Ensamble films are big with the Academy, and the nominations the films recieve usually spread across the board (i.e. Nashville, Gosford Park, Pulp Fiction, etc.) of categories. When the film comes around to the acting groups, Oscar picks one to three standout performances to nominate (usually for supporting), but sadly, most of the time, these nominations stay nominations, and never evolve into a winner. Winner or not, one performance that stands out amoung a whole gallery of talented actors and performances in one of my favorite films comes from the surprises handed out by....
...Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights (1997)
Julianne Moore plays Amber Waves, a beautiful, professional porn actress in the late 1970's California.
Amber lives a life that includes being a part of a tight-knit family, made up of those in the porn industry. She lives with her friend/husband figure, Jack Horner (an awesome Burt Reynolds) who directs the films she stars in, and is the head of the clan. It would seem that a star like Amber can get whatever she wants, when she wants. But like the other characters, Moore's Amber is flawed mess. However, Moore permits her to wear a mask of sweet confidence - all smiles and no frowns.
That is when she is in public. Hiding behind her ostensibly happy facade, is a sad, lonely, and desperate woman, unable to get back on track again. Much of Amber's backstory/history comes from her broken home she left behind for the life she lives now. She no longer has custody of her child, and although she doesn't actually face the fact that it was her choice of lifestyle that led her to this, Moore conveys that deep down Amber does know, but chooses not to distrupt the flow of her new life by facing such haunting truths. Her depression has her caught in a horrible addiction with cocaine which only makes this woman even more an imperfect creature.
It is once Dirk Diggler (Mark Walhberg, giving a star-making perf) joins the family that Amber's maternal nature comes alive once again. In a way, Amber sees Dirk in two different perspectives: as a sexually exciting young man, and as a boy she feels needs to mothered and nurtured. Moore skillfully weaves these two indelible feelings together to create the link which connects Amber to those around her; she finds a way to be both a guardian and a friend/partner. Mixing business with pleasure, is what she's best at.
Something that I had missed before within the narrative is how through Amber, the other characters try to fulfull their desires - business or pleasure wise; Dirk finds a maternal figure, Maurice begs of Amber to have Jack cast him in a movie, she acts a friend to many, and her intoxicating persona is used to help Jack get people to see his dirty filcks. Moore doesn't attack the part, so much as she glides into it. She is by turns, vivid and shocking, puctuating her scenes with the slow, foreboding downfall of Amber's self that is just haunting to witness.
In one wild and quickly paced scene, Amber and Rollergirl (Heather Graham, who should have gotten a nom) are couped up in Amber's room snorting coke and talking about what they desire, but cannot actually achieve. This scene is touching, startling, and alive.
A coke-fueled Amber rants and raves about how she wants to get out of her life ("Too many things, too many things, too many things!"), but she (along with Rollergirl) can not dig their way out of what they are stuck in and instead opt to not leaving the room.
The scene also features the touching interaction when the lost and confused Rollergirl asks the loving Amber to be her new mom. Amber agrees and the two imbrace. Moore plays the scene with an honest poignancy, conveying how Amber needs that emptyness filled in her life, and she needs the pain and confusion to go away. Throughout the film, Amber continually switches roles in peoples lives and how she fits into them, and to her immense credit, Moore never seems to miss a beat in crafting a character who is many things to many people.
Not too long after, Amber once again tries to gain custody of her son in front of a judge. This is perhaps the single scene where Moore is now "Maggie" and not her porn persona "Amber", and Moore tragically communicates the discordency from who she really is (the quiet, sad Maggie) to what she has tried to become (the wild, care-free Amber) to cover up for her sadness. Now, with the ugly truth staring her in the face, Amber is now forced to realize that she in fact did play a part in the way her life turned out.
Simplistic, yet complex. Vivid, yet esoteric. Moore's brava work in this rich, dark, imaginative film ranks amoung her very best. Finding light and soul in an otherwise depressing character, Julianne Moore shines her way to the top as an essential piece that connects to all around her, to form a beautiful, near perfect puzzle.
A brilliant actress, a great role, a performance for the ages.
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