With The Reader, I have viewed all the nominees the the Academy choose for best actress. They were: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie, Changeling; Melissa Leo, Frozen River; Kate Winslet, The Reader and Meryl Streep, Doubt.
Now I will take out Jolie right away. Though I thought she was fine in Changeling, I could see many other actresses doing as good, if not a better job in that role. In fact, as I said in my initial review, I thought the scenes without her were the strongest scenes in the movie. Also, while Hathaway had a breakout role in Rachel Getting Married, it was in a movie that was not rich enough, did not have depth enough, to really give breadth and depth to a character. She did a great/fantastic job, but it was in a limited role in a limited movie. And she made the movie much better.
That leaves Streep, Leo and Winslet. Streep was great, but it was not as complex a role as the other two. She is fantastic actress, a chameleon, but this was not the role for best actress. And that leaves two, that I am having a difficult time judging. But I will have to go with the Academy's choice. Kate Winslet, the winner of the Andrew Award for Best Actress. And Melissa Leo was just a hair's breath behind.
Winslet and Leo both dealt with very complex and sometimes contradictory characters. But Winslet had a couple of things that added to her performance. A VERY strong supporting cast, that made her performance even better. And so many complexities, the surprises of Hanna Schmitz, that I had to give it to her. I hope to see more of Melissa Leo in films. She is a real talent.
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