Where are the ladies?

Every year it is the same ole story, and every year there is a collective hope that the next year will be better.
I am talking about the lack of really juicy roles for women in the movies. At least English speaking roles.
It seem Cate Blanchett has gotten them both this year.

Both the lead and supporting candidates are weak with a capital ‘W’ and I have no idea why. Well that is not an honest statement, I do. Hollywood does not seem to put as much effort into female-centric movies as it does for the male-centric ones. I mean look at this year’s Best Actor category, it is filled with powerful performances that have been raved about up and down, left and right, even Best Supporting Actor is over crowded.

This year the women are represented very poorly. Best Actress is a category no one can agree on. There are about fifteen possibilities, but none of them are locks. None of them look sturdy enough for anyone to say “she is getting a nomination without fail”. Even the most universally praised of the bunch, Julie Christie, is looking doubtful. Was her performance that gripping, or are we all just relieved to see a good female performance in a good film that we bestow hosannas left right and centre because there is no other performance to attach our love and praise to with conviction? Is this the year that we reward the goods, because there are no greats?

This year the lead actress category saw a whole bunch of women march through and get buzz, but not the kind of buzz we saw from Helen Mirren last year for “The Queen”. Instead it was more like a warm murmur for Actresses like Keri Russell and Angelina Jolie. In England Keira Knightly was raved, and even though I loved what she did, I have to wonder if the praise was more to do with critics being relieved that she didn’t suck. I personally feel she is a strong contender, but her biggest battle is she has no big emotional scene. She is all mannerisms and subtleties and that does not a good Oscar clip make.

Jodie Foster, Cate Blanchett and Marion Cotillard both gave very good performances (the latter practically universally loved) but in movies that divided the critics (in the case of Blanchett her film is universally panned). If judging by performance alone and the Academy’s taste, Cotillard would most likely be the only one I can see as the lock.
Ellen Page just does not make sense, no matter how wonderful she is in “Juno”. She is so young and this is not usually the type of BIG role they go for (I do, however, think it would be totally cool to see it).
Then we have Halle Berry doing good, but no where near great things in “Things We Lost in the Fire”.

What is up ladies?

Could the report of what was apparently said by Jeff Robinov (Warner Bros. President of Production) true? Could movies with female leads be on the out with the major studios because they do not draw in big box office?
Looking at the box office figures for this year, they could have a point. The only ‘female’ centered movie in the top 20 is “Hairspray” at number 17 and that wil probably not get an acting nom. Jodie’s “The Brave One” is the highest earner thus far at a crappy (by Hollywood standards) 36 million. Last year was an unexpectedly strong year for women, both role wise and in box office receipts (all ten female nominees helped bring in $462.5 million) but they could still not beat the men ($601 mil).
This year is not last year. The roles for women this year have been poor poor poor. What is most shocking is the one category when women usually shine, best supporting actress, is a desert. Cate Blanchett pops up as the only real lock for “I’m Not There” and who can ignore that gimmick? “A woman..playing a man…my God that hasn’t happened for 15 years. (adopt robotic voice of Academy) MUST…NOMINATE…MUST…NOMINATE”

Some people seem to think Jennifer Jason Leigh is over due. Who exactly thinks this aside from fans and a few critics. Is she really overdue for a nomination? If so when should she have been nominated? “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle”? “Georgia”? “Miami blues”? Help me out, my filmography on her is short!
Aside from her being good in the movie, the movie itself is dividing critics which can really hurt.
The three “Atonement” women will have to duke it out. Saoirse Ronan is the safest bet as the Academy is kinder to children in this category, and she plays a manipulative bitch (they loved it from Anna Paquin). Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave will have to fight it out as well, but they are all from the same movie, which kind of shows how shallow the pool is this year.

Where is that performance that knocks your socks off, or gives you the ‘WOW’ factor or was at least adorable enough for you to really wanna root for?
Isn’t this the category that women truly shone because there more so many more supporting roles for women than lead ones? Are we really going to see Jennifer Garner nominated because we have nothing else that fits?

Such a pity. Perhaps the Academy should look to foreign language performances to find something worthy of excitement. Do-yeon Jeon (pictured) has gotten great reviews for “Milyang” (“Secret Sunshine” is the English language title) and it would be wonderful to finally have an Asian Best Actress nominee…
…one can dream.
Anamaria Marinca has also gotten raves for the abortion drama “4 Weeks, 3 Weeks and 2 days” but can the Academy embrace a Romanian film in such a major category? It seems highly doubtful for either lady. The foreign slot would be filled by Cotillard.

Basically this year sucks for women. As of this moment there does not even seem like there is something wonderful coming on the horizon to shake things up and give me reason for celebration. Where is Effie White, Susan Orlean, Olive Hoover, Ashley Johnsten, Vera Drake, Clementine Kruczynski and Cathy Whitaker?,
Come on ladies…give me something to sing about!