2006 Goaties: Best Actress

Penelope Cruz's performance in Volver took some time to grow on me. I went in with painful memories of her English-language films, where her difficulties with the language and the films' tendency to require little of her aside from beauty turned her into a gorgeous set decoration. And the first time around she wasn't even the most noticeable in the cast: there are at least five great performances, with Cruz neck-and-neck with Blanca Portillo as Agustina (I should probably add her as a runner-up in the Supporting Actress category). But after some agonizing thought and the unexpectedly rewarding experience of seeing the film again, I decided to depose the woman who had been queen (and still is The Queen) until recently.

I loved the little moments best, the gestures and expressions that revealed such depth: her somewhat disturbed "what kind of person did I marry?" expression when she hears her husband pleasure himself when she's too preoccupied to comply; the subtle range of emotions that cross her face when she sees her sister Sole after their fight over Aunt Paula's belongings, her expression flowing from anger to confusion to a softening smile tinged with maybe a little shame at her overreaction; and the little nod she gives her daughter at the river. She's full of fire when she's angry: notice the almost swanlike hissing that her S's take on when she's upset, a perfect verbal complement to the way she draws her head back. But I think it's when the screenplay turns to comedy (it's never very far away) that she's at her best: watch the hilarious hand-flutter when she dismisses the blood on her neck as "women's troubles," or the bemused but troubled cast of her brow when she assures Sole that Paco isn't coming back: "You can tell these things."

Part of what's so great about her performance is how she works with the screenplay's resolute refusal to get entangled in the man-centered subplots that keep wanting to pop up. Her flirtatious conversations with the hunky film producer keep raising the possibility that this might turn toward romantic comedy territory, but she's in control enough to let us know that she's not going to let it go too far; "coltish" is the word that I wrote down, and it's apt, given the combination of playfulness and her long-limbed form. Throughout, she's more mature and rounded as an actress than I'd come to expect, a real live person instead of something wispy and insubstantial.

Runner-Up: Up until a few days before the Oscars, Helen Mirren was going to get yet another award for her performance in The Queen. I even had a banner made up for her. Part of my decision to demote her was the realization that I didn't have any desire to watch her performance again. I still think she was phenomenal, but I don't think it's something that would grow on further viewings. Posted by mike, March 3, 2007 12:01 AM