Winona Ryder @ 50: "The Age of Innocence"

by Cláudio Alves

It didn't take long for Winona Ryder to capture the Academy's attention. In 1990, Mermaids marked the young actress' first brush with awards buzz, and, three years later, The Age of Innocence cashed in on that promise. For playing May Welland, the fiancée, then wife, of Daniel Day-Lewis' Newland Archer, Winona Ryder was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and probably came quite close to winning. She won the Golden Globe and Anna Paquin's win at the Oscars for The Piano was considered a surprise at the time. And yet, reading reviews from the time and even modern considerations, it's clear that Ryder's performance isn't as universally beloved as her victories might imply. Indeed, it's divisive work…

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Nicole Kidman in "To Die For"

by Cláudio Alves

This October, the Criterion Channel is celebrating all things death and murder, be it fantastical or otherwise. Indeed, amid its new collections, one can find a curated program of movies that reflect the idea of True Crime in some way or another. Gus Van Sant's pitch-black comedy To Die For is one of those films. The story of an ambitious weather girl with aspirations of TV fame who manipulates teenagers into killing her husband was a breakthrough for Nicole Kidman back in the mid-90s. After years of being systematically undervalued by audiences and critics alike, the actress got immense critical acclaim and came close to an Oscar nomination…

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Jack Lemmon in "Glengarry Glen Ross"

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, in the Almost There series, I took a look at Shirley MacLaine's Volpi Cup-winning turn in Madame Sousatzka. This week, it's on to another Venice Film Festival champion who got some Oscar buzz but failed to make it to the Academy's lineup. From a Best Actress winner to a Best Actor victor, from one elderly Oscar-winner to another, from The Apartment's leading lady to its leading man. In 1992, Jack Lemmon won two prizes at Venice, both for his performance in James Foley's screen adaptation of David Mamet's most famous play, Glengarry Glen Ross. The movie is iconic, full of memorable dialogue and oft-quoted one-liners, a treasure trove of vociferous acting, bursting at the seams with tired testosterone. Still, amid such a powerhouse cast of characters and acclaimed thespians, Lemmon shines brightest…

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Linda Fiorentino in "The Last Seduction"

by Cláudio Alves

Since last month, the Criterion Channel is offering a collection of neo-noirs, modern films from the 70s onwards that perpetuate the tradition of 1940s and 50s crime pictures. Freer to explore matters of sex and violence, these versions of film noir tend to be more visceral, updating old archetypes into vicious evocations of misanthropic cinema. For actressexuals, the evolution of the femme fatale is especially enticing. From Kathleen Turner's oversexed take on a Phyllis Dietrichson type in Body Heat to Nora Zehetner's mysterious high-schooler in Brick, this immortal character has gone through an infinite myriad of transfigurations. Maybe none of them caused as much hubbub during her awards season as Linda Fiorentino in John Dahl's The Last Seduction…

Click to read more ...

The Best Costumes of 1998

by Cláudio Alves

It's time to say goodbye to 1998 and move on to the next Supporting Actress Smackdown year, 1986. However, before that, let's take a look at the Best Costume Design race that saw Sandy Powell receive her first double nomination, a face-off of Elizabethan fashions, two movies whose only nod was in this category, and a riff on midcentury sitcoms. The ceremony's host, Whoopi Goldberg, even modeled pieces from each nominee, opening the show in Queen Elizabeth I drag.

All in all, it's a rather conventional costume design lineup seeing as it's entirely composed of period work. However, some of these individual achievements deserve special attention for their playful glamour, radical visions of marginalized histories, and parodical referentiality. The nominees were:  

Click to read more ...