For Your Consideration: 11 Underdog Performances

Tahar Rahim in "A Prophet," Tilda Swinton in "Julia" and Hal Holbrook in "That Evening Sun."

Last week, in addition to our homepage facelift, indieWIRE quietly launched a revamped section on the site that for the coming months, will be entirely devoted to the internet journalism mammoth that is awards season.  While recent expansions in internet-oriented coverage offer readers dozens upon dozens of options, we’re hoping to stand out from the crowd.  Our attempt to do so involves being the first to bring you breaking awards news, linking to notable awards blogs across the web, offering regular awards-related polls, extensive coverage of Oscar’s smaller (and indie-friendly) siblings like the Spirits and Gothams, and weekly features highlighting awards-related trends, developments, and predictions.  This article falls into that final category, and we figured in keeping with indieWIRE‘s indie spirit, we’d start things off by offering you a list of ten underdog performances from the festival circuit that may or may not stand a chance at sneaking into Oscar’s final fives, but are all certainly worthy of it.

Seemingly every year, a few actors from small films manage to sneak into the race at the last minute.  Last year, it was Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” and Melissa Leo in “Frozen River,” while in years past there’s a surprisingly impressive little list: Laura Linney in “The Savages,” Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson,” Catalina Sandino Moreno in “Maria Full of Grace,” Amy Adams in “Junebug.”  While this year some indie films have already securely supplanted themselves in the race, with many of their actors included below (most notably “Precious”‘s Mo’Nique and Gabby Sidibe, and “An Education”‘s Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina, all of whom are looking like very likely fixtures comes nomination morning), there’s many that face a more uphill battle.  Here’s eleven:

Penelope Cruz for “Broken Embraces”

While more likely to get Academy buzz for her supporting work in Rob Marshall’s upcoming “Nine” (though no one has actually seen that film, so perhaps that’s getting ahead of ourselves), Penelope Cruz’s work in Pedro Almodovar’s latest should not be ignored.  Even the film’s more tepid reviews highlight her work as Lena, an aspiring actress fending off the abuse of her wealthy husband. As she did in “Volver” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Cruz makes it impossible for you to look away when she’s on the screen.  And one should not be so naive as to believe that’s simply because of her hyperreal beauty.  She has plenty of pre-“Volver” roles that can prove that.

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Roxanne Duran for “The White Ribbon” Standing out from the massive crowd of a cast in Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winning “The White Ribbon” is no small feat, but young Roxanne Duran does just that in her chilling role as as the doctor’s daughter. Though younger actresses are often a fixture in the supporting actress category, rarely are they recognized in foreign-language fare (a tragic example of such an oversight is Victoire Thivisol’s work in 1996’s “Ponette”), so Duran’s chances probably stand as among the slightest on this list.  However, perhaps a critic’s group or a European award organization will make up for it. Charlotte Gainsbourg for “Antichrist” Her best actress award at Cannes was not without reason.  Whatever you think about Lars von Trier’s extremely divisive “Antichrist,” it’s difficult not to admire Gainsbourg’s remarkably intense work in the film.  Yet, it’s not exactly an easy performance to watch.  Genital mutilation doesn’t usually play a memorable role in Oscar-nominated work, so it might be difficult to get most Academy voters to sit through “Antichrist.” They also haven’t been kind to von Trier’s leading ladies in the past.  While Emily Watson got a well-deserved nod for 1996’s “Breaking The Waves,” exceptional work from “Dancer in the Dark”‘s Bjork and “Dogville”‘s Nicole Kidman went unnoticed. Hal Holbrook for “That Evening Sun” Eighty-four year old Holbrook gained his first nomination two years ago for Sean Penn’s “Into The Wild” and was unfortunately nominated alongside Javier Bardem’s work in “No Country For Old Men.” Now, with a tiny film that premiered at SXSW, he seems like he’s getting another chance. A festival circuit favorite, “That Evening Sun” is being released via Freestyle this November.  Holbrook plays an aging Tennessee farmer facing family betrayal, and with the right campaign, and a mix of sentimental and critical support, Holbrook could find himself in the mix. -this article continues on the next page-   (1 of 2)  Next Page › posted on October 16, 2009 |Share