NATHAN TAKES A CRASH COURSE: Thoughts on Season 2 of THE REHEARSAL - Ep. 1

 I am a member of the Church of Nathan Fielder.

I cannot help but be truly enamored with his dry sense of humor that is the epitome of cringe. I still revisit his Comedy Central series Nathan for You, which I wrote about here. I also found myself baffled and intrigued by his Showtime series The Curse that he co-ran with Benny Safdie and starred opposite Emma Stone. I admittedly did not write about that one because, frankly, I am not even sure I know where to begin. My head was in the clouds just as much as Fielder's was...some of you may get that reference...

When The Rehearsal first premiered on HBO back in 2022, I was positively thrilled as I wanted to see what Fielder could do on the grand scale that HBO could provide. All of you have to do is see how much they have unleashed John Oliver to do whatever the hell he wants over the last decade to know that the kind of content Fielder could provide had the potential to blossom to insane proportions.

The Rehearsal taps into a very basic idea that also was the core theme of Nathan for You: helping others.

However, Nathan for You was a satirical take on the kind of reality shows that help struggling businesses by offering comical solutions/scenarios to generate interest.

The Rehearsal began as a concept to help people who are struggling with a goal and Fielder giving them an intricate and detailed outlet to rehearse through their fears. Much like many of his schemes on Nathan for You, a lot of Fielder's goals start fairly small and then snowball out of control.

For my thoughts on the first season, please check out the link here.

The remarkable thing about Nathan Fielder is that he has a general area that he loves to roam when it comes to conceptual comedy, but he always finds ways to make it not only seem fresh but truly unexpected.

The first season mostly revolved around a serialized and chaotic rehearsal involving a woman looking to raise an adopted child, but by the end, Fielder questioned if his tactics were harmful as one of the young boys playing who would eventually become his "son" (it's a long story) took strongly to Fielder as he didn't have a father in real life.

The final result is that Fielder felt like season 1 of The Rehearsal was truly its own rehearsal.

Season 2 of The Rehearsal may have just aired its first episode as I write this, but it is evident right out of the gate that Fielder has done it again. What he is doing can be traced back to theories made by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard on hyperreality and simulacrum...which to put that into layman's terms: representations become more real than actual reality. Fielder isn't necessarily trying to mimic reality, but he is trying to mimic it in order to actually change reality.

The concept of the show is still there, but now is he is walking a very specific tightrope between trying to help figure out solutions for a serious issue while having the stigma of needing The Rehearsal to be a comedy show. 

Considering the show filmed during 2024, prior to all of the aviation chaos that occurred pre-Trump's 2nd term, it is eerily prescient what the serious issue is that Fielder wants to tackle: aviation crashes. 

The first moments we see are of the captain and a co-pilot in the cockpit of a plane. The tension amongst them and the lack of real communication leads to a crash...but after the crash, we see Fielder ominously (and hilariously) standing outside of the window observing the moment. It turns out what we were watching was occurring inside a flight simulator.

 

Fielder's focus is on that of plane crashes caused by communication failures and captains who were, for lack of a better word, too smug to take the guidance of their first officers. He manages to score an interview with John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member who nearly 20 years ago actually proposed the concept of "roleplay simulation" to help pilot communication but got rejected.

Fielder expresses he knows a thing or two about simulations and with that, you can't help but feel intrigued by where he will go next.

Perhaps a true testament to how Fielder can take the slightest idea and have it snowball, he gets connected with a real-life airline first officer named Moody who would be willing to try out these simulations...but Fielder becomes very fascinated with the distance that these pilots maintain from each other outside of the cockpit.

Once he gets to know Moody more, he learns that he has something of a long-distance girlfriend named Cindy, who is a barista at Starbucks. Moody is a bit concerned that she is being hit on by customers while he is away flying planes and yet doesn't feel comfortable asking her about it. 

Fielder gets Cindy to come to the simulation and has her dress up as the pilot, leading to a strange blending of the task at hand. Namely: improving communication between copilots while also tackling the kind of weird relationship dynamics he really delved into during season 1 and even during certain segments of Nathan for You.

Cindy's attitude is...at least to me...rather oblivious that the men who hit on her and bring her gifts are willing to except that she has a boyfriend...and it leaves both her and Moody feeling awkward once the simulation is complete. 

Meanwhile, Fielder is there responding with equal awkward fervor but seemingly believing that he may have had a spark of success. By the end of the simulation, Moody and Cindy are not smiling; they force civility for the camera with the most lukewarm hug you can imagine.

While The Rehearsal has never had the cringe factor of Nathan for You, this final scene taps into the cringe in a way that I think felt right at home for the world of Nathan Fielder. 

While not as LOL-funny as some of his other content, I do think The Rehearsal is still on track to be his finest work. It is very rare to find a writer/content creator who makes me truly wonder what makes them tick. 

With all of this in mind, I am going to be sitting down each week to write a small review for each of the remaining episodes: 5 more total. I hope to be able to delve more deep into the episodes as we go along and I have a sense for where exactly he is heading. 

Judging by the end of this episode, there may be quite a bit of turbulence ahead...but the kind that'll make intriguing television.

A Look Back at 2000: A Deceptively Strong Year For Film

I know that I talk about the award season process quite a bit on this blog, and while that is not the intention of this post, I am going to begin with discussing what exactly happened during the season that rewarded the films and performances of 2000 as it will lead to the whole reason I want to discuss the year 2000's cinematic achievements.

While there were some expected victories such as Julia Roberts winning Best Actress for Erin Brockovich or perhaps Benicio del Toro winning Supporting Actor for Traffic, I think the other two acting categories were largely up in the air.

On top of that, there was a crazy back-and-forth with Best Picture as well that year where by the time the envelope was being opened, you could've made a case for not just the eventual winner Gladiator but also Traffic which took Best Director for Steven Soderbergh in an upset over expected winner Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, another film that had a strong shot at taking the top prize.

For most of the aughts, I always looked at 2000 as something of a weak year and it seemed as though a lot of people on various film forums agreed with me back then. However, looking back at that decade, there are other years I would consider to be less remarkable by comparison. It doesn't help that it had to follow the 90s, a decade that felt like a resurgence of various 70's cinema ideals.

I think the real problem with 2000 stems from the award system process. This was a year in which many of the biggest Oscar contenders ended up flopping when they were released at the end of the year such as All The Pretty Horses, Pay it Forward, and The Legend of Bagger Vance which led to other films that were released earlier in the year to come back into the fray and take charge such as eventual winner and Box Office hit Gladiator and the aforementioned Erin Brockovich which had been done by indie darling Soderbergh but became an empowering true story vehicle that gave America's Sweetheart a chance to do a true dramatic role.

The fifth nominee for Best Picture that year feels like a joke.

This was at a time when Miramax, under the leadership of disgraced sex offender Harvey Weinstein, was coming off a peak of continued awards success with getting nominations for smaller independent and/or international films in Best Picture like The Crying Game, The Piano, Il Postino, and wins for The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love plus getting a last-minute surge of nominations for The Cider House Rules the year before which even had some pundits wondering if Weinstein would pull off the upset again over American Beauty.

The big Miramax awards push for 2000 was Chocolat, a film that offered beautiful shots of delectable chocolate as perhaps its only truly desirable quality. 

Well okay...that might be a bit harsh considering it is a film that stars Juliette Binoche and Dame Judi Dench, but this was something that just felt too twee and mawkish. The nomination of this film, likely due to Weinstein's vile campaigning tactics, cost quite a few films of a slot on the short list of 5.

As it stands, not all of the Best Picture nominees would make my top 5. To be completely candid, none of them would make my top 10. 

2000 looks like a weak year if you only look at the awards lineup (very similar to 2018, the year of Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Vice, etc...), but there were quite a few gems that came out that year...which is now a quarter of a century behind us as I write this.

With that in mind, I am going to talk about 15 films that came out in 2000 that I have a strong opinion of, and if you haven't seen any of them, I hope to encourage you to check them out.

I do want to shout out Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic as the two strongest Best Picture nominees that year, but I am going to refrain from discussing them at length here to shine a light on films I think deserve more attention instead.

====================

#15 - Before Night Falls

Written & Directed by Julian Schabel

Co-written by Lazaro Gomez Carriles & Cunningham O'Keefe

On a very basic level, we can thank Before Night Falls for introducing many of us to the brilliance that is Javier Bardem. I would say the film is good for what it is, but a lot of what makes it click is the truly passionate performance by Bardem as Reinaldo Arenas, a homosexual Cuban poet who had been a vocal critic of the infamous dictator Fidel Castro. His time being a political prisoner served as the basis for his memoir, which was written following his escape to the US during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. 

Elements of the film have not aged well at all, such as Johnny Depp playing a transvestite named Bon Bon or Sean Penn's one scene as Cuco Sanchez...but this is a film that does have a strong director at the helm which Schnabel, who would go on to make the truly underrated 2007 gem The Diving Bell & The Butterfly and an actor like Bardem who is able to bring Arenas to life and make us care even if the film might feel rather erratic at times. 

___________________________

#14 - Code Unknown

Written & Directed by Michael Haneke

Juliette Binoche may have gotten her 2nd Oscar nomination that year for the treacly Chocolat, but it was her work in Michael Haneke's Code Unknown that felt more in line with the high-quality work she typically provides.

Haneke is a filmmaker who is known for being rather dark and depressing in the subject matter ranging from a family being mentally and physically tortured to death with the occasional wink to the audience (Funny Games), an elderly husband struggling to care for his Alzheimer's-stricken wife (Amour), or a troubled teenager obsessed with violence who wants to make his own disturbing film (Benny's Video)...among other delights.

Code Unknown doesn't get as much talk as his some of his other works and while I wouldn't rank it among the best of the best, I do think it has more of a cryptic and chillier feel. What is perhaps even more crazy is that for as blunt as this film can be, it is a lot lighter than most of his offerings. 

This is a true ensemble film as we weave through the lives of several characters living in Paris and various racial and cultural clashes that they face. In a lot of ways, it feels like a bolder take on this kind of social strife than what Paul Haggis would laughably bring us with Crash a few years later.

I think what makes the film work for some of us as opposed to others is that it can often feel like a documentary in how its shot/presented...and it feels very true to life in that it is one of those films where nothing and everything happens at the same time. 

While perhaps being nearly as cryptic as the film itself, I do feel like if you were to dare try to enter the mind of Haneke, this would be a solid place to start before delving into his darker efforts.

_____________________________

#13 - You Can Count on Me

Written & Directed by Kenneth Lonergan 

Films about the dynamics between siblings can be a fascinating starting point. This is the kind of content that is deeply within the realm of what one would expect from Kenneth Lonergan, who made his feature directorial debut with this film following success as a playwright. 

While I was familiar with Laura Linney prior to seeing this film thanks to her gem of a supporting role in The Truman Show as Meryl/Hannah, the "wife" of Jim Carrey's Truman, this was where I think many of us who hadn't seen her onstage in NY realized she was someone to watch. Not long after seeing this film, I did see her as Elizabeth Proctor opposite Liam Neeson in The Crucible and needless to say, she is an actress who command even doing so little.

This WAS the film that introduced me to Mark Ruffalo, however.

Both he and Linney have talked about how they both seem so far removed from being believable as siblings, but their chemistry and connection is so strong that it throws any desire to question that out the window.

While I would argue that You Can Count on Me is a lot more successful as a film compared to something like Before Night Falls, I still think a major driving force of seeing this is witnessing these early works of Linney and Ruffalo. She did manage to get a well deserved Best Actress nomination but it is a shame Ruffalo missed out on a Supporting nom. 

___________________________________

#12 - Pollock

Directed by Ed Harris

Written by Barbara Turner & Susan Emshwiller

Having Pollock on this list may be a selection that will raise a few eyebrows, but while I may not necessarily have as rapturous an opinion on the film as a whole, a lot of why it is here is due to Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden.

Harris stars in and directs this film, and it is clear that this is a project that he has immense passion for. Combine that passion with the performance of Marcia Gay Harden and it makes for one of the most underrated cinematic pairings of 21st Century cinema. 

I sort of think of Pollock in the same vein as I would La Vie en Rose in that the film itself might have some issues with the scripting, editing, directing but that it becomes required viewing due to the performances onscreen.

Sure, the film may deal with something we've seen many times: the tortured, troubled artist and the person/people who put up with it because they are enamored with them. 

It's a trope, to be sure...but when done well enough or when you have performances like that of Harris and Harden to back it up, it is hard to ignore the fine work in front of you.

________________________________________

#11 - Requiem for a Dream

Directed and Co-written by Darren Aronofsky

Written by Hubert Selby Jr.

There are certain films I think about as being classic examples of "film bro" chic. What I mean by that is that during my early days of being a "film bro", I feel like I would notice a certain passion being given to a group of films to the point where small sanctions of discourse would form leading people to say "Hey, maybe this film might be a bit overpraised."

I would consider Requiem for a Dream to be part of this group, but with me ranking it here, I do fall on the positive side of the discourse. That isn't to say I have had my moments of wondering how much I actually did love it. Truthfully, it is one of those films that isn't easy to love due to how bleak it is, but I will say that it does stick with you and despite the good performances all around, such as Jennifer Connelly who was MUCH better here than in her Supporting Actress win a year later for A Beautiful Mind, the one major aspect of this film that stands out is the career best work of Ellen Burstyn. This is sure saying a hell of a lot considering the kind of work that Burstyn has graced us with, but she is simply sensational and heartbreaking in this role. 

Requiem for a Dream revolves around 4 people suffering from various forms of addiction. Sara Goldfarb (Burstyn) is a widow living alone in her Brighton Beach apartment. Her son Harry (Jared Leto back before he became insufferable) is a heroin addict along with friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). They both deal heroin as a means to help Harry's girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) open a clothing store which will also showcase her own designs.

However, Burstyn's addiction comes from the form of amphetamines at the recommendation of her friend Rae as she has the chance to appear on her favorite TV game show. 

The spiral that Burstyn takes in particular is nothing short of a brutal thing to witness, and it is an absolute shame that she lost the Oscar for this performance. 

I have only seen this film twice, and I am not sure when I would revisit it again. This was my introduction to Darren Aronofsky, and it was quite the blunt one to say the least. 

________________________________________

#10 - Eureka 

Written & Directed by Shinji Aoyama 

I would consider Eureka to be one of the more truly demanding films on this list in terms of what it provides to its viewers and what it asks in return.

At nearly 4 hours long, Eureka is a Japanese film about 3 survivors of a mass shooting that occurred on a public bus and how they cope with their PTSD and also survivor's guilt. To add to their tension, more murders keep occurring them which keeps them trapped in their grief.

I do think the film does suffer from its length a bit. When I talked about how The Brutalist suffered from trying to cram too much in its final 1.5 hours, I actually think this is a case where Shinji Aoyama could've benefitted to trim the film down by even just a half hour or 45 minutes. 

Beyond that, the film is honestly remarkable. The film being shot in a sepia tone that feels unlike any sepia tone I've really seen in a film ends up being highly affective, especially once the film reaches its climax. 

In today's world, Eureka sadly feels even more prescient than it did when I first saw it in 2002. I actually haven't revisited the film in about 15 years and I do wonder if I should try doing so again. 

It may not be a film I can necessarily revisit often, but I cannot deny there is something beautiful and heartbreaking and somehow hopeful about how connections can form between the people you least expect. 

_______________________________________

#9 - As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

Written & Directed by Jonas Mekas

One thing about these kinds of lists is that I often leave off films that are classified as some variation of a documentary. I don't necessarily mean to do this intentionally, but I think the real reason for this is that I consider documentaries to be in a class by themselves. 

In the case of As I Was Moving Ahead, it is highly experimental documentary in which Lithuanian American filmmaker Jonas Mekas takes hours of personal home movie footage to tell a story of his family's history ranging from birthday parties to family picnics and even the first step of his children. 

The final result clocks in at just shy of 4.5 hours and I have read countless reviews over the years that stated that this film offers nothing of value. One could argue that watching someone's home movies, even that of "The Godfather of American Avant-Garde cinema", could lack a certain connection as we don't know the people. It could be seen as the equivalent of that trope where you would get trapped looking at a slide show of a family friend's vacation as they pose awkwardly next to the Grand Canyon.

Mekas was a master and an often forgotten about and unsung hero from 20th century film. Beyond just his works as a filmmaker, he was the very first film critic for The Village Voice and mentored who would go on to become one of the most preeminent film critics in history in his stead: Andrew Sarris.

I firmly feel that he achieved something outstanding here. It is messy and raw but also one of the most genuine pieces of work I have seen and the mastery of it all is due to how is able to edit it all together to make it effective.

It is a case where some may say "nothing happens" while others say "everything happens". Simply put, it just feels like a slice of life.

When Mekas died at his Brooklyn home at the age of 96 in 2019, I do recall being pleased when certain publications like The Guardian picked up the story and gave him the fanfare he deserved.

__________________________

#8 - Amores Perros

Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu 

Written by Guillermo Arriaga

Just like with Kenneth Lonergan and You Can Count on Me, we now get the debut of eventual multi-Oscar winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu and his first installment of what would become known as "The Trilogy of Death": Amores Perros...which would be followed by 21 Grams (which I do remember liking) and Babel (which I very much did not like). 

Amores Perros was far and away the best of the three and still remains his best work, even over the film that netted him multiple Oscars: Birdman. 

The film tells three separate stories that are linked together by a car accident:

Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) as a poor teenager who gets swept up in the world of dogfighting.

Valeria (Goya Toledo), a supermodel whose leg is severely in the car accident that was caused by Octavio.

El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria), a hitman who is trying to get in touch with his daughter who believes him to be dead.

The dog element also links up to each of the stories in various ways, but I think the hyperlink structure here is extremely successful and it prevents the film from feeling too much like an anthology which is something that Babel suffered greatly from.

The film takes on domestic violence, gun violence, animal cruelty, and class structures within capitalism without breaking a sweat. With this film, Inarritu came out swinging and it would be great to see him truly reach the heights he showed here. 

__________________________________

#7 - Best in Show

Written & Directed by Christopher Guest

Co-written by Eugene Levy

After talking about incredibly dark films like Eureka and Requiem for a Dream, it is time to spruce it up with this irreverent little gem from the minds of Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, and their merry little troupe.

While I do hold a certain fondness for Waiting for Guffman as it so closely ties into the world of theatre, I actually think Best in Show might be my favorite film from this group...and it is certainly a bit of an outlier on this list which does tend to veer more towards the dark and depressing. 

Told in that mockumentary style that has since become a norm in the world of comedic storytelling concepts, Best in Show takes a hard-hitting look at the world of dog shows as we follow the lives of 5 entrants in the proceedings.

You can always count on an absolutely stellar ensemble of actors in these films ranging from Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael McKean, Fred Willard, and Christopher Guest himself. 

I sort of wish that this group would get together every couple of years and make a new movie or even a TV show/Limited Series. We did get a small dose of it when Levy and O'Hara were paired up on Schitt's Creek, but I cannot begin to tell you the absolute joy I felt watching the string of films they all made in the 90s/00s. 

If you haven't seen any of the Christopher Guest films, go check out Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. If you really love them, then check out A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.

Also - while not directed by Guest, you should definitely check out Rob Reiner's 1984 gem This is Spinal Tap, which features Guest and McKean along with Harry Shearer as the titular (fictional) heavy metal group.

_____________________________

#6 - Werckmeister Harmonies

Written & Directed by Bela Tarr

Co-written by Laszlo Krasznahorkai 

I have been writing my blog, in various forms, for the last 7 years and I don't think I've been in a position where I've been able to talk about Bela Tarr as a filmmaker. 

While not as heavily prolific as some, Tarr is a Hungarian filmmaker who is usually known for taking a more cynical approach to film and always had an interest in focusing on "social cinema" and dealing with humanist stories.

He hasn't had as frequent an output and it doesn't help that I have only seen 4 of his films, with two of them being among the best of their respective years: 1994's Satantango and the film that you are currently reading about now, Werckmeister Harmonies.

I would even go as far to say that this might be one of the more inaccessible films on this list in terms of how it would appeal to a general audience. Set amidst communist-era Hungary, the film revolves around Janos (Lars Rudolph), a newspaper boy who has a close relationship with his uncle Gyorgy (Peter Fitz), who is a composer and musicologist who has strong opinions about harmonic principles...which is where the title stems from as it goes into the work of musical theorist Andreas Werckmeister.

Although the film's brilliance is how it tries to blend realism with more fantastical elements as the film's major storyline involves a sinister circus coming to town.

I will leave it at that. It is worth experiencing with not much knowledge beyond what I have told you.

____________________________

#5 - Almost Famous

Written & Directed by Cameron Crowe

I hold a certain sense of a nostalgia for Almost Famous in a way that I don't exactly do for the other films on this list. There was a time when I called this my favorite film of 2000, but while it doesn't have that title anymore, it most definitely holds a special place in my heart. 

As someone who is clearly a bit of a geek when it comes to film, I identified with the character of William, a teenager who didn't exactly fit in but had a strong passion for music and wanted to write about it.

Also - Patrick Fugit as William was one of the first parasocial crushes I can distinctly remember having as a young teenager and that certainly helped the film on a superficial level.

In my intro, I stated that Chocolat getting nominated for Best Picture that year was a joke and that I would be naming several films I clearly would've preferred. I am bringing this up now because I am fully convinced Almost Famous was next in line for that final slot. Not only did the film get two Supporting Actress nominations that night but Cameron Crowe WON Best Original Screenplay over WGA winner You Can Count on Me, Erin Brockovich, and the eventual Best Picture winner Gladiator. 

While technically a box office flop, Almost Famous was one of the biggest hits in terms of critics and did have a strong devout following of supporters at that time. In truth, more people talk about and think back more fondly on Almost Famous than a lot of the big awards contenders that year and for good reason. Perhaps it could be a bit predictable at times, but it is a film with such an infectious spirit and captures the 70s world of music so indelibly.

___________________________________

#4 - Dancer in the Dark

Written & Directed by Lars von Trier

When you hear that there is a film that was made by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, you pretty much can expect that you are in for a brutal ride if you choose to watch it. I actually think Dancer in the Dark is my favorite of his works, but even calling this film such a positive term chills me to the bone a little bit. It also doesn't help that von Trier has since had his own "#metoo" attacks...including one from this film's star: the iconic Icelandic singer Bjork.

To give you some context, the film did manage to get a Best Song nomination for "I've Seen it All" which was co-written and performed by Bjork at the ceremony, which is where we got treated to the legendary Swan dress that was the talk of the town. 

For reference:

Making Dancer in the Dark was not an easy experience for Bjork, but the performance proved that had she wanted to sustain a film career, she most definitely could've done so. She managed to win Best Actress at Cannes, and while that unfortunately didn't lead to recognition from American voting bodies, I think her performance is far better than most of the contenders that got into any category that year, female or male.

Bjork plays Selma, a Czech immigrant who moved to the States in 1964 with her 12 year old son Gene and takes a job at a local factory while living a life of poverty. Selma is suffering from a degenerative eye disease and because she fears Gene will suffer the same fate, she is desperately trying to save money that'll help prevent such a thing.

This is a film that, as to be expected from von Trier, will not shy away from making you uncomfortable. It is grimy and dirty and messy and with it being shot on a handheld camera continuing the Dogme 95 movement he founded with fellow Dane master Thomas Vinterberg, it feels frighteningly real. 

The soon to be 13 year old boy who sat down to watch this film after knowing it as the one starring "The Swan Dress Lady" only to be dealt this absolutely tragic storyline was a jarring experience and one that I simply just wasn't expecting.

My mother often allowed me to watch films that I was probably too young for which I have talked about here. I think in this case, this was a film that I probably should've waited to see in hindsight but it also told me early on that darker stories have a place in film. Films can entertain but they can also take you an emotional journey that can enthrall or appall you.

Enthrall and appall this one did.

_______________________________

#3 - Memento

Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan

 I debated whether or not to put Memento on this list, but I am someone who tends to be stickler for when films make an official premiere. While it was released in US Cinemas in March 2001, Memento had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2000; in addition to that, the film is listed as being a 2000 film all over the place so I am sticking with that opinion.

What can I truly say about Memento?

Well for starters, I used to call it Christopher Nolan's best film and I would actually still be willing to consider that argument. I never really responded to deeply to his work in the way that most film fanatics have done over the years...although I did love Oppenheimer. 

Nolan would go on to warp minds with films like Inception or Tenet, but I cannot begin to tell you how invigorating it was to watch Memento as a 13-year-old. I am not saying I understood everything that was happening, but this was a film that just truly felt alive. 

It is told in a non-linear narrative with two timelines being told in reverse order before they both collide in the end. Our main protagonist is Leonard (Guy Pearce), a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia and uses an elaborate series of photos, notes, and even tattoos to aid his quest to find the person who murdered his wife.

I will never claim that Nolan is consistent in finding the emotional strength in his work, but the intensity of his work in Memento has never truly been captured since.

___________________________

#2 - Yi Yi 

Written & Directed by Edward Yang

It makes me sad to talk about Yi Yi as only 7 years after its release, we lost the master behind it: Edward Yang, who had suffered from colon cancer for several years before it took his life just shy of his 60th birthday.

Yang's approach to film was rather fascinating to me because his works were often made with distance and even often invoking a sense of isolation. 

So many of his shots are done with very long takes, rarely with closeups, and often showing cityscapes and empty rooms all while acting as something of an outsider looking in from a distance. And yet...that distance never seems to make you feel disconnected from what you are watching.

Yang was also a filmmaker who felt incredibly passionate about social issues and also how greed impacted middle class life in Taiwan and how business could negatively affect true art. In that regard, Yang's works aren't as widely seen and can be very difficult to find as they weren't heavily distributed even within Taiwan. To this day, I have only about 5 of the 8 films but Yi Yi was his last film before the cancer truly took hold. 

Is Yi Yi his best film? I actually think I prefer his 1991 effort A Brighter Summer Day a tad more as a film and what it achieved. Although, that film is nearly 4 hours long while Yi Yi clocks in at just under 3 hours, which isn't to imply that I am against films being rather long. I do admit that Yi Yi is an easier watch just based on its subject matter and that does make it more prone for a rewatch. 

The film chronicles the life of an engineer known as NJ (Wu Nien-jen) and the three generations of his middle class family that live in Taipei. With the weaving of multiple storylines amongst the families, you could see this as an ensemble piece done by the likes of Mike Leigh or even Noah Baumbach...but there is something so striking about how Yang handles the material and how he presents it. 

It is almost poetic in its simplicity and a quietly emotional in ways you aren't expecting it to be until the journey is over. I wish we could've had more time with Edward Yang.

___________________________

#1 - In the Mood for Love

Written & Directed by Wong Kar-wai

For any film lover reading this, odds are that you are considering this to be an anticlimactic choice...but there is a reason this film is worshipped as much as it is.

In 2022, the prestigious Sight & Sound Poll put out by the BFI selected In the Mood for Love as the 5th Best Film of All Time. It was only one of two films to come out in the 21st century (along with Mulholland Drive) to make the top 10.

Why exactly has this film endured so well to that point it is now considered one of the finest films ever made in the past couple of decades?

In my opinion, this is a prime example of how telling a story that may seem too simple on paper can blossom with the right mix of direction, performance, the setting, and the acting. 

Set in 1962 Hong Kong, we come across Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) who both live in the same apartment complex with their spouses. While more reserved as people, they soon take a notice in each other which ends up becoming more of an issue when both of them realize their spouses are having an affair. 

The question is: do they want to follow suit?

 I once made the comment that romantic films are often looked down upon, but they can sometimes be the most compelling and emotional works when done with great care. I think the remarkable thing about In the Mood for Love is how concise it is. For a list that contains films that are well over 2 hours or even 3 hours long, this is a film that clocks in just shy of 100 minutes in length. 

The film does move at a pace that could be comparable to that of a Merchant/Ivory piece, but there is something so beautiful and honest about what is being portrayed here. This was the film that solidified my belief that Wong Kar-wai is one of my all time favorite filmmakers after a string of a truly strong films from the 90s like Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, and Happy Together.

Our two leads, Leung & Cheung, are both nothing short of exquisite. I once posted something on Twitter a while ago that referred to them as the most stunning couple onscreen, and I do stand by that statement. The chemistry between the two of them is so beautiful and it does have an undercurrent of steam without being exploitative or aggressive. It also helps that the darkly rich sets and lighting and their period costumes add to the allure. 

When I first watched In the Mood for Love over 20 years ago, I recognized it as a very good film and then...it just sat there building esteem in my mind over the passing decades. For such a quiet film in its approach, it is somehow as rapturous and glorious for me as some kind of big MGM Technicolor Spectacular of the 1940s but under an indie lens.

I am not going to make the claim that In the Mood for Love is a film that will appeal to everyone, however if you do have an interest in exploring international cinema and like romantic films with a dramatic style, this would be a great place to start. 

As alluring and bittersweet a film as I can remember, and a true masterwork from Wong Kar-wai.

__________________________________________

FINAL THOUGHTS:

In 2024, a lot of film people I follow on the internet were talking a lot about how epic of a year 1999 was for film. I bring this up primarily because I have to say that the quality of 1999's output is widely regarded as among the finest in cinema history.

And yet...

I never wrote about it.

 I actually still have a draft of a post that goes into my top favorite films of 1999 and I couldn't get myself to finish it. Something about it just felt expected and not overly fresh.

I found myself feeling very excited to talk more about 2000 because it did always have a stigma, even from myself, as a being a very weak year following the heights reached in 1999.

I am not about to claim that 2000 is better than 1999, but I will say that 2000 is a bit of an underrated gem if you look beyond what the mainstream industry pushed for major consumption and awards consideration. 

This trend doesn't continue though. In fact, 2001 is a year that offered a couple of strong and provocative outings such Mulholland Drive and The Royal Tenenbaums but not many films ignited a lot of passion within me. 

That is actually fairly true for a quite a few years in the 2000s, which is a shame considering how strong the 90s were for cinema. 

I do want to try to talk more about the years of cinema that I consider to be hidden gems, and considering we are 25 years removed from 2000 plus it being one of the earliest years of my filmgoing obsession, it seemed like the perfect place to start.

My UPDATED Ranking of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners - Vol. 4 - TOP 20

In one fell swoop, we are not only going to discuss my top 20 choices for the Best of the Best Supporting Actress winners, but this is also my 150th post!

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my posts over the past few years!

I will have more to say about my ranking series at the end of this volume. I have already talked about my future goals, but I do want to reiterate what I would like to achieve next.

Without further ado, I present to you my top 20!

====================

 #20 - Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot (1989)

This one of those cases where a performer will be recognizable more by her face than by her name to many millennials like me.

Brenda Fricker will always be The Pigeon Lady from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York along with Maggie, the very warm foster mom in Angels in the Outfield.

It is very funny that a lot of Fricker's most famous roles link her as being a very warm and maternal figure, because she herself has often said she is the least maternal person possible.

And in My Left Foot, she plays Mrs. Brown, a woman who gave birth to TWENTY-TWO CHILDREN. This was such a stark number that when Fricker won, she said in her speech that "a woman who gives birth 22 times deserves [an Oscar]".

The warm supportive mother is another one of those Supporting Actress staple performances, but I think Fricker manages to be one of the finest examples of this.

Keep in mind, she is acting opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, who is truly taking up the screen with his commitment to playing the real-life Christy Brown, who suffered from Cerebral Palsy. 

Her devotion to him is so compelling and you can feel her warmth and care in every frame...and how proud she is of him. 

This is a woman who tells her son: "If you could have my legs, I would gladly take yours"...and it is one of the most honest and genuine expressions of motherly love you can find in a film.

A truly luminous performance.

_________________________________

#19 - Dianne Wiest, Bullets over Broadway (1994)

When Woody Allen decided to cast Dianne Wiest as the diva Helen Sinclair, his late writing partner Douglas McGrath said, "All right, kill your picture then."

Wiest was known for her kooky and sort of neurotic roles, one of which we already discussed in my last volume...and sure, Helen Sinclair is a kook in her own way, but this is a woman of a certain strength and narcissism that many felt Wiest couldn't pull off.

She also didn't seem to get a handle on the role at first until she experimented with lowering her voice an octave...and that is where she found the character and swept the award season.

I actually consider Bullets over Broadway to be a solid film, but it also occurs at a time in Woody Allen's career where I feel his true steady decline began.

A lot of what saves the film is its ensemble, which is fantastic and also includes John Cusack, Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Tilly, and Tracey Ullman. 

Wiest is certainly a major highlight and, frankly, who on earth could ever forget her telling Cusack the ever-immortal line: "Don't speak!!"?

_______________________________

#18 - Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave (2013)

A black actress winning for playing a slave...sigh...

But hey, what a strong debut this was for Lupita Nyong'o!

12 Years a Slave is a brutal film, and it is truly difficult to watch Nyong'o as Patsey as she is frequently raped by her owner played by Michael Fassbender and a source of abuse and ridicule by the wife, played by Sarah Paulson in a performance that truly shows how wasted she has been in Ryan Murphy projects.

It could be easy to write off Nyong'o's performance as being successful due to how hard it is to separate the brutal tragic nature of it; the whole "swept by a character rather than the performance" motif.

That would, undoubtedly, be selling Nyong'o short. 

She simply just gives herself emotionally over to this role and while I originally thought that a lot of the success of her performance was due to the character rather than the actress, I was simply wrong.

Nyong'o has also proven how stellar she of an actress she is outside of this role, and she was royally robbed of a nomination and potential win for her work in Jordan Peele's Us.

________________________________

#17 - Vanessa Redgrave, Julia (1977)

I had the privilege of seeing Vanessa Redgrave in a play back in 2011...sadly it was Driving Miss Daisy but hey, getting the trio of Redgrave, James Earl Jones, and Boyd Gaines is nothing to scoff at in the slightest.

I admire Vanessa Redgrave a great deal for how she approaches her work and also for her political beliefs. Even though this role doesn't exactly give her as much screentime, she kind of dominates the film as its main catalyst...which I suppose would make sense considering she actually plays the titular Julia.

Supposedly a real-life figure (check out the history of writer Lillian Hellman to see why that is probably not the case), Julia is a woman who is fighting against the Nazis during the rise leading to WWII.

Jane Fonda plays Hellman, who was a childhood friend of Julia, who had gone off to study at Oxford but ended up living the university to go to Vienna with the hopes to mentor under Sigmund Freud. 

However, Julia gets swept up in the anti-Nazi movement (because it is always good to punch Nazis in the face), and then she inquires help from her friend Lillian in the resistance cause.

Redgrave's presence is sparse but felt so strongly throughout the film, and then when we get to the famous cafe scene in which Hellman and Julia have their final encounter, Redgrave is luminous without even really doing or saying much of anything. 

Julia is a film that has its moments of being compelling but does suffer at times due to sluggish pacing and an erratic screenplay (which still won the Oscar) but I think Fonda and Redgrave do make the film worth seeing.

________________________________

#16 - Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind (1939)

And now...yet another black actress playing a slave...

I have said before that I have never been the biggest fan of Gone with the Wind, and that even dates back to before I even realized how problematic the material was in of itself.

Even this character is problematic...hell, she is simply credited as "Mammy". 

Still though, McDaniel's win here is historic as she was the first person of color to win an Oscar...then you take into account that the forced her to sit in the back of the room next to the kitchen and they made her recite a speech that was written for her rather than her own words.

Truly disgusting.

Overlooking those truly abhorrent issues, I think McDaniel is undoubtedly iconic and is truly such a strong presence in this film. At the young age in which I first saw the film, I didn't even know or take into account the Oscar win so I viewed the performance on simply being very memorable and enjoyed her energy and chemistry with Vivien Leigh.

Hattie McDaniel paved the way and while she won for the most offensive type of role...I can't argue that she was simply just too good.

I do want to say that I wish Margaret Hamilton had gotten a nomination for The Wizard of Oz. Talk about another truly iconic performance!

__________________________________

#15 - Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker (1962)

I am going to get one thing out of the way first.

This win is a prime example of how miniscule differences and comparisons can truly make the idea of awards a silly affair.

Patty Duke shouldn't have won this Oscar if I am strictly basing it on the contenders she was up against. I firmly believe that Angela Lansbury gave one of the best performances in the history of cinema as Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate and she had every right to feel that she was robbed, because it was a topic that did haunt Lansbury for years.

Having said that, Duke was an absolute marvel as Helen Keller.

This was a performance that was full of strong commitment and great physical work, which is only more impressive when you factor in her young age and the fact she originated this role on the Broadway stage eight times a week.

The one-two punch of Duke and Anne Bancroft make for a truly iconic cinematic duo, and I think that Duke winning here is something that is worth celebrating...but it will always go down as a prime example of how the awards process can also hurt a film or a performance simply because it is deemed less worthy when being put next to another product.

_____________________________________

#14 - Josephine Hull, Harvey (1950)

This is another performance I saw at a very young age, but I was old enough to have been aware of the Oscars. The only difference was I hadn't really studied the history enough to know that Josephine Hull had actually won.

What I can recall was what an absolute riot I found Hull to be, and I remembered thinking "It would've been nice for a truly hilarious comedic performance like this to win an Oscar" and then I was thrilled to see that she actually pulled it off.

She was able to turn even the most banal of lines into comic gold, but even if a line was written for comic effect, she somehow made it even better. I think of her delivery of:

"Oh, Myrtle. It's a wonderful feeling to have your relative out of the house before company comes!"

She is so desperate to hide her brother Harvey (whose best friend is a 6-foot tall imaginary rabbit) that we can't help but love her despite the fact she is being so cold to her brother...and it all comes down to the comedic element and how she ends up getting herself committed all by accident when a psychiatrist thinks her character Veta is the mental case.

And then, through all the comedy, Hull pulls through with a touching dramatic turn when she realizes she actually doesn't want her brother to change.

This was one of those rare examples where the Academy acknowledged a comedic performance and got it right.

_____________________________________

#13 - Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton (2007)

Not really related to the performance itself, but I can remember being very proud when I predicted that Tilda Swinton would win this Oscar. 

That season, the Supporting Actress category was divided as Amy Ryan won the Critics' Choice; Cate Blanchett won the Globe, Ruby Dee won the SAG, and Tilda Swinton won the BAFTA.

In recent years, divided races have come down to BAFTA being the deciding factor. Recent wins by Frances McDormand and Anthony Hopkins are prime examples of this...even if the latter had been expected by most to be Chadwick Boseman. Even Mikey Madison winning for Anora was very telling as that prize was the first and only industry award to announce a winner right before Oscar voting ended. 

I felt at the time that Swinton would benefit not just from having something of the "recency" of her BAFTA win, but also building up respect as an actress, the fact that Blanchett already had an Oscar, and it would be a great way to reward BP nominee Michael Clayton with an Oscar.

And, it must be said, it is a great performance.

As Karen Crowder, Swinton plays one of those villains that is simply just so pathetic and nothing but a true weasel. I almost think of her as a more dramatic female version of William H. Macy's Jerry Lundegaard from Fargo in that respect.

The whole movie, Swinton tries to play a tough and no-nonsense lawyer but instead, she is completely drowning in anxieties. 

All of it builds up to a truly exquisite final scene where her whole world comes crashing down and you can't help but just chuckle at the justice at play...and also maybe pity her more just because Swinton's details in the scene are just so exquisite.

She is simply falling apart and when Clooney states he wants $10 million, her almost stunned and petrified laugh as she chokes out "Where do you think I’m going to get $10 million?!" is an absolutely brilliant line delivery. Another great line delivery, one that is almost comical as she realizes she just got owned by Clooney, is "You don't want the money?" is simply just a savory cherry on top of the scene.

____________________________________

#12 - Youn Yuh-jung, Minari (2020)

Leading up to the 2021 Academy Awards, it seemed that film buffs were bemoaning that a performance by Youn Yuh-jung would probably be forgotten because it was a Korean-language performance...even though Minari was receiving a lot of extensive awards attention.

It was also just the year following the rather egregious snubbing of any of the performers from Parasite despite that film breaking the glass ceiling of becoming the first foreign film to win Best Picture.

However, Youn did win...and I find it a glorious moment. She also became only the second woman of East Asian descent to win an Oscar...and the first to win for an Asian-language role.

As Soon-ja, Youn gets to be the film's comic relief but also the film's eventual heart. She is loving grandmother, but she is also a grandmother who doesn't always act like the stereotypical grandmother: particularly with her swearing and her fascination with watching wrestling on TV with great awe.

When she eventually ends up being severely affected by a physical ailment, you honestly feel deeply sad by it because she was such a source of light and love in the movie. 

ALSO - her Oscar speech was quite possibly the highlight of that rather horrible ceremony...aside from Glenn Close's staged bit where she talks about the song "Da Butt".

Shout out to the ensemble of Minari, led by Oscar nominee Steven Yeun and the overlooked Han Ye-ri.

_________________________________

#11 - Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek (1964)

I don't remember a lot about Zorba the Greek. I haven't watched the film since I was a teenager, but if anything does stand out in my mind from it, it is Lila Kedrova.

That wasn't to say that the film was bad by any means, but I suppose I just wasn't as overly enamored with it as some of the other offerings from 1964 like Dr. Strangelove, Woman in the Dunes, and Mary Poppins.

Kedrova plays Madame Hortense, and her win in this category was actually seen as something of a surprise that night...but the only surprise in hindsight is that this was ever considered a surprise win to begin with.

Madame Hortense is a character who has a truly eccentric woman who longs for the days of her youth and seeks the love of another man, but instead, she seems to be the source of ridicule.

When she ends up contracting pneumonia and is on her deathbed, we watch her quietly praying and hallucinating as if she was finally receiving the attention to hoped to receive from men much like the oft mentioned "four admirals" of her past.

This is a performance that is brimming with such strong quiet desperation and devastation...and you truly can't help but feel such remorse for the character. 

It is no wonder that for the 1984 revival of the 1969 Broadway musical, they nabbed Kedrova to join the cast and she took the Tony.

___________________________________

#10 - Maggie Smith, California Suite (1978)

Diana: "Which category did we miss?"

Sidney: "The Best Documentary Short Subject"

Diana: "...oh damnit...my favorite category".

Maggie Smith is Diana Barren, an actress who has flown in from London to attend to the Academy Awards as she is up for a nomination.

She is not exactly thrilled to be there, but deep down, she certainly wouldn't mind winning.

And she doesn't.

But Dame Maggie did.

I adore this win so much and it doesn't even have to deal with the juicy fact that she won for playing an Oscar loser. Smith is just so freaking good at comedy and her chemistry with Michael Caine is absolutely delicious.

California Suite, however, is not a good movie. While the movie does tell 4 different stories, none of the others are worthwhile in the slightest (basically Neil Simon at his most banal...but I am also not exactly a huge champion of Neil Simon so perhaps I am negatively biased). It all comes down to Smith and Caine to salvage some form of comic dignity to the proceedings and they succeed in spades.

Smith's regal nature all played to deadpanned glory is a true masterclass in how to sell comedy in the driest way possible for maximum effect.

This was Smith's second Oscar win following her lead actress win for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which also made my top 10 for that category. 

Smith manages to be one of the few actresses to win multiple Oscars that were actually richly deserved. Having said that though, I do want to give a shout-out to Maureen Stapleton, who managed to give Woody Allen's Interiors, a film that is at constant battle with an aloof pretentiousness, a sense of life and vitality.

___________________________________

#9 - Linda Hunt, The Year of Living Dangerously (1983)

Hooooooo....lordy.....I don't even know how to rank this one...so if you aren't aware, let me explain the issue here.

If you read my Best Actress ranking, you may recall that I called out the casting of white German actress Luise Rainer as a Chinese farmer in The Good Earth. I described it as "a heaping dose of yellowface".

We do have yellowface in this instance as we have a white woman playing a Chinese-Australian man.

I might've knocked this down a couple of points strictly for the "yellowface", but I have to admit, this is a truly compelling performance in what is, once again, the best thing about a relatively middling film.

Linda Hunt is mostly known these days for being a part of the NCIS franchise, for being the model of the Edna Mode character from The Incredibles, and perhaps for what I remember her from the most: Ms. Schlowsky in Kindergarten Cop.

This was not a case of an actress playing a man simply because of a gimmick. This was director Peter Weir auditioning multiple men (including Wallace Shawn, which...imagine that casting for a moment...to quote himself: "INCONCEIVABLE!!") and just not finding the right fit until he stumbled across Hunt, who was mostly working as a NY Theatre actress at the time.

Hunt is thoroughly convincing as Billy Kwan and she plays the role with a lot of dignity and respect. Her final moments of the film when she confronts Guy (Mel Gibson) and she just quietly digs into him: "I thought you were a man of light...I gave you my trust...I created you...", it is just chilling to say the least.

I just can't help but commend this performance for the majority of what it is able to pull off.

However, I do want to give a shout-out to Cher, whose work in Silkwood seemed to prove to the world that perhaps the lady who wore bombastic Bob Mackie costumes and starred on her own cheesy variety series was actually an actress worth watching.

I also want to shout out two actresses I would've loved to see in this category: Jamie Lee Curtis for Trading Places, who actually won the BAFTA that year; and Melinda Dillon, who wasn't even on the radar but was truly a delight as the mom in A Christmas Story. 

____________________________________

#8 - Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

When Kramer vs. Kramer begins, our first shot is of Meryl Streep.

She looks tired and flustered and despondent. This is a woman who simply has had enough and within minutes, she leaves her husband (Dustin Hoffman) and we are off to the races. There is also something so quietly devastating about her line delivery of "I don't love you anymore" as she stands desperately in the elevator trying to leave.

We watch as Hoffman tries to raise his son (Justin Henry) on his own and how disconnected he actually was from his life and then, when we least expect it, Streep appears from a distance watching them and it is almost like we've seen a ghost.

A lot has been said about how Hoffman treated Streep in this movie, such as slapping her to get her into a place of despair for the first scene, or how he broke a wine glass within inches of her head without prompting her (leading to the stilted surprised reaction we see from her in the film), or trying to milk her to cry by hanging the death of her partner John Cazale over her head before shooting the final courtroom scene.

Hoffman is a great actor but can be very problematic to say the least.

I have to say that it seems truly laughable that any performer would feel like an actress the caliber of Meryl Streep would need help getting to a certain emotional state. I get that this was early in her career but COME ON! She was already a respected stage actress who graduated with an MA from the Yale AND had an Oscar nomination for The Deer Hunter the previous year.

Regardless of that, NO ACTOR OR DIRECTOR OR ANYONE should feel compelled to put a performer through that kind of turmoil. At any rate, I feel like Streep gives the role of Joanna what it needs because we could simply just hate this woman for walking out on her son and leaving him with his distant father...but a lot of what Streep brings to the table is just that this is a woman who was missing something in her life, and she had to try to find herself.

In lesser hands, I think this role would've been a failure. 

____________________________________

#7 - Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

When one thinks about Streetcar, many think of Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh... and particularly the famous moment where Brando's Stanley yells for his wife: "Hey STELLA! HEY STELLA!!!!"

Well, Kim Hunter is the one who portrays Stella...and she is truly just as fantastic as her two leading co-stars and the other member of that famous quartet: Karl Malden.

Kim Hunter is an actress that I feel isn't as known nowadays beyond her work in this film, which does seem like a shame...although a lot of that is due to the fact that she was an unfortunate victim of the Communist Blacklist since she was an extremely progressive woman politically and GOD FORBID we have progressive politics in this country.

Sigh...I feel like we are back in the 1950s these days.

However, I think you can truly see the depths of her talent with this role, because even though Stella is certainly not a bad role, it is an easy one to make potentially dull.

Hunter's screen presence is very scintillating and her chemistry with Brando is absolutely powerful.

After Brando calls for her, the descent down the stairs is dripping with so much sexual tension that I feel like I might have to take up a nasty cigarette habit. Okay, I will never smoke, but my god!!

_________________________________

#6 - Jane Darwell, The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Jane Darwell's final film role was playing the famous bird lady that Julie Andrews sings about in Mary Poppins...and sure, it was nice that Walt Disney saw to give Darwell the work and to treat her like royalty through the process...but it is also a shame that an actress like her seemingly couldn't get her career to take off despite an Oscar win. 

Darwell as Ma Joad is one of the warmest and most captivating characters ever captured on film (by way of Steinbeck's novel, of course). 

She is a source of strength and resilience and provides a strong rock for the Joad family to lean on. 

Also, it must be said that the even if it is the most famous scene, her moment with the earrings is a true class act in film acting.

A truly epic performance that finds such power in such simmering subtlety and determination. 

I do want to quickly shout out Dame Judith Anderson, whose chilling performance as the sterling Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca is petty epic in its quiet and subtle evil.

These are polar opposite performances, but it is hard to deny how powerful Darwell is at conveying that motherly warmth. 

________________________________

#5 - Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show (1971)

Very few performances build to such a furioso finale quite like that of Cloris Leachman's Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show...but then right after that burst of energy, it settles into a warm and quiet peace.

It must've been interesting for audiences at the time considering Leachman was primarily known for playing Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and it wasn't as common for TV stars to easily turn into Oscar winners (even though Goldie Hawn had down it just two years prior).

It also seemed as if Leachman, at least from the standpoint of reading about the season, wasn't exactly a shoo-in to win, plus she had strong competition from her co-star Ellen Burstyn who had something of a flashier role.

Leachman's Ruth Popper is the wife to the local high school football coach who is neglected by him...and she starts sleeping with the teenaged Bobby (Timothy Bottoms), who is on her husband's team.

What I find interesting about his portrayal is how they make Ruth out to be, essentially, a middle-aged girl next door. She isn't what you'd call a "knock-out" so to speak, but you can see the beauty there...and when she starts to get the attention from Bobby, you can see her coming alive.

Although, by film's end, she is depressed and truly shutting herself out from the world. Once Bobby comes back seeking solace in her arms, she will have none of it. Her response is satisfying to say the least and feels so earned after what we watch her put up with. You are truly so happy to see her stand up for herself. 

That final shot of her holding his hand and saying "Never you mind, honey..." is beautiful and you hope the two of them will have reached a healthy understanding.

_____________________________

#4 - Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock (2000)

Oh look! Here comes another borderline leading suffering wife performance!

Nevertheless, I am judging these performances based on their quality and how much I found them to be effective in their films, and I have absolutely adored this performance from the moment I saw it.

I also think this is such a truly remarkable Oscar win if only for the fact that it seems to be one of those rare times where a dark horse candidate who managed to slip into race actually got seen enough for people to realize she was so clearly the best.

Harden benefitted from it being a divided race just like Tilda Swinton did 7 years later. Kate Hudson won the Globe, Judi Dench won SAG, Julie Walters won BAFTA, and Frances McDormand won CCA.

Of those 4, only Dench was in a BP nominee...which was Chocolat...and what a banal trifle of a film that was. Even though Dench had just won an Oscar two years prior, at the time I sort of thought she had enough clout to pull off a second win. Hudson seemed to be considered the tentative frontrunner, but I would've rather McDormand win over Hudson. 

This just simply turned out to be one of those rare instances where it felt like the Academy just seemed to know that someone was far above the rest and they didn't vote for anyone that was crowned by the major televised precursors. Keep in mind, Harden was not nominated for any other major award and had only won the NY Film Critics Circle Award.

I am focusing too much on the awards aspect, but I am just impressed that she pulled this off because she legitimately did deserve it and a lot of key stats were broken for her to pull it off!

Her and Ed Harris smolder together in this film and I think her fire and passion matches his so brilliantly. To be honest, I think he should've won that night too, but he also had stiff competition from Javier Bardem.

_____________________________

#3 - Viola Davis, Fences (2016)

I approached the idea of seeing Fences as a film with pretty steady confidence that it would be good...and it was, indeed, good.

I do think it lost something from the stage, but we did still get those performances...especially that of Viola Davis.

I have an immense fondness for the work of August Wilson and I do think that Fences is easily one of his best plays despite the fact it might be a cliche to say that. The character of Rose Maxson is very intriguing because she gets to play the oft-seen suffering housewife, but Wilson wrote her as a means for her to have a strong backbone. On top of that, after she learns of her husband's betrayal, he allows her a chance to take him down and then eventually cut him out of her life when he has the gall to ask her the raise the child he had with his now dead mistress.

I think the fact that Rose ends up raising the child as her own was an interesting choice because it could come off as her being a doormat, and it certainly doesn't. 

That is both praise to the writing of Wilson and the acting of Davis.

So, this is one of the more egregious examples of category fraud, even more so than that of Marcia Gay Harden. Granted, the actress Mary Alice won a Featured Tony Award for the original production of Fences while Davis won a Lead Tony when her and Denzel Washington revived the play back in the early 2010s.

I still say this is a lead role...but Davis sadly knew how to play the game and asked to be campaigned for the Supporting Actress Oscar for what was essentially an easy win.

I do have to wonder: if Davis actually campaigned in Lead, would she have seriously still lost the Oscar to freaking Emma Stone in La La Land? I would hope not, but then again, Emma Stone was honestly the weakest in that category and if she could beat the likes of Natalie Portman and Isabelle f'n Huppert then I have lost hope for the world of "artistic integrity".

_____________________________

#2 - Sandy Dennis, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

When talking about character arcs and how it seems like certain roles may not have enough to truly give an actress much to do, it might seem a little shocking that I would rank Sandy Dennis as my #2.

For those who followed my Best Actress ranking, you know that I ranked Elizabeth Taylor #1 and that I have a strong love for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as both a play and a film.

With all of that love in mind, I guess ranking Dennis this high isn't so shocking.

The role of Honey is very deceptive. She is a rather meek and mousy housewife, but she is also neurotic and easily susceptible to pressure.

Considering you have the characters of George and Martha dominating over the proceedings and then a sterling character like Nick (Honey's husband) sort of acting as the closest example to the material's "straight man/audience stand-in", Honey is almost always in the background but gets these carefully placed bits where she will chime in and steal the moment right out from under Taylor, Burton, and Segal.

Like, who can forget her yelling "Hump the hostess!" or when they go out to the desolate restaurant and she is twirling around like she is some psychotic Twyla Tharp dancer singing "I dance like the WIND!"? 

This is really a performance/role that is truly remarkable in how much can be mined out of what is actually fairly sparse text. A lot of it comes down to the characteristics that writer Edward Albee used to describe her in the text, because honestly, this role could be played fairly straight for the most part and end up not being that remarkable.

It is an amazing example of how strongly effective a true Supporting performance can be.

_____________________________

#1 - Mo'Nique, Precious (2009)

I think this selection is sort of anticlimactic in some ways because it isn't exactly an "out of the box" choice...but I suppose you can't ignore when something is just that impressive.

I also strictly mean that in relation to Mo'Nique's performance because why not end my ranking with the ultimate example of a Supporting Actress winner being the best thing about her movie?

I was not a fan of Precious and I think a lot of that has to do with Lee Daniels as a director, but I just didn't take to a lot of the film either. I am still rather surprised it managed to win Adapted Screenplay that year.

Mo'Nique plays Mary Jones, the mother of Claireece (or Precious) who is played by Gabourey Sidibe who, if I am being honest, is also very good doesn't deserve to be roped into the negative comments about the film.

Mary Jones is a vile, despicable, and truly horrific person who abuses her daughter and uses her daughter's child (who lives with Precious' grandmother) as a means to hoard welfare checks.

Precious' child Mongo is the result of incest and her own father raped her and it is that scenario that truly sets off Mary into thinking that somehow Precious stole her husband away.

This is a performance that truly could've backfired as it could've been played one-note or come off as pure camp (see: Shelley Winters in A Patch of Blue), but Mo'Nique herself was a victim of sexual abuse as a child and you can tell she understands this woman on some dark level.

She doesn't come at her with any judgement and the results are horrific. This isn't even a one-note performance either...because at the end, when she finally airs her real grievances but also seems to accept her heinous actions, you almost feel bad for her but are thrilled when she is abandoned by Precious and the social worker Mrs. Weiss, who is played by Mariah Carey of all people and her quiet anguish at watching this unfold in front of her is very well done.

I do want to say that I think it is an absolute shame that Mo'Nique seemed to get shafted by the Hollywood scene following her Oscar win.

Mo'Nique famously called out the hypocrisy and lunacy of the Oscar campaigning process and refused to truly participate in it. 

Based strictly on the power of her performance, she still won but you sort of got the sense that powerful people in Hollywood resented that a (black) woman refused to play the game...and because of that, she got passed over for Octavia Spencer's eventual Oscar winning role in The Help and her dream of brining Hattie McDaniel's story to the screen never materialized.

Honestly, after this performance, I was ready to watch Mo'Nique star in every movie for the next decade...and I hope that someday, she will get another chance.

_________________________________________

FINAL THOUGHTS:

       

While revisiting these winners, I can't help but think that aside from a maybe like a dozen or nearly two dozen of them, a lot of these performances simply were good or great or even flat out fantastic in their own right. 

It has truly been a joy for me to be able to talk about these performances because they are all truly remarkable in their own ways...and a lot of these actresses deserved better careers than they got...particularly with what I just said about Mo'Nique. I do love being able to discuss these performers and their work, because a lot of these performances often aren't discussed enough in the manner in which they should be...or in the case of those I ranked rather low, I reveled in calling out the fact that they never should've been close to a nomination. 

I have also been rather overwhelmed by the volume of readership these rankings have gotten, and I am grateful for the support!

I do still intend to do a reworked ranking for Best Picture next, but I also have a couple of unrelated posts in the making that I hope to have up soon. I also want to reiterate that I still intend to do, for the first time, rankings of the Actor and Supporting Actor winners but as often seems to be the case, the male categories never seem to get the same amount of passion or enthusiasm so I will need to revisit some of those films so I can make a truly honest opinion.

Thank you all again for taking a look at this list, and please see below for the other volumes of the ranking:

Vol. 1: 89-69

Vol. 2: 68-40

Vol. 3: 39-21