It's Just Like The Movies

All the way over at The Film Experience, we like to celebrate films on specific year anniversaries. No “30 years since Pulp Fiction” bullshit here. Instead it’s “50 years since the best Best Actress lineup ever”. I will be using this as an excuse to resurrect my Supporting Actress write-ups, highlighting unnominated treasures from years past. We get so many years of hindsight to champion under-looked powerhouses, (re)discover treasures, and to lose track of smaller gems, and this is a perfect opportunity to track down long-deferred items. These write-ups will hopefully correspond to monthly themes (queer movies for Pride in June, spooky stuff for Halloween, etc.), along with attempts to match up with a film’s actual release date. I’ve kicked things off with Tina Holmes’s perfect performance in Edge of Seventeen, though I could also consider my write-up of Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut to be the unofficial start for this series.

Below are separate lists denoting each year on the docket. The actresses mentioned are divided into three groups: the five Oscar nominees from each year, a list of all the performances I’d seen prior to posting this that I’d consider writing about, and a whole bunch of performances I plan on watching throughout the year. Any currently-unseen films I end up watching will later be denoted by a strikethrough over the name of the film, not the actress. You know, like this. Lists will include world releases that may or may not have received US release dates the same year, as well as films released in the US years after they originally debuted. I will only write about US releases for these years, but I’m not gonna stop myself for casting my net as wide as it can go. As always, recommendations for actressing feats and/or essential films I should really catch up on are greatly appreciated, and I would love to hear about your favorites! Either comment here, DM me, send a pigeon. Whatever works! I just know this’ll be more fun if more folks join in.

2014

_{Top row, left to right: Patricia Arquette in Boyhood, Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game, Marisa Tomei in Love is Strange.
Bottom row, left to right: Heather Lawless in Goodbye to All That, Yeo Yann Yann in Ilo Ilo, Katherine Waterston in Inherent Vice.}

Oscar’s Lineup

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood*
• Laura Dern, Wild*
• Keira Knightly, The Imitation Game*
• Emma Stone, Birdman*
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods*

Possible Alternatives

• A Most Violent Year, Jessica Chastain
• Beyond the Lights, Minnie Driver
• Boyhood, Zoe Graham
• Clouds of Sils Maria, Kristen Stewart
• Edge of Tomorrow, Emily Blunt
• Gone Girl, The Ensemble
• Goodbye to All That, The Ensemble
• Ida, Agata Kulesza (A lead?)
• Listen Up Philip, Elisabeth Moss
• Love is Strange, Marisa Tomei
• Mr. Turner, Marion Bailey
• Nightcrawler, Rene Russo
• Obvious Child, Polly Draper and Gaby Hoffmann
• Paddington, Nicole Kidman
• Selma, Carmen Ejogo
• Snowpiercer, Tilda Swinton
• Still Alice, Kristen Stewart
• Wild, Laura Dern
  
• About Last Night, Regina Hall
• Get on Up, Viola Davis
• Glassland, Toni Collette
• Happy Christmas, Melanie Lynskey
• Ilo Ilo, Angeli Bayani and Yeo Yann Yann
• Inherent Vice, Katherine Waterston
• Mommy, Suzanne Clement
• Pride, Imelda Staunton
• Unrelated, Mary Roscoe
• White Bird in a Blizzard, Eva Green
• Wild Tales, Erica Rivas

1999

_{Top row, left to right: Angelina Jolie in Girl Interrupted, Chloe Sevigny in Boys Don’t Cry, Cate Blanchett in The Talented Mr. Ripley
Bottom row, left to right: Shirley Henderson in Topsy Turvy, April Grace in Magnolia, Jessica Lange in Titus.}

Oscar’s Lineup

• Toni Collette, The Sixth Sense*
• Angelina Jolie, Girl Interrupted
• Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich*
• Samantha Morton, Sweet & Lowdown
• Chloe Sevigny, Boys Don’t Cry*

Possible Alternatives

• All About My Mother, Marisa Parades and Antonia San Juan
• Being John Malkovich, Cameron Diaz
• Edge of Seventeen, Tina Holmes
• Eyes Wide Shut, Nicole Kidman
• Fight Club, Helena Bonham Carter
• Galaxy Quest, Sigourney Weaver
• The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow
• Topsy-Turvy, Shirley Henderson
  
• 8 1/2 Women, The Ensemble
• Cookie’s Fortune, The Ensemble
• Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Ensemble
• Election, Jessica Campbell
• Girl Interrupted, Brittany Murphy
• Judy Berlin, Barbara Berrie and Madeline Kahn
• Limbo, Vanessa Martinez
• Magnolia, The Ensemble
• Ratcatcher, Mandy Matthews
• The Straight Story, Sissy Spacek
• Summer of Sam, Mira Sorvino
• Sunshine, Jennifer Ehle
• Titus, Jessica Lange
• The Virgin Suicides, The Ensemble
• The War Zone, Tilda Swinton

1974

_{Top row, left to right: Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express, Diane Ladd in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Tamu Blackwell in Claudine.
Bottom row, left to right: Mink Stole in Female Trouble, Shima Iwashita in Silence, Karen Black in The Great Gatsby.}

Oscar’s Lineup

• Ingrid Bergman, Murder on the Orient Express
• Valentina Cortese, Day for Night
• Madeline Kahn, Blazing Saddles*
• Diane Ladd, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore*
• Talia Shire, The Godfather Part II*

Possible Alternatives

• Black Christmas, The Ensemble
• Chinatown, Diane Ladd
• Claudine, Tamu Blackwell
• The Conversation, Elizabeth McRae
• Female Trouble, Mink Stole
• The Godfather Part II, Diane Keaton
• Phantom of the Paradise, Jessica Harper
• Scenes From a Marriage, Bibi Andersson
• Young Frankenstein, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman
  
• Conversation Piece, Silvana Magnano
• Daisy Miller, Eileen Brennan, Cloris Leachman, and Mildred Natwick
• The Great Gatsby, Karen Black
• Harry and Tonto, Ellen Burstyn
• Henry VIII and His Wives, Charlotte Rampling
• Law & Disorder, Karen Black
• Love & Anarchy, Lina Polito
• Mame, Bea Arthur
• The Mother and The Whore, Bernadette Lafont
• Murder on the Orient Express, Rachel Roberts and Wendy Hiller
• Silence, Shima Iwashita
• Thieves Like Us, Shelley Duvall and Louise Fletcher
• The Three Musketeers, Faye Dunaway
• The Towering Inferno, Jennifer Jones

1949

_{Top row, left to right: Mercedes McCambridge in All the King’s Men, Ethel Waters in Pinky, Margaret Wycherly in White Heat.
Bottom row, left to right: Teruko Kishi in Stray Dog, Anna Svierkier in Day of Wrath, Miriam Hopkins in The Heiress.}

Oscar’s Lineup

• Ethel Barrymore, Pinky*
• Celeste Holm, Come to the Stable*
• Elsa Lanchester, Come to the Stable*
• Mercedes McCambridge, All the King’s Men*
• Ethel Waters, Pinky*

Possible Alternatives

• Late Spring, Haruko Sugimara
• Pinky, Nina Mae McKinney
• Stray Dog, Teruko Kishi
• Reign of Terror, Beulah Bondi
• The Small Black Room, Kathleen Byron
• They Live by Night, Helen Craig
• White Heat, Margaret Wycherly
  
• Adam’s Rib, Judy Holliday
• Day of Wrath, Anna Svierkier
• The Heiress, Miriam Hopkins
• In the Good Old Summertime, Spring Byington
• Intruder in the Dust, Elizabeth Patterson
• Little Women, Mary Astor
• Passport to Pimlico, Margaret Rutherford
• The Queen of Spades, Edith Evans
• The Set-Up, Audrey Totter
• Thieve’s Highway, Valentina Cortese
• Under Capricorn, Margaret Leighton