The Woody Awards: Best Supporting Actress

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
My Nominees:
Emily Blunt, Sunshine Cleaning
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Away We Go
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds
Rachel Weisz, The Brothers Bloom

Oscar Nominees:
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Away We Go

Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in Away We Go as the main couple's bizarre stroller-hating hippie friend LN Fisher-Herrin provides some of the funnier moments of the film. She manages to capture the ridiculousness of her character's wannabe progressive (but actually self-deluding) beliefs with a kind of snobbish sincerity without over-doing it and pushing her character into the realm of cartoonishness. She exaggerates her character just enough to make her funny, while still maintaining enough realism to prevent her from becoming a completely unbelievable character.

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

Anna Kendrick is excellent as Natalie Keener, the idealistic young woman who accompanies George Clooney's character as he shows her the ropes of their business (which is firing people). Kendrick flawlessly conveys the way her character projects total confidence outwardly while struggling inwardly with both doubts about herself and the emotional difficulty of the business she's chosen. When she first appears onscreen, Kendrick's character appears to be nothing but a fearless young woman determined to be the best in her profession at all costs, but as the story continues, Kendrick subtly reveals the complexity of her character and her emotional and moral struggles.

Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds

Though her character is not introduced until relatively late in the story, Diane Kruger plays an essential role in shaping the film's final act. In German actress (and undercover agent for the Allies) Bridget von Hammersmark, Kruger creates a character who is much more than she appears. Kruger injects her character's exchanges with German officers with just the right amount of phony confidence to suggest that her character has been well-trained to be someone she's not. Kruger plays her character's final exchange with Colonel Hans Landa very well, capturing the suppressed fear and false bravado of a person who knows she is treading on very dangerous ground and is fully aware of exactly how grave the consequences would be for her if she were found out.

Rachel Weisz, The Brothers Bloom

Rachel Weisz is both hilarious and lovable as the very quirky Penelope in The Brothers Bloom. As a character who has spent her life shut up in a mansion who finally gets the chance to have an adventure, Weisz is perfectly delightful. She plays her role with the appropriately childlike glee of a character who never really had a childhood (or at least not the right kind of one). Her sheer enthusiasm for the titular con men's latest caper is infectious, drawing the audience in to the point where they too feel like their suppressed inner kid is going on its first big adventure.

THE WINNER: EMILY BLUNT, SUNSHINE CLEANING

Emily Blunt's performance as Norah, the underachieving and overlooked younger sister still struggling to cope with the emotional damage of a childhood tragedy, is truly moving. Though Norah is not the center of the story, she is certainly the most interesting character. Blunt's portrayal of her, with her careless attitude and tough exterior hiding deep emotional wounds, allows the viewer to really see the pain she experiences daily over her inability to move on from her mother's death and from the longing (which she would never admit to having) to prove herself to her older sister and father and establish a place for herself in her family.