Tuesday 4 January 2011

2010 in Review: Best Supporting Actor

Supporting actors were difficult to assess this year, on the one hand you have a very recent film that I could have easily put three of the men into here, on the other there were huge swathes of the year where nothing was standing out. Here are my final picks:

1. Bill Camp as Glen McCreavy in 'Tamara Drewe'. The film didn't really hold together but Camp's performance as a Hardy obsessed writer slowly falling for his hostess was a priceless mix of observatory comedy and nervous affection. A missed gem of a performance.


2. Pierce Brosnan as Adam Lang in The Ghost. How do you perform a character clearly based on a real person, whilst evoking that person but not doing an impression? Just look at Pierce not doing Tony Blair and you'll know what I mean. Utterly convincing as a man proud but haunted by his place in history.

3. Colin Farrel as Valka in The Way Back. Any one of the supporting cast of The Way Back could have taken this spot but it's thoroughly deserved by Colin as a Russian criminal you can't take your eyes off. The film literally diminishes in energy when he leaves.






4. Christopher Plummer as Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station. You could argue this is a lead performance, in that the whole story is about other peoples relationship to the venerable author and philosopher, but given most of the film involves him being swept along by stronger characters I'm going for supporting. And few actors are able to support a story in the way Plummer does here.



5. Jeremy Renner as James Coughlin in The Town. Renner continues to prove he's a superb versatile actor with this on edge performance in Ben Affleck's latest crime movie. You really can believe Renner may explode at any moment with a palpable sense of menace.

5 comments:

Andrew K. said...

Ooooh, I'm so jealous that you saw The Way Back - I have no idea when I'll get to see that. I'm especially glad Colin made an impression on you, but it's bittersweet since it seems that it has no chance of making an impact on the awards' race this season and I keep waiting for him to get his break.

Didn't care for Brosnan much in The Ghost Writer, though.

Runs Like A Gay said...

Andrew,

I'm not sure if Brosnan would make it if I saw the film again (it's been a long time since I last saw it), but looking at my notes I liked him quite a lot.

The Way Back is really interesting - my review is coming on Wednesday. It's a shame the film won't make an impact this year, and even if it did I suspect it would be Ed Harris who gets a supporting nod as the role is a lot baitier.

Alex Constantin said...

First, let's not take The Way Back completely out.

There still is one more room for a Cinematography nomination and considering I don't see Shutter Island making it, anything might happen with that 5th slot.

Getting back to this category: did you see The Messenger? I don't remember if you had it on the list last year. Woody Harelson was my choice for the win, but Plummer was a runner-up: that emotional scene in the woods is very well played

Runs Like A Gay said...

I hadn't thought of Cinematography, and you're right it would be an extremely worthy nomination.

Amazingly The Messenger stil hasn't opened in the UK, I have ordered a copy online but unless it sees the inside of a cinema Woody won't be eligible for next year either.

Alex Constantin said...

oh, you are so strict with the eligibility rules :D