Friday For Your Consideration: Tilda Swinton

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Friday For Your Consideration. As every year nears to a close, there are a number of actors nominated for Golden Globes, Oscars, and countless other awards. There are so many spots and there are so many deserving contenders, yet some inevitably get left out. Each week, I’ll be spotlighting one performance from this year which deserves a second look but might not get it. This doesn’t mean I don’t want Carey Mulligan and Christoph Waltz to get their first nominations. They don’t need my help. As luck would have it, these actors do. I’ll be running this feature until Oscar nominations are announced at the beginning of February, so leave your choices in the comments and I might feature them over the next couple of weeks! I’ve written at greater length about these performances in the reviews of the films, so make sure to read those for a more detailed look at why these actors deserve an Oscar nomination.

Tilda Swinton, “Julia”
Where you’ve seen her before: The Scottish actress starred in “The Deep End” in 2001 and then played the White Witch in the “Chronicles of Narnia” series. She won an Oscar for her supporting performance in “Michael Clayton” in 2007.

Why she deserves it: Swinton is completely unhinged in a magnificent way with her portrayal of an out-of-control alcoholic who gets in way over her head and is forced to take matters into her own hands when her situation spirals out of control. The way Julia tries to defend her behavior and lie to herself is particularly fascinating, and Swinton is trying hard to convey that sense of insistent uncertainty. Julia is fiercely unlikable yet furiously captivating, and it has a great deal to do with the unique appeal of Swinton and her spectacular commitment to the performance in this difficult role.

Standout scene: (Minor spoilers) Not very far into the film, Julia dons a black mask and prepares to do her part in the kidnapping of a child. His guardian comes to Julia to ask for help, and Julia panics. What happens next is a clear calculation of a woman scared for her life but also desperate to put it back together, and it’s all visible on Swinton’s marvelously expressive face.

Why she won’t get it: The Best Actress race is full of too many other actresses, and Swinton hasn’t managed a major placement anymore yet. The fact that she won two years ago for a far less impressive role doesn’t necessarily mean voters love her, but rather that they wanted to reward her and now they’ve gotten it over with and there’s no feelings of her being overdue. Last year, Melissa Leo broke in for another independent film (Frozen River), but she got a SAG nomination before her eventual Oscar nod. It’s possible that Swinton could sneak in, but she’ll have to get past Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) first, who’s also been on the sidelines without any big nominations so far his awards season.

Read the review here, and come back next Friday for a look at another performer who deserves a shot at Oscar.