2010 Calvin Awards: Best Actress
February 11, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Calvin for Best Actress goes to Meryl Streep, for her portrayal of Julia Child in the decidedly female-targeted Julie & Julia. The veteran actress, who is becoming quite the box office draw in her own right as evidenced by the results of movies such as The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!, and It's Complicated, was able to take the larger-than-life chef/author Child and humanize her in a compelling manner. Her performance is more than just the funny voice. We rejoice in Julia's highs and we suffer with her when life throws her lemons. And Julia's relationship with her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) is one of the sweetest ones you'll ever see onscreen.
Second place goes to Streep's greatest competition at the Oscars this year, Sandra Bullock, who played Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side. Initially resistant to take on this role, once Bullock met the real-life Tuohy she decided that she was a character whose story deserved to be told. Bullock played the role with gusto, making audiences fall in love with Tuohy as she and her family took on the responsibility for a young man named Michael Oher, helping him with his schooling, football career and providing him a real sense of family. It was a big year for Bullock, what with The Proposal and The Blind Side blowing away all of her past films at the box office. Will she top it off with an Oscar? It's looking like her chances are good.
Many people in North America weren't too familiar with Carey Mulligan prior to her marvelous work in An Education. She'd had a minor role in the Joe Wright-directed Pride & Prejudice and appeared on quite a bit of British television, including an extremely memorable appearance on Doctor Who as Sally Sparrow in the episode titled "Blink". Fans of the show were so captivated by her that there was talk of her becoming the next companion at the time, but instead she went on to star in the BBC Films-financed An Education as Jenny, a teenage girl living in the 1960s who falls in love with an older man (it's not really as icky as it sounds; the movie makes it clear that this type of relationship was more commonplace during this time period). Mulligan is winsome and charming, and perfectly believable as a naïve young woman. She's a rising star, and one to watch for in the coming years (she's already been cast in a number of solid, significant roles).
Fourth place goes to another breakout performer in Gabourey Sidibe, who has been turning heads for her work in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. As an overweight, illiterate teen who is pregnant (by her father) with her second child, she could have just let her character spiral the audience into a deep depression, but instead, Precious finds ways to persevere and keep her head high. Yes, the writing can make this happen, but it takes a good actress to make the audience believe it.
She might have been blue and filmed in motion capture, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't be impressed enough by Zoe Saldana to award her fifth place in the Best Actress category. Along with Bullock, Saldana had one of the biggest years an actress could hope for. She was part of the extremely successful Star Trek reboot, and of course, now she's been the lead actress in the new biggest movie of all time. Although Avatar had a number of its characters portrayed through the magic of motion capture, it couldn't have been the success that it was without people buying into the fact that the Na'vi were worth caring about. The expressions in the eyes and her facial communication were critical, along with a lot of the wild physical feats her character accomplished. Like Andy Serkis in the Lord of the Rings films, this is a big step forward in the technology, and it seems important to recognize the performers who have made such a difference in the leap.
Sixth and seventh go to two leading ladies of small, quirky summer comedies. Zooey Deschanel had a rough task ahead of her in (500) Days of Summer, as she had to convince us that Summer was both a woman worth the anguish that Tom goes through but also that she wasn't really the nicest person, after all. We love and hate her, just as Tom does. As for Maya Rudolph, she was a long way from her appearances on Saturday Night Live in Away We Go, playing a pregnant woman who has gone on the road with her husband in search of a new place to call home. She's the grounding presence in a movie full of strange and eccentric characters.
Filling out our top ten are actresses from some smaller films, Amy Adams (Sunshine Cleaning), Tilda Swinton (Julia) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist). Adams was perfectly wonderful as a woman who starts an unusual cleaning business with her sister (it's unique because they're cleaning awful stuff like murder scenes). She's one of our favorites in the business and just keeps on knocking our socks off. Swinton has been getting a lot of support in a variety of circles for her little-seen Julia, a truly unlikable character. The actress is always willing to take on risky roles, and this one is no exception. Finally, Antichrist is not a film for everyone, but Gainsbourg is nonetheless receiving universal praise for her lead role. Her character, called only "She," experiences some intense grief that provides the motivation for her character for the rest of the film, and Gainsbourg is up to the extremely difficult task.
Just missing the cut this year were Kristen Stewart, who proves that she can actually act in non-Twilight movies in Adventureland, Maggie Gyllenhaal, who ably stands alongside Jeff Bridges more lauded performance in Crazy Heart, Rachel Weisz, who was one of the brightest pieces of The Brothers Bloom and Ellen Page, who showed she's more than just a cynical wisecracker in Whip It. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Album
Best Breakthrough Performance
Best Cast
Best Director
Best DVD
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Best Videogame
Worst Performance
Worst Picture