
4. Kerry Fox - Bright Star
5. Mélanie Laurent - Inglorious Basterds

BUT, lovely reader, what do YOU think?
Please share your thoughts in comments.