Streep Nom #15 & #16: Sister Aloysius Beauvier & Julia Child

In an off blog e-mail correspondence earlier this week, one of my fellow movie bloggers said to me "The best thing about this year's Best Actress race is that Streep isn't in it." That's funny. It's true that her ubiquity can be exhausting. It must especially feel like a relief for other Tinseltown goddesses in those rare years when she isn't in play. More room for them. But since Streep at 60, a web series we started over a year ago, needs to wrap up, let's discuss her final (to date) nominations.

"Streep @ 60" Previous Nominations Discussed
78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 98, 99, 02 and 06

In the past two years Streep put yet more distance between herself and her nearest competitors. Her two closest Oscar rivals, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, are long gone from planet earth. Streep's similarly aged / Oscar friendly peers (Lange, Close, Weaver, Sarandon, Spacek & Field) have faded from the movie spotlight, comparatively speaking, robbing them of Meryl's abundant Oscar-tallying opportunities.

We suspect Streep's "most nominated" record will stand forever unless, and it's a longshot, Kate Winslet's career (she's only 35) has similar curves, reinventions and renewals: When Streep was 35 (circa Falling in Love) she had collected 5 nominations and 2 wins; Winslet has collected 6 Oscar nominations and 1 win.

2008.

• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Melissa Leo, Frozen River *Nathaniel's second choice*
• Meryl Streep, Doubt
• Kate Winslet, The Reader
  

Other women for context
Probably Came Close: Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky) and Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long); Traction Trouble: Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey) and Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)... I suspect they just needed a break with the latter since they loved the film; Low Impact: Nicole Kidman (Australia -just discussed), Keira Knightley (The Duchess); Box Office Queens: Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!), Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex & the City) and Reese Witherspoon (Four Christmases)

2009.

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education *Nathaniel's second choice*
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
  

Other women for context
Probably Came Close: Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) and Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones); Traction Troubles: Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) and Tilda Swinton (Julia); Low Impact: Julia Roberts (Duplicity), Hilary Swank (Amelia); Box Office Queens: Sandra Bullock (The Proposal) and Meryl Streep (It's Complicated) a rare case of the main Oscar rivals also being big bank in separate films within the same year.

So...

IMPORTANT NOTE: These last two years of the Best Actress category have been very polarizing battles with the winners beloved & loathed in seemingly equal measure. Let's NOT discuss those divisive wins again but the fields in general. Stay Positive. It'll allow new discussions to unfold.

Answer me these questions, four

1. Which performance has grown on you?
2. Who do you think landed in the dread six-spot in both years?
3. Concerning the newbies (Mulligan, Sidibe, Hathaway, Leo, Bullock)... which do you think will return to the race and how soon/often? [Keep in mind that most don't. Approximately 67% of acting nominees are never recognized with a second nomination.]
   and...
4. Meryl Streep's Julia Child offers to cook you dinner. But only if you eat it at the table with Sister Aloysius icily judging you with every bite, chew and shallow. Do you accept the offer?
   

Streep at 60: A Prairie Home Companion

The following article was originally published in January 2007. It's slightly revised below.

It didn't take Meryl Streep long. By 1987 at the very latest, just ten years into her career, we knew that she could do everything. We'd already heard the accents, seen the funny, witnessed the sexy, fallen in love, had our hearts broken and heard the magnificent singing voice. If she were less endearing and emotionally attentive as a performer her technical range would be just hateful, a thing to curse as she popped up again and again in films. But this woman has it all. She is, put simply, the most consistent versatile actor in the movies.

So what is there left for Meryl Streep to do? It turns out quite a lot.

The joy of watching her now, thirty plus years into a great filmography, is seeing which actors' muscles get flexed for each new project and seeing which past performances are its predecessors. There's also a communal thrill in watching her surprise both herself and us in each performance since there's nothing left to prove. Can you name another movie star who so regularly seems to be having a grand ole time while they're acting? Can you name another actor who is so technically accomplished but still regularly manages moments that feel spontaneous onscreen? I can't.

I've seen nearly all of her filmography which could explain why I prefer her comedic work. There's less of it so you have to hold it closer. Plus the thing I love most dearly about Meryl Streep (her joy in acting) bubbles right to the surface when she's asked to joke about. The Streep performance I cherish most on a personal level is her work in 1990's Postcards From The Edge wherein she also joked, sang, and played an entertainer. And all of this, if you'll excuse the breathless intro, is a very long way of saying that I was thrilled to see her comedic and musical chops get a work out again as "Yolanda Johnson" in A Prairie Home Companion .



Yolanda (Streep) is part of a singing group "The Johnson Girls" that once had more members but now includes just herself and her sister Rhonda (Lily Tomlin). For the first half hour of the film we get to know Yolanda in a series of brief sequences backstage. In the first she enters the theater where A Prairie Home Companion will hold its last broadcast (please note: this is a fictional film about the still running radio program) with her sister and daughter (Lindsay Lohan). She is holding too many things and nattering incessantly mostly to herself but ocassionally to others. Streep gives her character a quick easy laugh and a fluid temperament. As this sister act prepares for the show, Streep fills you in on the rest of Yolanda.

Yolanda's body language is a little fussy but also slow and open. She's often got her arms outstretched. She has a welcoming folksy presence but you get the immediate sense of fatigue from both age and a life on the road. There's also a weird dichotomous specificity of feeling that Yolanda is both a nervous girl and an old woman entirely at ease with her lot in life. Regarding the latter: several verbal remarks indicate otherwise but Streep plays them more like canned instinctual responses; They come from the character's simple humor and are uttered primarily for her sister Rhonda's benefit.

It's Rhonda who harbors more illwill toward their showbiz history. The famous Altman overlapping dialogue aids Lily and Meryl in detailing this sister act. Yolanda and Rhonda have spent their entire lives together and the actresses ably sell this. They're constantly talking to each other, but it's a well rehearsed decades-long togetherness: their minds are free to float elsewhere knowing that they'll always return to one another.

Yolanda's primary concerns are her death-obsessed daughter (whom she clearly worries about but takes joy in) and Garrison Keillor, the host of the show. You realize through her shift in demeanor with the host that she has either loved or romanced him before the events of the film takes place --Streep shows you this with simple glances even before the dialogue confirms your suspicions. She makes this dead romance her best running gag in the film, mining it for abundant laughs that a lesser actor wouldn't even know where to find let alone amplify.

By the time Streep hits the stage you're already completely aware of this woman's personality and her circumstantial simplicity (this life as a midlevel sister act is the only life she's ever known.) And, then in her vocal performances onstage she just keeps on deepening those initial impressions while giving a musical performance, full of idiosyncratic feeling and beauty.



As in all the best ensemble pictures, the performances of other actors inform each individual turn as well. In a great moment backstage Yolanda, realizing Rhonda is upset about a story they've been retelling, sings an old familiar tune and embraces her sister. When the tune ends, Rhonda tearfully says "singing is the only thing that ever puts me right". She's talking about herself but in Meryl's exuberant, silly, and vocally powerful stage performance that follows, you realize the same is true for her. They're peas in this showbiz pond. Singing also puts Yolanda right.

In so many melancholy and bittersweet ways Robert Altman's last film was a farewell. Casting America's most enduring Great Actress in this role made it sweeter. In the film's last scene the sisters and friends gab around a table about the departed radio show. Yolanda, giggling and reminiscing, is determined to jumpstart a farewell tour...

I love doing that last show. I just wanna do one last show and then another until I'm in a wheelchair. I just wanna keep doing 'em.

The Angel of Death (Virginia Madsen) enters this final sequence and smiles benevolently at these principal players corking Yolanda's infectiously loud joy. You realize immediately that one day all of us will give our last performance. One day all of these actors will be gone, even this beloved goddess of the cinema. Feel free to tear up. It's a testament to the film that the feeling is still somehow a good one.

Meryl Streep is now in her early sixties. She's been knocking her performances out of the park for thirty plus years and there's no reason not to hope for thirty more. She'll keep giving one last great performance until they put her in a wheelchair. She's gonna keep giving 'em.



'Streep at 60' Performance Write-Ups:
Julia, The Deer Hunter, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Plenty, Death Becomes Her, The River Wild, Music of the Heart and The Devil Wears Prada.

Oscar Nominations Discussed:
78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 98, 99, 02 and 06

Streep Nom #14: Miranda Priestley Forever

What we have here my friends is multi-tasking on fire!!! It's a tuesday top ten, it's a new episode of Great Moments in Screen Bitchery, it's the latest episode of "Streep at 60" which we're going to wrap up this week (at least in this format). It's all of these things simultaneously.

Ready? "Why is no one reh-dee?"


GIRD YOUR LOINS!

Ten Best Miranda Priestley Line Readings

10 "My flight has been cancelled... "
How incredulous and put out she sounds without even raising her voice. The way she says "school" when referencing her kids recital which she's desperate to attend is giggle worthy, too. So childish. Translation 'How could such a thing happen to the center of the universe... me?'

09 "There you are Emily. How many times do I have to scream your name?"
'Actually my name is Andrea.' Oh shut it Hathaway. She doesn't care. She will call you what she likes and you'll come running. Streep's double sided reaction to this interruption is A+ perfect. She's almost delighted that someone is talking back to her -- the novelty! -- stifling an awkard smile/laugh. But then immediately reasserts control with a list of demands. The silent hanging punchline is so choice "And Emily..."

[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #211, The Devil Wears Prada]

08 "I agree. No business tonight. Enjoy"
I couldn't include only her bitchiest quips! Thrown by the appearance of her rival Jacqueline, Streep gives us just a peak at Miranda's vulnerability in the gala sequence. Her boss doesn't want to discuss her cryptic reference to a note. She acquiesces by pouring the charm on a little too thickly, a little too needily. Everyone has a boss... even bosses from hell.

07 "And you can do anything... right?"
She wants the Harry Potter unpublished manuscript for her twin daughters. Normally Miranda's bitchy lobs are masked as power displays or excusable from a certain kind of 'Do your job' angle. But this time she's pissed. This one is a direct and purposefully impossible challenge. It's a gauntlet thrown down. For once she doesn't pretend otherwise.


06 "The truth is there is no one who can do what I do."
This line is uttered in the middle of her final monologue in which she is both rationalizing her own actions and chastising Andie on her holier than thou perch. The line is true enough of the character. But it's also not directed at the woman she's speaking too but to herself. It's a pep talk for a narrow escape from the competitors nipping at her heels.

And yes, the line is also true enough of the actress.

05 "You have no sense of style or fashion... No, no. That wasn't a question."
This isn't the first laugh Streep wrings from the lengthy opening act interview scene which introduces all four principals but it's her first "joke" in the movie as Andie's (Anne Hathaway) interview wraps up. I still remember the peals of laughter in the theater.

04 "Why is no one reh-dee?" AND "By all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me."
So quotable. These two lines are fraternal twins though they are separated by the bulk of the movie. They both spin their comedy from Miranda's exasperated and exasperating impatience. The second impatient quip is uttered when she is at her weakest, determined to work and succeed even in the face of another divorce. The breathy weariness that she employs when annoyed is suddenly not an affectation but the reality.


03 "This...stuff?" (aka the "Cerulean" monologue)
This whole speech, in which Priestley schools her clueless new assistant, is gold. We've written about it before. What's truly remarkable about the scene, which I'd name as the best in the film, is that it's madly multitasking. It brings all four principles together and underlines their place in the narrative while showing us not just workplace politics but actual work (a rare site in movies!). It's a showboating monologue that doesn't interrupt the flow of the storytelling but is the story.


We already know that Miranda Priestely is an über bitch and a major success, but suddenly we're forced into reconsidering our own ideas about the value of what she does and why she's so good at it; it's not just Andie's education but ours. Miranda is working during the whole speech -- "I think we need a jacket here" -- and teaching us the business. The speech, beautifully written and exceptionally delivered, is actually full of hostility and condescencion but somehow we emerge from the other end of it not hating being dressed down but enjoying our own comeuppance. Plus it's "sort of comical" to borrow from the fashionista headmistress herself.

02 "That's all."
It's not that it's her signature catchphrase. It's that each and every time those two syllables slip from her mouth, they carry different weight and meaning. And yet, it's never so simple an actor's trick as varying the punctuation mark. "That's all" is always quiet and simple like a period. It's never an exclamation point, question mark, or even ellipses. So how does she do it? We don't know. It's a magic trick from a seasoned confident showman. Professional magicians don't give away their best secrets.

01 "So often they turn out to be dissapointing and... stupid." AND "I said to myself 'Go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart fat girl.'"
These twin lines in which she brutally crushes both Emily (stupid) and Andie (fat) are SO mean. But the brillance of Meryl's delivery is that though the text is actually about Miranda admitting fault the delivery is anything but that. She's coddling herself throughout, gently coaxing herself to 'take a chance' and forgiving herself by blaming both assistants. The self regard is as tall as the office building and as transparent as the glass behind her. It's funny, too.

[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #12, The Devil Wears Prada]

Listen, it's true that any number of actresses would have been great fun in this role. But Meryl Streep isn't just playing the caricature but a character. She's finds abundant shade and multiple gradations of color. Other actresses would have been blue; Meryl Streep is turquoise, lapis and cerulean.

*

Which brings us to Oscar nomination #14. We're almost done surveying the Streep Oscar fields, how about that?

And the nominees were...

• Penélope Cruz, Volver
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Helen Mirren, The Queen *winner*
  
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Kate Winslet, Little Children
  

Other women for context
Probably Came Close: none; Traction Trouble: Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby)... but what a performance! Her best outside of Happy Endings I think. I wish I'd nominated her for my own awards.; Low Impact (Not Necessarily Their Fault): Annette Bening (Running With Scissors), Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette), Ivana Bacquero (Pan's Labyrinth), Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page), Laura Dern (INLAND EMPIRE), Naomi Watts (The Painted Veil); Box Office Queens: Beyonce Knowles (Dreamgirls), Jennifer Aniston (The Break-Up) and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine)

What's your favorite Streep moment in Prada? And now that we have four years worth of hindsight, what do you think of the 2006 field but more specifically, what do you make of the absolute lack of competition both in who the final five would eventually be and in who won?

if you liked this post, try also... Streep at 60 or 10 Best Pfeiffer/Catwoman Line Readings
return to full blog for fresh posts

Streep Nom #13: Adaptation (2002)

Thirteen wasn't exactly an unlucky number for Meryl Streep. Though she didn't win the Oscar, her thirteenth Oscar honor brought her the title of Most Nominated Actor. It's difficult to imagine anyone ever surpassing her since she's widened the gap considerably since (Jack Nicholson is stalled at 12, tied with Katharine Hepburn and the only other living/working rivals for super frequent Oscar honors Al Pacino and Peter O'Toole are much further behind with 8 nominations each).

<-- Splendor in the grass. Spike directs Streep in Adaptation (2002)

This was also the number that coincided with what was arguably her most challenging big screen role in the Aughts in the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kauffman collaboration Adaptation (2002) and the first time she'd competed as a supporting actress since the 1970s.

Each time I watch Adaptation I seem to have a different reaction to it ranging from wild love to 'stop obsessing over yourself!' annoyance but I've never been less than enthralled with what Meryl's doing as the writer Susan Orlean whether she's playing Orlean herself or some projections of Orlean. And that dial tone reverie may well be Meryl's best screen moment from the Aughts.

The 2002 Nominees were...

• Kathy Bates, About Schmidt
• Queen Latifah, Chicago
• Julianne Moore, The Hours
• Meryl Streep, Adaptation
• Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
  

At the time I was rooting for Zeta-Jones and probably still would (I blame her thrilling rendition of "I Can't Do It Alone") but I could just as easily have voted for Streep had I had an Academy ballot.

Other Women For Context
The big snub here, the one that stung, was Michelle Pfeiffer's scary self-generated cult of personality in White Oleander. She had my vote as best of the year and it stands as one of the three crown jewels of her career (a worthy companion to The Fabulous Baker Boys and Batman Returns). She was SAG nominated but couldn't get past the Chicago juggernaut for an nomination. The Golden Globes, who once loved Michelle wildly, killed her momentum by snubbing her rather inexplicably for what may well be Cameron Diaz's weakest performance in Gangs of New York. That Diaz was in the conversation at all is another reminder of how powerful momentum can be (perceived snubs for Being John Malkovich and Vanilla Sky) and how the pre-ordained "buzz" for a Best Picture contender can have a potent affect on other categories.

The only other women who generated anything like "Nominate her!" discussion that year were Toni Collette (BAFTA Nominee for About a Boy), Patricia Clarkson (NYFCC and NSFC winner for Far From Heaven) and arguably Susan Sarandon (Globe nominee for Igby Goes Down). Though the year had other interesting supporting work from the likes of Samantha Morton (Minority Report), Bebe Neuwirth (Tadpole), Edie Falco (Sunshine State), various French divas (8 Women) and Viola Davis (Solaris), it was basically a seven or eight woman race with Pfeiffer's best work in a decade presumably landing in the dread six spot.

Your feelings on 2002's supporting women?

"Streep @ 60"
Previous Nominations Discussed
78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 98 and 99

Streep @60: Music of the Heart

Angela Bassett would like to welcome you back to Streep at 60: Live From Carnegie Hall. Today's topic: Wes Craven's Music of the Heart (1999).

"I want to thank each of you for your generous support and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the blog post."

If you need someone to introduce something, you choose Angela Bassett. It's the only way to go. She will always e•nun•ci•ate for you. I lead off with Angela's intro to the concert which concludes Music of the Heart because this is the sort of film that is entirely about its heartwarming climax. In fact, when it comes to movie narratives, the Inspirational True Story is the subgenre that most begs a swift telling. Inspirational Stories are about inevitable triumphs. The audience knows it's coming so too much dilly-dallying is deadly.

Music of the Heart tells the story of Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep) who started a violin program in East Harlem. The program was forever endangered due to a lack of funding for arts education (same as it ever was), but it changed the lives of Roberta, her family, and thousands of students while it lasted.

<-- Streep with her screen son (Michael Angaro way back when!)

When we first meet Roberta she's angry and red eyed, tearing up photos and screaming out the window at movers. Her husband has recently left her and she's moving back in with her mother (Cloris Leachman). With the help of her pushy mom and an old school friend who always had the hots for her (Aidan Quinn) she crawls towards a new life. She wins a teaching job from an East Harlem principal (Angela Bassett) who's impressed by her talent and chutzpah. We spend the rest of the movie watching Roberta find her footing as a single mom, teacher, and Inspirational True Person.

Like The River Wild (previously discussed), the simplistic story is complicated by Streep's detailed characterization. We know when Roberta is worried, turned on, sad, relieved, amused or angry... and she's often angry though Streep is careful to delineate the varieties thereof. Streep's violin skills won attention during the film's release -- is there anything she can't do or pick up quickly should a role require it? -- but that's a technical aspect of the performance that's a necessity rather than an interesting character interpretation. The most intriguing element of her performance is undoubtedly the push and pull between her meek wifely persona and the iron willed single woman she's forcing herself to become. You can feel this especially in the arc of her relationship with Aidan Quinn. Though he's helping her move forward into her new persona, she often seems to be retreating in his presence, replaying her marriage as it were.

Though it's not often discussed when praising her work, Streep's always been particularly skilled at conveying external romantic arcs and the erotic internal (which will hopefully serve her well in Great Hope Springs). I don't mean this in a garish "I'm sexy!" way but in a grounded flesh and blood way. She can hit all the notes that any good actor can about sexual attraction but she also drops enough conflicting suggestions into her performances to keep you guessing about how much Character A likes being with, romantically loves and desires to have sex with Character B and how consistently or deeply she feels or has ever felt those things and whether those types of love are satisfyingly portioned out. If you stop to think about romances, isn't that far more truthful than merely portraying attraction or the lack of it.

"Whoa. Slow down here a minute.
That's a little too much like getting married."

But it's strange to talk about how much she does or doesn't want to have sex with Aidan Quinn in Music of the Heart, because A) who wouldn't? and B) she's playing this romance while entirely buried in Wal-Mart's Old Maid line. Question for all: Is Roberta Streep's frumpiest character? You'd barely know she had breasts or hips underneath all those layers and heavy ankle length dresses. Roberta barely remembers that she has them either, given that her two sons are forced to play matchmaker in the second act.

About that second act. Music of the Heart is more enjoyable than its reputation suggests but it does lose considerable steam when it jumps forward ten years. There's a fun moment shortly before the movie's phantom intermission when Roberta conspiratorially teaches her students to make the audience wait for the final notes of a song. The promised moment of silence and release in the mini-concert is quite a satisfying finish. (There's even a slo-mo fadeout like the movie is ending!) Until, you realize, that was only the curtain on Act 1. You've now seen Roberta triumph over her past meek self, lazy students, disbelieving faculty, and her commitment-phobic boyfriend. Now, you'll watch her triumph all over again but on a larger scale.

Roberta's artful baiting , that "wait for it..." theatrical finish, only lasts a few beats. Craven's "wait for it" finish involves a whole second movie. Roberta teach her students discipline. Wes Craven, taking a rare step outside the horror genre for this true story, merely tests his audience's patience.

Music of the Heart is moving, yes. I teared up, I did. But what Inspirational True Story involving kids and learning isn't? Streep makes a valiant effort with Roberta, though, and her sensitive performance is the best and arguably only reason to see this inelegantly structured, awkwardly told story.

♫

As you may know, Music of the Heart netted Streep her 12th nomination. Some context now.

That honor tied Katharine Hepburn's nomination record and kept Jack Nicholson permanently at bay (the next time he was nominated, she was too). It took Hepburn 49 years to win 12 nominations. Streep did it in only 21. Hepburn is still the champ for Oscar wins with 4 competitive statues to her name. Streep's insane nomination record is working against her when it comes to actual wins. When you're nominated in more than 50% of the Oscar races in your working lifetime -- she has been -- what incentive do they have to give you yet more recognition in the form of a win?

for 1999 the nominees were

• Annette Bening, American Beauty
• Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds
• Julianne Moore, The End of the Affair
  
• Meryl Streep, Music of the Heart
• Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry *Nathaniel's vote*
  

Whatever one thinks of the merits of Streep's nominated performance, deserving or not, it was her most obvious "default" gong. My guess is it's the only competitive field in which she ran 5th in the final voting tallies.

Other 1999 women for context
It was not a competitive Best Actress year. Though there was critical love for Reese Witherspoon (Election) anti-comedy bias and poor box office worked against her worthy hilarious performance as Tracey Flick. Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother) had a passionate but very small fanbase. Beyond that, it didn't seem like anyone was really competing: Michelle Pfeiffer (Deep End of the Ocean, The Story of Us) had a double dose of loud pre-release hype that didn't translate to actual buzz once the films underwhelmed, other Oscar-types like Jodie Foster (Anna and the King), Sigourney Weaver (A Map of the World) Susan Sarandon (Anywhere But Here), Kate Winslet (Holy Smoke!) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Random Hearts) failed to generate enthusiasm for one reason or five others. Meanwhile, Julia Roberts (Notting Hill, The Runaway Bride) ruled the box office and Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) made a frantic dash through the nation's arthouses.

Nathaniel's medals would divvy up like so...

• Gold (Winslet. I still think Holy Smoke! is her best work)
  
• Silver (Swank)
  
• Bronze (Bening or Witherspoon?)
  
  For the fifth nominee I'd go with either Moore, Potente or Roth. (I haven't seen McTeer's much lauded Tumbleweeds performance.)
  

Do you have strong feelings, warm or otherwise, towards Music of the Heart? Who would make your 1999 Best Actress list?
*

Streep at 60, The Retrospective

"Streep at 60" will continue with Music of the Heart (1999) tonight or tomorrow, but today celebrate Meryl Streep's 61st birthday by reading and sharing this series with others. Or choose any one of 60 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Streep's Special Day.



Act 1 Liberated Lady (1977-1980)

• Julia (1977) How fitting is that Meryl made her mini debut in an Oscar bait Actress movie?
• "The Deer" The Deer Hunter... just the Streep parts
• Nom #1: The Deer Hunter 1978 Supporting Actress competition
• "The Immortal Psychotic Promiscuous One" Manhattan, Joe Tynan and Joanna Kramer
• Nom #2: Kramer vs. Kramer 1979 Supporting Actress competition

Act 2 Chamaeleonidae Erotica (1981-1988)

• Nom #3: French Lieutenant's Woman '81 Actress competition
• Noms #4 & #5: Sophie's Choice & Silkwood '82-83 Actress competitions
• "Chamaeleonidae Erotica" Streep has Plenty (1985)
• Nom #6: Out of Africa '85 Actress competition
• Noms #7 & #8: Ironweed & A Cry in the Dark '87-88 Actress competitions
  

Act 3 Funny Lady (1989-1992)

• Nom #9: Postcards from the Edge '90 Actress competition
• Death Becomes Her (1992) in which Meryl spoofed her past and pointed to her future
  

Act 4 Family Time (1993-2001)

• The River Wild (1994) Let's get physical with Streep in the most atypical movie in her filmography
• Nom #10: The Bridges of Madison County '95 Actress competition
• Nom #11: One True Thing '98 Actress competition
• Music of the Heart (1999) coming tomorrow. Stay tuned.
  

Streep Nom #11: One True Thing

We're looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competitive field.
Previously: 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 90 and 95

Twenty years after her first nomination for The Deer Hunter (1978) Meryl Streep replaced Bette Davis as runner up to Katharine Hepburn's Oscar throne with her cancer victim in One True Thing. For a very short time period (i.e. twelve months) the three legends had a 10-11-12 Oscar nomination spread. Streep would soon leave both Hepburn and Davis in the dust. But we'll get to her #1 status when it rolls around.

1998 the nominees were

• Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
• Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
• Meryl Streep, One True Thing
• Emily Watson, Hilary & Jackie
  

The Blanchett vs. Paltrow contest has arguably been the most discussed in modern Oscar Actress history with the possible exception of Swank vs. Bening (both rounds). People still get hot under their ruffs about this one a full dozen years later.

Other '98 women for context:
Globe nominees that didn't make Oscar's cut were Susan Sarandon (Stepmom), Jane Horrocks (Little Voice), Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary), Meg Ryan (You've Got Mail) and Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex). Elsewhere in Awardsland, Ally Sheedy (High Art) took Best Actress at the Indie Spirits, besting Alfre Woodard (Down in the Delta). Weirdness: Emma Thompson, an awards staple, couldn't get any traction for a mimicry job (Primary Colors).

Anne Heche & Ellen Degeneres still had tongues wagging --- >

1998 was a double dipper year for Drew Barrymore (The Wedding Singer, Ever After), Sandra Bullock (Practical Magic, Hope Floats) and Anne Heche (Six Days and Seven Nights, Psycho) who was the controversial rage at the time as the first out lesbian* headlining major studio movies.

Major 90s stars like Angela Bassett (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), Holly Hunter (Living Out Loud) and Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight) came on strong. And Oprah Winfrey (Beloved) didn't generate the awards enthusiasm needed.

Finally, this is the year we met Lindsay Lohan, future hot mess -- and like Heche, also a future faux lesbian! -- in her wonderfully able child star debut in The Parent Trap. It was so wonderfully able, in fact, that I fell hard for her. To emphasize why that is unexpected is to admit that the Hayley Mills film was my BEST-MOVIE-EVER until I was about eight years old. Even thinking of it now in 2010 makes me all teary-eyed with nostalgia.


Nathaniel's List?
He's not so sure. Oscar's roster is Classic Bait: terminal illness, mental disorders, Shakespeare, royalty porn, older person opening their heart to a child (Yes, they have a thing for that, too). How could any of these performances not have been nominated even if they weren't as good as they are? Originally in the now mythic war for the statue between Paltrow & Blanchett I favored Blanchett but my opinion of Paltrow's star making turn has grown considerably over the years. Still, I'm not sure either would make my list. I'm not sure who would make my list. Strangely, given the topic at hand, I barely remember Streep's cancer mom.

Apologies to Watson but she'd probably be the first to go to make room for one of the worst snubs of the decade. I'm talking about Ally Sheedy's devastating photographer/junkie in High Art. I was madly in love with both Hunter and Ricci's smart sexy comic work in '98 so maybe I'd dump a couple more of the Oscar women for them. Who knows? Revisits are in order. But to make a long story short, the LAFCA got it exactly right with their tie; Ally Sheedy and Fernanda Montenegro tower over 1998's actress field.

*Anne "Celestia" Heche's lesbianism was short lived of course. But still. People were all "Oh My God!" -- OMG! wasn't in the vernacular yet -- "They're letting an out lesbian play romantic straight leads in movies! The world is going to end."
*

Streep Nom #10: The Bridges of Madison County

We've been looking at each Meryl Streep Oscar nod and its competitive field. Previously: 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88 and 90.

When The Bridges of Madison County premiered in summer (a rare Eastwood berth, indeed) it seemed like Streep might finally win her 3rd Oscar the following Spring. She'd been away from the awards race in what seemed like forever. Hilariously, that "forever" absence had only been four consecutive years (1991-1994) but for Meryl, that's an eternity. In fact, a four year absence had never happened before and has never happened since all these years later. By the end of the 1995 film year, a really actressy one, the story was a lot different and the race was suddenly all but sewn up for Sarandon with only Streep and Stone as dark horse possibilities.

1995 the nominees were

• Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking
• Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas *Nathaniel's pick. This performance kills me.*
  
• Sharon Stone, Casino
  
• Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County
• Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility
  

Trivia note: With this 10th honor, Streep tied Bette Davis & Jack Nicholson's overall nomination records (at the time -- Jack wasn't done giving Streep a run for #1) making them the collective #2 Oscar favored actor after Katharine Hepburn.

Back to the actual competition. How many times have we heard this almost-win story now? Meryl is flouncing along giddily in the general direction of the podium for her third triumph when suddenly...

But let us not bemoan that elusive third Oscar and instead marvel at how many valid choices Oscar made for 1995 and how good their roster might have been even if it had looked a lot different.

---> Meryl with Tom Cruise at the Oscars in March '96. (Note frosty snubbed Nicole, not yet ascendant, by his side)

Other 1995 women for context: Oscar chose the entire Globe Drama slate which meant that the comedic nominees were snubbed: Nicole Kidman (To Die For), Vanessa Redgrave (A Month by the Lake), Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding), Annette Bening (The American President) and my fav Sandra Bullock perf (While You Were Sleeping). Two critical darlings Julianne Moore [safe] and the eternally snubbed Jennifer Jason Leigh (Georgia) were ignored due to being ahead of their time and upstaged by their co-star, respectively, though Leigh did win the coveted NYFCC prize. Box office queens Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Dangerous Minds) failed to scare up awards attention outside of MTV.

Other female leads that year included: Angela Bassett (Waiting to Exhale), Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise), Lori Petty (Tank Girl), Winona Ryder (How to Make an American Quilt), Elizabeth Berkely (Showgirls) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Miami Rhapsody) getting her first taste of romantic comedy lead stardom to come.

Bassett had a fiery 95 (Strange Days & Waiting to Exhale)

Finally, the year included a few leads who were previous Oscar winners Jessica Lange (Rob Roy), Geena Davis (Cutthroat Island), Holly Hunter (Home for the Holidays) and Kathy Bates (Dolores Claiborne) none of whom were received as warmly as had often previously been the case.

See what I mean about the year being actressy? And so many fine examples of different flavors of it, too.

Nathaniel's List: It's a tasty Oscar vintage for sure -- they done good -- but I'd have to remove Stone's effortful hot mess and Thompson's sensible sister to make room for two redheads who staked their first unmistakable claims to genius: Moore & Kidman. And though I'll always love "Cher" in Clueless, I can't make room for her in such an abundant year. That said, it's utterly shameful that the Globe Comedy nominations excluded her.

AS IF!

Your thoughts on the year, please. It's so rich, don'cha think?
*

Streep at 60: Family Time With The River Wild

Streep at 60 continued...

After seizing the cinema like a born legend in the 70s, scaling the heights of drama in the 80s and spoofing herself in the early 90s, what was there left for Meryl Streep to do?

<-- Streep and her now grown daughters Louisa, Grace and Mamie in 2006

The fourth and least impressive act of Streep's career has no obvious narrative: How does one connect the time frame or the movies which began with the critically shunned period epic The House of The Spirits (1993), stretched through a series of hit and miss dramas and ended with a two year absence from the screens but for her disembodied voice in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)? Let's call this fourth act "Family Time".

Streep's only son, the musician Henry Wolfe, was born in 1979. Every few years afterwards she and Don Gummer had baby girls and their last, Louisa, was but a bun in Meryl's oven when the Oscars celebrating Streep's Postcard From the Edge performace rolled around. With four young kids at home during the '90s, Streep's attention were obviously divided. Happily for her fans, Streep must enjoy working, as she kept squeezing movies in. But The Bridges of Madison County (1995) was the only film to strike with the kind of critical and cultural force that Streep films had previously enjoyed.

I've never known quite what to make of what may well be the most atypical movie in her filmography, Curtis Hanson's The River Wild (1994). I don't think it works but it tries.

Streep sweats her way through a new genre

Streep plays Gail Hartman, a teacher at a school for the deaf who was a river guide in her youth. She takes her young son Roarke (Joseph Mazzello) on a white water rafting trip for his birthday. Her husband Tom (David Strathairn) tags along but things don't go as planned. Something is definitely not right with two fellow explorers Wade (Kevin Bacon) and Terry (John C Reilly) they meet along the way. The River Wild is a thriller/adventure but it's also a family romance of sorts about a mother, father and son falling back in love with each other. Despite its threatening plot, Wade being a killer with eyes for Gail, The River Wild is safe for families. It's admirably much less violent than an episode of most any TV procedural.

The River Wild is nice to look at with its wide wide screen, handsome cast and outdoors setting but it might be too nice. Everything about it seems to cry out "I mean well. Like me!" No, no. That's too strong a description. There's no crying out, which would be too aggressive for this mellow fellow. He (Mr. Wild) seems to walk sideways towards you, indecisively. Finally he works up the courage to politely tap you on the shoulder. "Excuse me. I don't mean to bother you but might you enjoy me? Give me a try. I'm physically fit. I'm outdoorsy!" One might say the film should be retitled The Stream Meek or maybe The Creek Distracting. While highly watchable, it's never much more or less.

To be frank, the movie could stand to be a little ruder.


Were one to anthropomorphize the movie, it might walk and talk exactly like Tom Hartman and look exactly like Tom's vessell David Strathairn who is wonderfully attractive but always in an everyman way. Tom Hartman can find his inner athlete/hero when he needs him (the film neatly, too neatly, lets both husband and wife be the hero) but at heart he's more of a 'sit back and observe' guy. Even when his wife is with strangers getting flirty, he's reluctant to get dirty.

The River Wild would work a lot better as a thrilling adventure if it tried to channel Wade instead. He happens to have Kevin Bacon's face instead, improbably attractive but also believably sinister, rather like Mother Nature herself come to think of it. The movie almost ridesto the dangerous rapids it needs to live in a couple of times, particularly in regards to the obvious sexual tension between Wade and Gail. Mostly, however, it's content to glide through still waters. I don't mean to say that there should be more violence (I hate the gratuitous shooting of nice guy park ranger Benjamin Bratt, looking so young!) but that the filmmaking ought to be feel alert with the fear of it, especially in regards to the natural violence which the title promises.

There's a scene early in the film where Gail complains to her mother about her rocky marriage. Streep squeezes her hands together in frustration

I'm sick of the whole -- everything has become unbelievably hard.

Streep could just as well be talking about the difficulties a superb actor might face when trying to complicating a very ordinary character for the screen. And here, at last, is my principle reservation; I think Streep is the wrong actor for the movie.

I admire her efforts within, especially in her scenes with Strathairn (a Silkwood alum!) where she allows for intriguing reads as to what she does and doesn't still feel for her husband of many years. Elsewhere, particularly towards the climax, when logical though must depart and pure emotions take over, she is less ambiguous but also much less compelling. I can't help but think that what the movie needed was a more primal less controlled actor at its center. Kate Winslet was the wrong age of course but she's the right example, tonally. She isn't Streep's technical equal but her emotional force can be elemental and I think the movie needs super charged direct feeling, rather than nuanced emotional beat. Perhaps Jessica Lange? The River Wild has a simplistic story and predictable beats. It needs a thunderstorm actress rather than a complicated storm front.

For all that I think Meryl was the wrong choice for The River Wild, it's fun to see her looking so different: sunny, blonde, next door neighbor pretty or, perhaps, so much like herself. The sight of Meryl Streep looking just like Meryl Streep is a fairly uncommon occurence in the bulk of her filmography. Even if she's not inherently what the movie needed, she's still definitely able. She's still...

...[Translated from American Sign Language] "The Greatest".

Next: The 1995 and 1998 Oscar races and definitely a look back at 1999's Music of the Heart, which happens to be the only Oscar-nominated Streep performance that I didn't see in initial release (apart from those before my moviegoing time, that is) and have still not seen. Stay tuned.