In defense of Glenn Close as "Maw-Maw"

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Adapted from J.D. Vance’s controversial memoir about his family in the Appalachians, Hillbilly Elegy opened to harshly negative reviews from critics, but the film is not really out of the awards conversation. What was seemingly a slam dunk Oscar contender given the pedigree of its cast is now caught in the critics/audience divide, something that has become a commonality these past few years (Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Joker, etc). Just look at the critics and audience scores the film got in Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

ROTTENTOMATOES: Tomatometer: 26% / Audience Score: 85%
METACRITIC Metascore: 39 (generally unfavorable) / User Score: 7.9 (generally favorable)

The most significant Oscar push for the film will undoubtedly be seven-time oscar nominee Glenn Close for Best Supporting Actress. She plays Mamaw, J.D.’s grandmother and de facto guardian when his mother Bev (Amy Adams) spirals into heroin addiction. This role comes after a surprising Best Actress loss at the 91st Academy Awards for her performance in The Wife.  Absurdly overdue for a win, Close came to this particular Supporting Actress race as a preordained frontrunner. However, the dismal critical reception of the film immediately cast doubt on her chances. Some now feel she won't be nominated at all. Or, that she doesn't deserve to be which is unfair on Close’s part, in my humble opinion...

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Almost There: Joan Allen in "Pleasantville"

by Cláudio Alves

You guys really love Joan Allen. Once again, this three-time Academy Award nominee has won the readers' vote in the Almost There polls. When choosing from a selection of 10 non-Oscar-nominated performances in new to streaming movies, you picked Allen's turn in Gary Ross' Pleasantville. It's a 1998 fantasy about two modern teenagers who find themselves teleported inside a 1950s black-and-white sitcom. As their influence humanizes the neighborhood, sexual autonomy blossoms as do other desires, wills. Even color starts to appear in the monochrome universe. Odious prejudice is soon to follow.

Between metaphors about sexual liberation, racism, and midcentury conservativism, one cast member shines brighter than all the others, rises above the picture's relative shortcomings. As the kids' televisual mother, Joan Allen is a miracle of stilted cheeriness melting into delicate gradations of humanity…

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Almost There: Faye Dunaway in "Barfly"

by Cláudio Alves

I confess myself surprised by the reader's choice in this last round of voting for the Almost There series. When it came time for you to select what 1987 performance should be explored this week, your votes decidedly indicate a preference for Faye Dunaway's post-Mommie Dearest Oscar bid, Barfly. This under-discussed Barbet Schroeder flick was made from a semiautobiographical script by the bonafide poet of the gutter, Charles Bukowski. It competed in Cannes but it didn't cause much fanfare, mainly valued as an acting showcase for its cast, led by Mickey Rourke as a tic-ridden sing-songy facsimile of Bukowski himself.

As for Faye Dunaway, she takes around 22 minutes to enter this picture about alcoholism and the addicts who scuttle from the light like bugs. Haggard-looking and sitting lonesome at the end of a bar, she's quite distant from the image of a glamourous diva many might associate with the actress' screen persona…

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1987: Vanessa Redgrave in "Prick Up Your Ears"

Each month before the Smackdown, Nick Taylor looks at alternates to Oscar's ballot...

As Cláudio wrote sometime last year (that's how long ago Sunday was, right?), the 1987 Supporting Actress vintage boasts a truly unique set of contenders. Their specific careers, overall narratives, and individual performances and the films they were in could hardly have been more different. Add in the fact that all five were one-and-done nominees and the whole list takes on a genuinely ephemeral, one-of-a-kind quality, even if three of them have the same first name.

The presence of brand names just for A-list star power, would, in most years, dilute this quality. Still, it’s strange to see some of Oscar’s favorite names on the outside looking in during 1987. Top theorists have speculated for decades how Anjelica Huston failed to get cited for her sad, moving performance in The Dead. And what about Vanessa Redgrave in Prick Up Your Ears, who won NYFCC and was the only Golden Globe nominee who didn’t translate to Oscar’s ballot...

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Best Supporting Actress 1987: Getting to know the nominees

by Cláudio Alves

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1987, the last episode of this season, is approaching. As we did with the '38 Oscar lineup, we invite you to peruse the biographies and careers of these stupendous actresses. The 60th Academy Awards may be one of the few times all of the contenders were single-nomination actresses, but that doesn't mean their legacies and stories aren't fascinating. These women make up an impressive lot that includes Argentinean acting royalty, a Presidential candidate's cousin, and one of Old Hollywood's queens of comedy…

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