Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)
Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. Kramer)
Biggest Snub:
Valerie Harper – Chapter Two
My Overall Thoughts:
This is a year where all five of the nominees do great jobs with their roles but one of them is a standout due to her amazing performance that shines through.
My Rankings:
Supporting Actress
5. Candice Bergen
4. Barbara Barrie
3. Jane Alexander
2. Mariel Hemingway
1. Meryl Streep
Movies
4. Starting Over – Love the idea here especially because I’ve gone through some of the things described here personally. The problem here is that the story feel a bit too choppy and as much as I wanted to identify more with the characters, they felt too distant. Reynolds is great here because this role is so very different from most of the roles he played over the years. Clayburgh and Bergen are both fine here, but I’m a bit perplexed as to how they both managed to get Oscar nominations for their roles.
3. Breaking Away – Inspirational character study of heartland youths seeking to find their futures.
2. Manhattan – Allen is great at writing dialogue for his characters and that helps make his movies so enjoyable to watch. The dialogue helps the viewing watch the way that the characters evolve throughout the course of the film. Once again he tackles the idea of relationships and does it really well that we can believe the idiosyncrasies of these characters who are all far from being perfect, yet they still feel realistic due to their flaws. Allen has great chemistry with Keaton once again even if the story isn’t as good as it was in the previous film together, Annie Hall (1977). Hemingway stands out among the supporting cast and very deservingly was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role here.
1. Kramer vs. Kramer – Depicts some of the hard aspects of divorce from a father’s perspective. Done very well.
Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Most Definitely! MS is superb in KvK and none of the other nominees gave as powerful performances despite still being good and she also managed to win despite having another nominee from the same film to compete against.
Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!
