AFT Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role

This is the second category of the 2nd 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 pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

Runners-up:
KATE WINSLET, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
ANNASOPHIA ROBB, SLEEPWALKING
RONIT ELKABETZ, THE BAND’S VISIT
KRISTIN BELL, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS, I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG

The winner:
Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) embodied the bubbliest, most unflappable cinematic character ever to grace the screen. Nothing could get her down, and it was a perfectly lived-in performance.

Other nominees:
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) impressed me for the first time and blew me away with her honest turn as a fresh-out-of-rehab druggie crashing her sister’s wedding. Melissa Leo (Frozen River) conveyed the desperation of her single mother’s situation, and charted a magnificent and unexpected course for her character. Angelina Jolie (Changeling) kept her emotions in check while fighting against corruption and lies, and stayed strong doing it. Meryl Streep (Doubt) took on indecency and less-talked about horrors with a fierce vengeance that was both humorous and never for a second showed signs of letting up.