Top 5 Performances: Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett

Just to hype some of my favourite performers come Oscar time, I'll continue looking over the filmographies of some of my favourite contenders. Next up, the stars of 'Carol, Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. Starting with Mara:

5. The Social Network

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Though her role in this is incredibly small, it's also one of great impact within the limitations on her. That opening sequence where she spars with Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg is just one of the best written dialogue-heavy scenes in recent history and she completely nails the whole Sorkin vibe with her delivery of them. She's not in the film much after that but her performace lingers on in the mind long after that, to the extent you can see why David Fincher was so keen to cast this virtual unknown as his Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

4. Side Effects

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One of those films that are more interesting experiments of certain storytelling techniques, rather than one which crafts an interesting story in itself, Steve Sodebergh's thriller nevertheless gives  Mara an opportunity to stretch her acting chops as a young woman who, after taking an experimental antidepressant drug, begins to feel some strange...you guessed it, side effects. Mara keeps the character of Emily Taylor enigmatic throughout, realistically portraying the distancing, cold and draining effect it has on her and setting up the twist of the film marvellously, even if the writing behind it is a bit weak. She has fantastic chemistry with her co-stars Jude Law (who I've always found is more interesting as a character actor than a leading man) and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and probably deserved a better film around her for this depiction of a drug-addled mess.

3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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Rooney is just a pitch-perfect Lisbeth Salander. I think even Noomi Rapace die-hard fans will have to agree with me that Mara's performance here is an incredible achievement in itself because of how, despite following the exact story beats of Rapace, she differentiates her performance so well from that previous outing by making her Salander a quieter, more unsettlingly pent up presence. For extended thoughts on her performance, look here: http://actorvsactor.blogspot.hk/search?q=mara

2. Ain't Them Bodies Saints

This deconstruction of the Bonnie and Clyde coupling of outlaws is one of the most underrated films in years, probably due to its very subdued tone. As one half of a outlaw couple whose husband (Casey Affleck) is sent to jail for a crime they both committed, Mara refuses to let herself be conventionalized and pigeonholed into the role of a waiting wife. She strikes the perfect balance between the sorrow and grief of a lonely mother, the drive and will to wait for her husband to get out of jail, and the gradually kindling chemistry with the local sheriff (an excellent Ben Foster). It's a simple character brought to life beautifully by Mara, and one of the first films I feel which utilises those strikingly beautiful tomes of her eyes the best.

1. Carol

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The more I think this performance, the more I realize: this might just be one of my new favourites. Alongside Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewlyn Davis, Ian McKellen in Mr Holmes and Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn. Mara takes on this very classic style of role, that of the shy shopgirl who gradually finds herself through love, and both adheres to that wonderful 50's style of line delivery and physical performance, while also conveying some incredibly complex, beautifully rendered emotions through those stunning eyes of hers. She facilitates that otherworldy quality to Cate Blanchett's performance, while gradually finding increasing strength within her to break out of the 'face in the crowd'. Just a great role, great performance, that ranks among my all-time favourites.


Now onto Blanchett...


Hon. Mentions: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button/Notes on a Scandal/The Aviator/The Gift

I had a tough time picking out this 5th spot. I had to leave off Blanchett's terrific turns as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator as well as her spellbinding work as a psychic in The Gift, as well as her heartfelt transitory work as the object of Brad Pitt's adoration in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button where through the love interest of this very atypical love story, she instills so much life and vigour through the role of Daisy Fuller, and her emotionally charged work as a teacher torn apart by improper feelings in Notes on a Scandal, developing a great dynamic with Judi Dench's grandiose performance.

5. Hanna

The film is admittedly Saoirse Ronan's show, but Blanchett in the role of villain to the titular Hanna is no slouch either. She makes for one very despicable and equally entertaining turn as a CIA agent tracking down Ronan's Hanna to keep certain government secrets well under wraps. 'Under wraps' is actually a nice way to describe this performance; despite that grandly Southern accent she uses and her larger-than-life aptitude at killing, Blanchett nails this villain role so well because she underplays the menace of the character till it needs to come out, and earns the impact by just being so grotesquely entertaining with the viciousness of the character. A great villainous supporting turn.

4. Elizabeth

I'm generally quite fond of historical epics and this one was no different. It's a cracking trip through a quite interesting point in British history, what with internal conflicts in the court and everything, and testament to it never losing focus is its scope on Blanchett's brilliant turn as Elizabeth I. I'll perhaps say more in a future Head-to-Head review (god I'm piling these up) but no one else plays up monarchy as deliciously and convincingly as Blanchett does. She was born to rule on film.

3. Blue Jasmine

In what is effectively her version of Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanchett does some marvellous work in lifting up actually one of Woody Allen's more muted and unsubstantial ventures as a director, by giving a spectacular performance which helps mask some of these deficiencies. The arc of a New York socialite going from rags to riches and back to rags is not the most original of arcs but Blancett's performance most certainly is, as she makes the repulsive arrogance and delusions of Jeanette 'Jasmine' Francis both so hard to watch and hard to take your eyes off, at the same time. Great work.

2. Carol

I've said a great deal about this performance already in relation to Mara. Anway, she plays the New York socialite perfectly as is to be expected. She finds subtlety within what could've been an overplayed stereotype, she's both domineering and generous with her screen presence, using it to further both her own and other peoples' performance, and she completely nails her individual showboating scenes in the lawyers' office where such a palatable rage and sorrow is exuded from each word. A fascinating performance which, while for me not quite on the level of Mara, is nevertheless brilliant work in its own right.

1. I'm Not There

Chameleonic work to say the least as Blanchett doesn't make the somewhat gimmicky nature of the role and casting overshadow what is just an ingenius masterstroke of acting. As one of 6 'versions' of Bob Dylan, the figure of Jude Quinn who represents Dylan's 1960's output is a role Blanchett disappears so seamlessly into. We never feel like she's acting like Dylan or doing an impression of his mannerisms, rather she fuses Dylan's personality into her own and lives in the role. To give such a 'lived in' portrayal of such a unique, individual character is just fascinating and that she does all this sterling character work, while also developing a heartbreaking downwards spiral for her character, is amazingly well rendered. Great stuff, great stuff.