The Oscar Week Breakdown: Part IV of VIII

BEST ACTRESS

Every year I can't help but feel a little depressed whenever I see the nominees in this category. It's always so glaring how few notable performances there are of women in a leading role. That's mainly because there are so few of any performances of women in a leading role these days. It's sad that the academy has to search so far and wide just to come up with five nominees. There are about eight people in this country who have actually seen Vera Drake, Being Julia and Maria Full of Grace. It's very telling that only one of the movies represented in this category, Million Dollar Baby, was produced by a major studio. It's nice that small films are represented at the Oscars, but wouldn't it be even better if studio pictures had better lead actress roles than those offered by The Grudge and Catwoman?

It's a nice little coincidence that Annette Bening and Hilary Swank are set up in a rematch of their Best Actress throwdown in 2000. Back then, the contest was very even, with Bening carrying the advantages of starring in the hot movie (American Beauty) and of being 9 months pregnant (which brings nothing but good will from others). Yet Swank beat her out because her Boys Don't Cry role was just better suited for Oscar. This year, however, the contest isn't nearly as close. Let's face it, Swank owns Bening in this category- she's in her head.

But seriously, you have to first factor out the We-feel-sorry-for-Annette vote. This is an academy that denied Al Pacino an Oscar for 20 years- Hollywood doesn't give losers much help. Anyone who saw Million Dollar Baby knows that Swank is just in a class by herself when it comes to nailing the strong-yet-vulnerable-yet-believable type. I agree with Bill Simmons on this one- there's absolutely no other actress who could have pulled off this role. I'm a big believer that the degree of difficulty should be a major factor when weighing performances. For example, I think it's easy to ugly yourself up for a role and earn instant points for "being brave" (a la Charlize Theron last year). But Swank had to convincingly play a hard-nosed boxer, hold her own against Eastwood and Freeman for two hours and then turn her character completely around in the last third of the movie. That, my friends, is an acting performance.

Should win: Hilary Swank
Will win: Hilary Swank