Friday For Your Consideration: Tilda Swinton

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Friday For Your Consideration. As every year nears to a close, there are a number of actors nominated for Golden Globes, Oscars, and countless other awards. There are so many spots and there are so many deserving contenders, yet some inevitably get left out. Each week, I’ll be spotlighting one performance from this year which deserves a second look but might not get it. This doesn’t mean I don’t want Carey Mulligan and Christoph Waltz to get their first nominations. They don’t need my help. As luck would have it, these actors do. I’ll be running this feature until Oscar nominations are announced at the beginning of February, so leave your choices in the comments and I might feature them over the next couple of weeks! I’ve written at greater length about these performances in the reviews of the films, so make sure to read those for a more detailed look at why these actors deserve an Oscar nomination.

Tilda Swinton, “Julia”
Where you’ve seen her before: The Scottish actress starred in “The Deep End” in 2001 and then played the White Witch in the “Chronicles of Narnia” series. She won an Oscar for her supporting performance in “Michael Clayton” in 2007.

Why she deserves it: Swinton is completely unhinged in a magnificent way with her portrayal of an out-of-control alcoholic who gets in way over her head and is forced to take matters into her own hands when her situation spirals out of control. The way Julia tries to defend her behavior and lie to herself is particularly fascinating, and Swinton is trying hard to convey that sense of insistent uncertainty. Julia is fiercely unlikable yet furiously captivating, and it has a great deal to do with the unique appeal of Swinton and her spectacular commitment to the performance in this difficult role.

Standout scene: (Minor spoilers) Not very far into the film, Julia dons a black mask and prepares to do her part in the kidnapping of a child. His guardian comes to Julia to ask for help, and Julia panics. What happens next is a clear calculation of a woman scared for her life but also desperate to put it back together, and it’s all visible on Swinton’s marvelously expressive face.

Why she won’t get it: The Best Actress race is full of too many other actresses, and Swinton hasn’t managed a major placement anymore yet. The fact that she won two years ago for a far less impressive role doesn’t necessarily mean voters love her, but rather that they wanted to reward her and now they’ve gotten it over with and there’s no feelings of her being overdue. Last year, Melissa Leo broke in for another independent film (Frozen River), but she got a SAG nomination before her eventual Oscar nod. It’s possible that Swinton could sneak in, but she’ll have to get past Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) first, who’s also been on the sidelines without any big nominations so far his awards season.

Read the review here, and come back next Friday for a look at another performer who deserves a shot at Oscar.

Home Video: Julia

Julia
Directed by Erick Zonca
Released May 8, 2009

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that has a prime focus on telling one character’s story. Many films, especially biopics, bear their protagonist’s name in the title, but few are so completely about that one person. There may be several, though few, supporting characters, but they are important only for the way in which they interact with the main character. This special brand of movie is so fully invested in one character that appears in all of its scenes and makes or breaks the story. It’s a challenge to fill 144 minutes with the story of just one woman, but “Julia” is fascinating and engaging from start to finish.

The success of a movie so tightly focused on one character is highly dependent on its lead performer. Tilda Swinton throws herself completely into the role of Julia, and within minutes makes it clear that she’s an out-of-control drunk struggling to hold down her menial life. Things quickly spiral downward, and Swinton immediately rolls with the punches every time. The performance is incredibly complex, and Julia is extremely unsympathetic, but because the movie is all about her, it’s hard not to feel her pain. The brilliant ability of Swinton to inhabit the role is particularly commendable. It’s truly a shame that Swinton won her (first) Oscar for her lackluster performance in “Michael Clayton” two years ago since she’s clearly capable of so much more (like “The Deep End”). She could very well earn another nomination for this film come Oscar time.

It almost seems like the plot isn’t as important since the movie has such a strong central character. Regardless, it’s a whirlwind adventure that just keeps getting darker and darker. It’s fully interesting, but it’s hard to believe that a movie that started out at such a depraved, relatively harmless point finds itself headed towards such a dangerous place. It feels very much like a mix between the gritty horror of “Frozen River” and the stark realism of “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” trading human trafficking and bank robberies for child kidnapping. It’s hard to predict how things are going to end up because one thing just keeps going wrong after another, but “Julia” is an inventive thriller that just keeps its lens tightly on its main character, and her struggles become the failures and successes of the viewer. It’s unlike traditional dramas in the way that it’s unapologetic and unconcerned with creating bravado happy endings, but that just makes it darker and much more interesting.

B+