Oscar Breakdown: Best Supporting Actress

OSCAR BREAKDOWN: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

It goes without saying that a year filled with such great films, such as 2007, will be filled with numerous great performances in the supporting actress category. This is usually the most overlooked of all the major Oscar awards, which is rather reasonable. When they aren't handing this award to young actresses that are destined to never be heard from again (Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon or, I fear, Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls), they are giving it to crotchety old women so she can clutch the gold before she bites the dust (Ruth Gordon for Rosemary's Baby or Peggy Ashcroft for A Passage To India). Recently, though, when I think of Rachel Weisz's recent win for The Constant Gardener or Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago, it seems that things have been going well as of late.

Here are the five nominated actresses for Best Supporting Actress:

Cate Blanchett, I'M NOT THERE

Many, including me, were quite perturbed by Blanchett's double-nomination this year, but that is mostly jealousy (and hatred for her work in The Golden Age). Truly, her work in I'm Not There is a revelation. For the second time in only three years, Blanchett decided to tackle one of the most cherished icons of the 20th century. In 2004, it was Kate Hepburn that won her an Oscar, but this time around it's the mysterious Bob Dylan. She plays him with fried hair, black sunglasses, and an unstoppable case of the jitters. It's not that Blanchett becomes Bob Dylan, which is the usual compliment made to those who play icons well. It's that she sees deep into the soul of this character (named Jude) and plays it with such electricity, it makes everything else in the film seem morose.

Honestly, how can you become Bob Dylan, a guy who's spent as much time making great records as he did making his sure his identity was kept secret. Todd Haynes' I'm Not There was so ambitious, and I give it credit for that, but it's Blanchett, with her gimpy walk and sharp cheekbones that represent the most interesting aspect of that film. She plays the most recognizable stage of Dylan's career, his amphetamine paranoid moments in the 60's when he was able to produce Blonde On Blonde and attempted to deny his position in society as a social spokesman. What Blanchett does become is a thrilling interpretation with a stunning gaze that closes one of the most baffling films of 2007.

Ruby Dee, AMERICAN GANGSTER

Dee definitely falls into the "she's old, let's give her one for the heck of it" category I was discussing earlier, but as she weaves her way slowly in and out of the terribly disappointing American Gangster, it isn't until the end that we realize that she may have been the heart of the film the entire time. In a film that was in desperate need of a moral center to back up it's heavy-handed message, Dee is certainly what we end up with, even if it does come a little too late. She's a shining light through a film layered from top to bottom with standard Hollywood storytelling and rip from any previous "gangster" picture ever made.

In her big scene toward the end of the film, when she encounters her thug son (Denzel Washington), I've picked apart that scene quite a bit. Her big line: "I never asked you where all this stuff came from, because I didn't want to hear you lie to me" smacks of insincerity (where was all this wisdom before, when times were good?). That, though, is the fault of the screenwriter Steve Zailian and director Ridley Scott. In fact, that faulty line does more to enhance her performance, because despite it all, Dee delivers it with such strength, and yet with such grace. Like she does with the film itself, she rises above it.

Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT

I went into Atonement excited to see two young actors that I love: James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. When I left the theater, though, the one performance I couldn't get out of my head was Soairse Ronan's portrayal of the precocious Briony Tallis. By far, the most complex character in the film, Briony is portrayed by three actresses in the film, but Ronan, as Briony at thirteen, is easily the most captivating. So captivating in fact, that director Joe Wright has said that the other two Brionys (Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave) took cues from Ronan's dailies and clips to see how they should portray Briony later in life. It seems Briony spends much of her prepubescent years manipulating adults. The only time we see her shaken is when she is forced to hang around kids her own age trying to rehearse her play. It's startling to see how dejected she becomes then.

Ronan is the first face we see in the film, typing relentlessly at her typewriter, putting the finishing touches on her new play. The play's topic: the futility of fleeting love. That alone shows a lot of Briony's character, but what is most telling is the way Ronan so subtly shows the complexities of what Briony is going through then. The sly smile she gives Robbie (McAvoy) of whom she has a secret crush, and the subsequent look of anguish she has as she realizes his feelings for her sister Cecelia (Knightley). There is a scene where she voluntarily throws herself into a dangerous stream in order for Robbie to save her, and her heart is crushed when Robbie is angry at her for doing so. "I wanted you to save me," she says. At this point, we know the terrible things Briony would go on to do, but watching her say that line, we almost feel sorry for her. There in-lies the magic of Ronan's portrayal.

Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE

In Gone Baby Gone, I was both impressed by Ben Affleck's terrific directorial debut and the lead performance by little brother Casey Affleck. The film, overall, though was left with numerous unanswered questions and an ending that seemed to go against the morals the film had built beforehand. The one constant through the film was the performance of Amy Ryan as the irresponsible mother, Helene McCready. Ryan, a Tony-nominated actress known for her performance as Stella in the revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, is truly a dominant force in the film, at times scathing, and at other times truly touching.

What set Ryan's performance apart, the reason she won all of those early critics' awards, is just how well she was able to capture something we all know so well. There are a lot of irresponsible parents in the world, but what is even worse than that, it seems, is an irresponsible parent who actually loves their child. That is the kind of woman that Ryan portrays perfectly in the film. Everything, from her cheap, thick mascara, to her outfits of jackets and jeans, to her rugged Boston accent come together to create one of the most compelling performances of 2007.

Tilda Swinton, MICHAEL CLAYTON

Swinton probably has the most unflattering movie introduction of the decade. She sits in a bathroom stall, her eyes filled with crazy nerves, and the armpits of her shirts filled with sweat. And so, Swinton's Karen Crowder is introduced. There are so many good performances in Michael Clayton, but Swinton's is probably the most subtle and conflicted. Playing a law executive at a corporation facing a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit, Swinton was finally able to break out of her "indie-queen" title, and was able to snag her first nomination.

Karen Crowder spends a lot of time on the outskirts of the story in Clayton, as our attention seems more fixated on Michael Clayton's own issues, but toward the end Clayton's issues begin to conflict with Crowder's issues, and that's when Swinton is able to truly embrace all the complexities in the performance. It all comes to a head when Crowder and Clayton have a showdown of wits to conclude the film. It is a scene showcasing two characters: one seeking moral redemption, and the other swiftly, and surely being destroyed. It is probably the best performance in a single scene of all the five performances, and the one that sticks with you the longest.