AFT Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role

This is the second category of the 1st Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order by film title. Winners will be announced in late February.

Runners-up:
KERI RUSSELL, WAITRESS
KATHERINE HEIGL, KNOCKED UP
JULIE CHRISTIE, AWAY FROM HER
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, ATONEMENT
LAURA LINNEY, THE SAVAGES

The nominees:
CECILE DE FRANCE, AVENUE MONTAIGNE
This is one those films that intertwines dozens of characters in fun and inventive ways, and de France is the glue holding them all together. Her genuine excitement every time she meets someone and her obedient acceptance to waitress under perhaps less-than-desirable conditions are integral parts of her cheerful performance. This is one of those performances that can hardly be described but needs to be seen in its entirety to really get the effect.

LOREN HORSLEY, EAGLE VS. SHARK
The first and most obviously difficult thing for Horsley is the fact that she had to play opposite “Flight of the Conchords” frontman Jemaine Clement. Yet Horsley defies all expectations and responds with perfect subtlety to every one of his outrageous indignations and selfish behavior. She cannot be disturbed and is willing to go the distance for a guy who clearly cannot healthily express his feelings for her the same way she can for him. The entire movie is her showcase.

ELLEN PAGE, JUNO
Page is the only returning nominee from my awards last year (prior to the existence of “Movies with Abe”). I already knew that she had it in her to give an awe-inspiring performance and be so delightfully creepy. I could only have hoped that her comedic skills would be as sharp and tremendous as her dramatic chops, and my expectations were more than fully met. Page breathes every word of Diablo Cody’s script and transforms it into reality. Her interactions with any and all of her castmates are the most fun.

ANGELINA JOLIE, A MIGHTY HEART
I have never been a huge fan of Jolie’s acting ability, but she really surprised me here. Despite the presence of a thick accent, Jolie pulled off a believable impersonation of a distressed but steadfast journalist searching for her missing husband. Jolie’s Mariane Pearl never loses her composure in the search for her husband, staying strong up until the end, genuinely appreciate of everyone’s efforts to locate him. That is what makes her breakdown at the end of the film all the more powerful.

MARION COTILLARD, LA VIE EN ROSE
I hardly realized that I had actually seen Cotillard in a number of films before this one, including “Big Fish” and “A Good Year”. As with Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood”, Cotillard completely throws herself unconditionally into the role. This is one of the most remarkable transformations I have ever seen in my life. Cotillard is absolutely unrecognizable and fully convincing as French singer Edith Piaf, and as the character ages the performance gets even better. She carries the movie completely with her performance.