list-o-mania
from the cluttered wishing to be categorized brain of Nathaniel R
Compiled in September 2005 using a complex mathematical formula [snort] involving number of films, clarity of obsession, quality of work, and other *undefinables* (such as previous films, awards show appearances, publicity, tv, & stagework) that influence me even though the list is meant to be about 2000 through summer 2005 only for more on the workings of this list -check out the introduction
Actresses of the "Aughts" 5-1 (The Top Five. Hooray!) |
(previous: 10-6)
For once Oscar recognized an unusually talented performer before I did. To be fair to my superior discernment skills [I'm only half-joking sorry. Sorry Oscar voters] they had an advantage. In her first role of note (1999's Sweet & Lowdown) she played a mute girl. We all know hot and bothered AMPAS voters get when confronted with actors aping the disabled. So, my theory is that the role would've gotten most any actress nominated regardless of her actual talents. But, even though I found nothing particularly incredible in that early performance it didn't take long before Samantha's unique talent had captured my attention.
Shortly after her first Oscar notice she came shimmying suggestively onto screens in Jesus's Son (2000) in a very unactressy way winning her first FB award. I thought "we've got a live one here." From that point forward she skyrocketed in my estimation. In Pandaemonium (2000) her disappointment in her insensitive writer husband was so raw it was almost painful to watch. And though she was only Spielberg's third choice for the part she aced the nearly impossible character of Agatha in Minority Report (2002). She carefully navigated a ridiculous late-film monologue and totally grounded a fanciful role --all the while remaining otherworldy. Impossible? Not in Morton's capable hands. A second surprise Oscar nomination followed for her loving mother and passionate wife in Jim Sheridan's heartfelt In America (2003). But the rosetta stone in her filmography may prove to be her indecipherable star turn as the confounding Morvern Callar (2002). Actors are usually valued for the way they reveal a character to us, letting us inside their psyche. The magic and the alien grandeur of this actress comes from the way that she seems forever concealed.
"Tuh-Tuh-Tuh-Torrance! Tuh-Tuh-Tuh-Torrance" Bring It On (2000) begins with a hilarious cheerleading sequence introducing the sparkliest actress working. By the time that that great comedy opened I didn't need the prompting. I was already a cheerleader for Kirsten Dunst's career. Earlier that spring The Virgin Suicides had opened and I knew exactly what Josh Hartnett was talking about when he called her a 'stone cold fox.' She was perfection as Lux in that movie making it easy to understand why the young boys would never forget her, why they would feel the need to chronicle their memories of her. Kirsten's run in the past six years has been a thing worth recording, too. I connect her to so many favorite movie moments in the recent past. I see her prancing around in her undies, condoms in hand, in 2001's crazy/beautiful (a great performance I should've rewarded with an FB nomination), that great toothbrush flirtation scene in Bring It On, the kiss with Spider-Man (2002) upside down in the rain, and most recently her stoned overly attentive hovering in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) whenever Tom Wilkinson enters the room. Simply put, when this young actress is on her game, I am puddy in her hands.
Her cute pluckiness (think Wimbledon, 2004) and dreamy haziness (think The Cat's Meow, 2002) have their share of detractors too. I'm fully aware of that. Kirsten Dunst will certainly be the most controversial entry in this top ten, but I remain undettered in my fandom and my idea of her potential. In my review of Spider-Man and The Cat's Meow in the summer of 2002 I said the following about Kirsten Dunst:
"Forget the 'Next Big Thing' moniker.To this filmgoer she achieved that hopeful title years ago. In the end, it's all a matter of semantics. But I'll give her one last title. If Young Hollywood has ever given us a clearer candidate for The Future of Movies, I haven't seen him or her."
Three years later here I am, still giddily cheering her on.
Prologue: At this point in the countdown I think it wise to remind readers of what this list is and what this list is not. This is not a list of my favorite actresses of all time. That can be found here. Nor is it a list of my favorite contemporary actresses of my filmgoing life. [For the record and in no particular order that would be the following six women: Meryl Streep (#23), Holly Hunter (#17), Michelle Pfeiffer (#8), Julianne Moore (#6), Susan Sarandon (#39), and Kate Winslet right here.] This is only a list involving films released between January 2000 through September 2005 when this list was born. Understood? Perhaps it is too late for such an explanation. There's probably no convincing the villagers to put away their torches and pitchforks as I monstrously exclude this Heavenly Creature from the top spot. Though who can blame the villagers for their Winslet-induced hysteria? Not I. To paraphrase a line from the film which introduced us to one of cinema's most glorious lights:'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel, that such a heavenly creature is real.'
I love Kate Winslet. No, let me rephrase...I worship Kate Winslet. She inspires me. Above all else she makes the audience feel passionately along with her when she performs. There is always a tangible connection. We smile with her, cry with her, laugh with her. If I were to quibble, as I am prone to do, I would admit to two personal problems with Kate Winslet's career. My first complaint is this: She has, perhaps, played too many bohemian free spirits Iris (2001), Quills (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) are only her latest versions of the role. But nobody does it better so why quibble? My second complaint is far more serious. It is this: She is not in every movie that is ever made. This is a real problem for me. Even when a film asks no more of her than to cough and look lovely (Finding Neverland, 2004) or be smart and plucky (Enigma, 2001) there is great pleasure to be had in the simple act of watching her. May she live longer than Lillian Gish and win more Oscars than Katharine Hepburn.
I call her "Patty." In fact, everyone I know who loves the cinema's Best Supporting Actress (I'm not referring to a specific year, just bestowing her the title in perpetuity) gradually finds the familiar when discussing her. This level of assumed intimacy may spring from the way she is often cast as the confidante, winningly essaying supporting roles such as best friend, co-worker, wife, and mother. But to give Patty the credit she is due, it is the warmth and humor of her acting most responsible for this effect. There are many actors working this field of small roles. Patty is one of the few who can consistently make stock roles zing. We don't so much experience movies through her like we do with passionate stars like Kate Winslet (#3), we experience it alongside her; We're in it together, just Patty and us. That would explain the almost conspiratorial glee to be had in watching her outperform virtually anyone she shares the screen with. And let me clear, I'm not talking about the hambone 'look at me' dramatics of notorious scene-stealers. I'm talking about this great actress's undeniable way of serving the movie, each and every time.
She blesses any film in which she appears: Joe Gould's Secret (2000), Pieces of April (2003), All The Real Girls, (2003) The Pledge (2001) are all better for her. She is an actress bright enough and incisive enough to never waste a second of screen time. Her consistent excellence is thankfully catching up with Hollywood. There are beautiful signs emerging that more filmmakers are tuning in and maximizing her sly talent. Films which really understand her gift and give her room to maneuver are consistently elevated. The recent Goodnight, and Good Luck uses her as a bit of a red herring but she's intoxicating in glorious black & white framing and her razor sharp comic timing enhances each scene. The Station Agent (2003), which features her largest role this decade and Six Feet Under on HBO in which she had a recurring role, know how dramatic her charisma can be when it's turned on its head. Seeing those two warm friendly characters in inner turmoil late in their character arcs lashing out with rage was completely upsetting. We don't want this unhappiness to befall our Patty. And, in a natural but unexpected progression of this new way of using her gifts, Patty has become a most sensational screen villain. The immediate intimacy she so easily establishes with the audience can curdle and stab us in the back in films as forceful as Dogville (2004) and as divine as Far From Heaven (2005). Lars Von Trier and Todd Haynes who directed those films understood to trust her with crucial lynchpin scenes on which much of their films potency hinged. This stupendous actress repayed their faith with two of recent cinema's most unforgettable reversals.
"UNCLE!"
No matter how much this filmbitch here monkeyed with his numerical ordering, this Hawaiian born, Australian bred, Hollywood-ized diva kept demanding the top spot. You know how dull it is to cap movie lists with Citizen Kane or Casablanca? It's like that. Still, no matter how much I'd like to avoid obviousness, and no matter how doubtful I may be about the coming years of Nicole Kidman's career, it felt willfully perverse to deny her the throne. I did just that in several rough drafts [for the curious everyone from #4 on up was considered for this throne at one time or another during the writing of it] For who, I ask you, has worked harder (some might say maniacally so) to secure herself the "winner" title in lists such as these. Who but Nicole Kidman has made every possible effort to ascend in the past five years? Who but Nicole Kidman seems to even understand the moves you should make in order to gain entrance into cinema's pantheon?
So you have to hand it to her. Frankly, the machinery and chutzpah of Nicole Kidman's star-making has been a jaw-dropping sight to behold. One minor hit imported from Australia (Dead Calm, 1988) led to or was followed suspiciously (you decide) by above the title status and marriage to Tom Cruise (Days of Thunder, 1990). Then there was a decade of slow climbing 'aint-she-pretty' semi-stardom, punctuated right smack dab in the middle with the only real sign of her future greatness and the role by which she still seems most clearly, if uncharitably, associated: the ambitious and cold would-be star Suzanne Stone in To Die For (1995). And then in 2001 the damn broke --a world class actor was emerging to flood the market. She was bewitching in The Others (2001), positively iconic in Moulin Rouge! (2001) [My favorite pure movie star performance of the new decade], and intensely troubled in her Oscar-winning performance in The Hours (2002). And then to seal the deal with any doubters or film snobs that remained indifferent to her work, she proved an unexpectedly perfect auteur vessel in the clenches of the vicious Dogville (2004) and the quiet delusional Birth (2004). In the space of just three years time she delivered five truly superb performances in five very fine films; a run that will undoubtedly remain her peak.
At this point, four years into her total domination of Hollywood, there are understandably hints of fatigue. Chinks in the armor if you well. She was a little dull in Cold Mountain (2003) and all wrong for The Human Stain (2003), The Stepford Wives (2004) and Bewitched (2005). These missteps are, if not endearing, at least somewhat humanizing. If I'm still not quite in love with Nicole Kidman I am most definitely in wary awe. Should she collapse of exhaustion, retire, or merely fade from glory... well, she'll always have that classic killer run: Moulin Rouge! The Others, Dogville, Birth, and The Hours would be the envy of most any actor looking at their own filmography. Her spot in the pantheon is, I think, secure. Well done.
Now take a vacation, Nicole, you've earned it.
Top 100 Actresses of the Aughts So Far
(Compiled in Sept & October 2005)
100 -91 / 90-81 / 80-71/ 70-61 / 60-51 / 50-41 /
40-31 / 30-21 / 20-11 / 10-6 / 5-1
In Anticipation of Best of the Decade Lists in 2010
