Where is the love for 5 of my favorite performances of the year?

The 2008 awards season has produced numerous magnificent performances. Many came in high-profile films like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Doubt," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "Revolutionary Road," and have been honored in recent weeks with Golden Globe and SAG Awards nominations. Some of my favorites, though, came in smaller films that seemed to slip largely under the radar, preventing the actors from attracting the attention necessary to generate awards recognition for their performances.

In memory of all of the year's performances that have been unjustly forgotten, here is a look at the five that most impressed me.

1. Keira Knightley (Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, in "The Duchess")
Amid all the paparazzi coverage, gossip chatter, magazine covers and high-profile movies, it's easy to forget that Knightley is only 23, and to take for granted what she has already achieved over the course of her young career. She's helped anchor some of the biggest blockbusters of all time ("Pirates of the Caribbean," Installments 1, 2 and 3), given an Oscar-nominated performance (in "Pride and Prejudice," already two years ago!) and headlined a best-picture-nominated film (last year's "Atonement"). This really seems to be a case of great beauty preventing people from appreciating even greater talent.

Sure, she's played dress-up in several previous films but never before like this -- behind all the flowing gowns and intricate hairstyles in "The Duchess" is a woman stripped bare by her husband's cruel treatment. But, like Rocky in a dress, she gets knocked down, but she always gets up. She immerses herself in the sport of politics, learns the power of publicity, becomes in touch with her sexuality and puts on a happy face -- as well as some unbelievable clothes. By the end of the film, you'll feel as if there could not have been a Princess Diana (Georgiana's great-great-great-great niece), Hillary Clinton or Carrie Bradshaw without someone like Georgiana, a woman who really lived and whom Knightley helps to live again.

2. Viggo Mortensen (Prof. John Halder in "Good")
Although the epic, Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy may have assured Viggo Mortensen of immortality, the films have also made it very hard for people inside and outside the industry to think of him as anyone but Aragorn. Fortunately, David Cronenberg took a chance on Mortensen in two movies in the last few years -- "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" -- and he proved that he doesn't need to be surrounded by special effects or CGI to give a memorable performance.

Mortensen's strongest work, however, came this year in a film that is the polar opposite of the blockbusters for which he is most famous. In the big-screen adaptation of C.P. Taylor's play "Good," his character speaks very little (and very softly when he does) but conveys loads through a grimace of the face, an adjustment of his glasses or a glimpse into his eyes. He is not a confident young buck with flowing locks of hair, a man out to save the universe, but a mild-mannered, middle-aged professor who faces a much more intimate sort of question: What sort of a man are you when your back is against the wall?

3. Kate Beckinsale (Rachel Armstrong in "Nothing but the Truth")
Yes, I understand that this film is not the story of Judith Miller, but let's face it, anyone who sees it can't help but think of the incident that made the New York Times reporter a household name. (That would be the exposure of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the public and Miller's actions in the case.) Between that and her controversial reporting about WMD that helped curry public favor for the war in Iraq, Miller is not exactly Miss Popularity, so the fact that a movie would attempt to sympathetically portray a character that even just resembles her was quite a gamble.

The fact that the aforementioned character did indeed win our understanding is a testament to the underappreciated talent of Beckinsale. Who knew that the Brit often regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women and best known for her appearances in commercial schlock like "Pearl Harbor" and "Underworld" was a great actress? Well, anyone who saw, say, "Snow Angels," or the other low-budget, low-paying movies that she's made when not being pigeonholed as a sex symbol. In this film, she portrays a woman who loves her husband and young son but also loves her job, and chooses principle above parenting. It's not clear that she's made the right choice, and she keeps us debating throughout the film, but ultimately we can at least see why she made it.

4. Dustin Hoffman (Harvey Shine in "Last Chance Harvey")
What happens when one of the world's greatest actors decides to phone it in for a decade or two? For guidance, look no further than the career of Dustin Hoffman, the two-time Oscar winner who hasn't really tested himself in a movie since "Rain Man" 20 years ago. People didn't forget what he's done; they just forget he's still doing it. Perhaps that adds extra pleasure to his return to committed acting in this film, which in name and story is all about his character and, if you ask Hoffman, perhaps even somewhat about himself.

Harvey Shine was once reputed to be a young man on the rise, and he lived on that illusion for most of his life, until one day he woke up and realized that he didn't really matter at all -- not to his employers, not to his ex-wife and not even to his daughter on her wedding day. What is one to do when one loses everything? One of two things: Quit or keep going. Just when it might appear that Shine would opt for the former, he meets a person who provides a reason to sample the latter, if only once more.

5. Dakota Fanning (Lily Owens in "The Secret Life of Bees")
If Dakota Fanning had lived only a few centuries ago, she might well have been burned at the cross. Why, you ask? Because any 14-year-old possessing the maturity, poise and pure-and-simple acting ability that she has consistently demonstrated would probably have been deemed a witch! Fortunately for her (and for us), though, Fanning is alive and well and by all indications not a witch, but rather one of the few former child stars who have managed to successfully navigate the murky waters between childhood and adolescence.

This year, she starred in two eerily similar films, "Hounddog" and "The Secret Life of Bees," both about a young girl coming of age in the Deep South in the 1960s, without a mother but with a mentally unstable and occasionally abusive father, who eventually extricates herself from her situation and winds up in the caring arms of African Americans who show her the meaning of acceptance and love. The first was a colossal critical and commercial failure, whereas the second was a profitable movie that got an approving nod from most critics -- go figure. The more important thing to consider is that neither would have even been made without Fanning's participation -- she inspires that much confidence in financiers and filmmakers. She's the best young actor since Macaulay Culkin, and maybe ever -- and you can bet that even in her lesser movies, she's doing a lot more than just mugging for the camera.

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Photo: Keira Knightley in "The Duchess." Credit: Paramount Vantage

Comments

[Matthew Lucas]

I want to know where the love is for Michael Fassbender in "Hunger." What an extraordinary performance. This is the kind of thing the critics should be championing.

[Lisa Freeman]

Well if it brings any assurance whatsoever, I recently fell mad for Viggo Mortensen after seeing him in "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" in addition to discovering what a brilliant person he is off-screen, and having no idea he had ever been in that one hobbit movie. There is life after LOTR.

[Matt Mazur]

I thought Fanning gave one of the worst performances of the year. That film was dreadful.

[Gina Prince-Bythewood]

Having been in the thick of it the last couple months, it has been disheartening to find what a game this whole awards thing is. Its a fun game if you are one of the starting five, but it sucks if you are the sixth man. Of course i am biased, but my enthusiasm for the extraordinary performances in "The Secret Life of Bees" have been co-signed by a long list of critics and audiences. Despite its commercial success and its exceeding cross-over expectations, my greatest disappointment is that these great performances, given under such duress, may not be appropriately recognized. But ever the optimist, i still hold out hope. Thank you for taking the time to recognize of of them.

[Wags]

The trouble is no one outside of Hollywood or NYC care about the crap that is being made.. maybe if they made movies that had some morality we might care about their performances.

[Antonio]

What about Robert De Niro in "What Just Happened?"

[beckham8]

I absolutely agree with your views on Dakota Fanning. Not only did she proved to be a fantastic actress at the young age of 14, she has displayed such dedicate acting skills and devotion see through one's eyes in her performances from "I am Sam", " Charlotte's Web" to " The Secret Life of Bees". If she manages to maintain a decent lifestyle, I can totally see her standing on the Oscar Podium in the near future, hopefully a proud recipient as the youngest Oscar Best Actress ever. Give the girl some decent pictures and she will definitely prove to be a force to reckon with in Hollywood!

[Scott Feinberg]

Gina,

(a) Congratulations on the film; (b) thanks so much for reading the piece and writing in; and (c) I hear your frustrations about the awards process loudly and clearly.

I personally thought that Queen Latifah--who gave a performance in "Bees" that quietly commanded attention and respect-- was the cast member who stood the best chance at getting nominated. But what did in her awards prospects--along with those of Alicia Keyes, Sophie Okonedo, and Jennifer Hudson--was the fact that they were part of a true ensemble and were ALL very good. When no individual can be clearly singled out as noticeably better than the others, it becomes nearly impossible for any to gain the traction necessary to survive the awards season. Precious few true ensemble films have managed to garner acting nominations--for every one like "The Godfather" (1972) that did, there's 20 others like "The Player" (1992) that did not--so if it makes you feel any better you're in good company.

As for Dakota, your lead, I think the explanation is a lot less rational: people just no longer even appreciate how good she is because they're so accustomed to her being good every time out! It's a surprise when a Keisha Castle-Hughes or Abigail Breslin shows up out of nowhere and is very good, so they get nominated, but audiences, critics, and voters have just been desensitized to Dakota, in my opinion. I don't know what it's gonna take for them to wake up and pay her attention!

As a fan, I thank you again for sharing your thoughts and hope you'll keep reading the site!

[B Bragg]

Kiera is a very pretty girl- but I think she has been miscast in these leading roles. She looks like a leading lady - but she is really not that good in that role. I enjoyed her in Bend it like Beckham - and that was a quirky character role --- she is actually a quirky side kick and very good as that but these sweeping epics are terrible

[Matt Mazur]

I would have personally loved for Bees to have been solely about the African American female characters, they were so much more rich and intriguing.

[Robert Kammer]

I know that I am not alone in procaliming that I have not seen an Oscar awarded movie in several years. I choose to watch movies that are not only "artistic" but enjoyable. I vote with my wallet and it has stayed in my pocket.

[Frank]

I haven't seen most of these, but it seems like a good list. However, I don't understand how you can say Hoffman hasn't tested himself since Rain Man.

Admittedly he hasn't done a whole lot of challenging things (even his better stuff has been relative cake for an actor of his caliber), but Wag the Dog is one of his greatest performances.

[Steven Mark Pilling]

Dear Scott:

It's not a matter of audiences being "desensitized" to Dakota Fanning. It's just the reverse. When you see a child trained to ape adult mannerisms and blindly parrot her handlers' slogans (which decreased her noted dearness for the sake of adult marketability) and then see what was left destroyed in a landmark work of child obscenity (Hounddog), then you become very sensitive indeed to the level of depravity that Hollywood has sunk to... using a once-beloved child as it's means.

It should be noted that Dakota has carried only one movie by herself... and that was "Hounddog". Compare that to Liesel Mathews, who was central in her first film (The Little Princess) at the age of 8. Liesel's performance was pure talent coupled with her natural loveability. Dakota hasn't done anything on that level since "I Am Sam". Just increasingly vulgar melodramas (with about three intersperced exceptions) until the time came to throw her to the bottom of the pit.

I'm not desparaging Dakota's acting ability here. But I am the unparalleled exploitation that's turned her into a false creature of Hollywood, desecrated all that was once wonderful about her, broke the hearts of so many of her young supporters and helped to legitimize the abuse of children in the Industry to a new and frightening level of depravity.

Also: Your comparison to Macaulay Culkin was more relevant than you think. Remember what happened to him in later life?... and to a host of other former child stars? And none of them had to do anything like what this child has been led into while still a child.

Now imagine what future (and present) grief Dakota faces, having been turned into a screen tramp in her childhood. And how many kids will now come after her, following her pathetic example? That's something that every loving parent needs to think about.

[chrissy]

keira has done a great job in the duchess and should get an award for it.

[Nicole]

I completely agree about Beckinsale in Snow Angels. It's a shame that performance slipped under the radar.