The Supporting Actress' of 2000

The nominees were...

* Judi Dench in Chocolat

* Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock

* Kate Hudson in Almost Famous

* Frances McDormand in Almost Famous

* Julie Walters in Billy Elliot

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After a banner year for supporting actress' in 1999, we got a good, but not quite great cluster in the new decade (can you believe it will be ten years?!). We have the cranky old lady, the wise mentor, the suffering/supportive wife, the over-protective mother, and of course, the sweet young thang. Although 2000, at the time, was called a "horrible year for film" by critics and moviegoers, I find this year to have rather interesting nominees for all categories (even if they weren't fantastic). Some of the winners were (in my mind) badly picked, i.e Julia Roberts....ack. But in the Supporting Actress category there was something of a surprise on Oscar night.

The favorite for the category was Kate Hudson. And why wouldn't she be? She's young, beautiful, won the hearts of many with her performance, scooped up the Golden Globe and is Hollywood royalty thanks to her mother, Goldie Hawn being a past Oscar-winner herself. Her inguenue status was highly helpful considering Jolie, Tomei, and Sorvino, winners of recent years back then, had won with the same status. But on Oscar night, Hudson's name was not in the envelope. Nope. In the envelope was the name Marcia Gay Harden, the dark horse who came out of nowhere with a shocking win. This shock was mostly due to the fact that she herself was not a big name actress (in fact people today still have no idea who she is), and her film, Pollock was a small little indie film which was not seen by many. However Oscar voters took notice alongside critics who raved about her powerful performance as Lee Krasner. Now while Harden could have easily of been  voted for solely based on her performance, I think so other factors went into her win. Hudson wasn't seriously dramatic enough, McDormand had won only four years ago, Dench had just won two years before, and Walters was unknown to most in a film that the Academy didn't love. So in a way, Harden's win wasn't so surprising.

My Pick: This is tough, although I can say my vote is between Harden and Hudson. Marcia owns her film,  and properly supports herself while doing the same for Ed Harris. Her tough, unsentimental performance is the best thing about Pollock adding shadings and layers to her complex charcacter while exploring new depths of her life with Jackson. While at the same time, I was amazed with what Hudson does with her Penny Lane; creating a luminous, complex and humane chracterization without ever bretraying the simplicity of the character. Much like Jessica Lange's brilliance in Tootise. Throughout her performance Hudson provides beautful shades to the mysterious Penny Lane resulting in subtle sadness which resonates in just her mere presence. So as you can see they are both great in their own unique ways, and even though my head says Harden, my heart says Hudson...