4. Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine wasn't very widely distributed or seen by the larger movie-going public, but from the moment the film started touring the festival circuit, buzz immediately began to swell around the film's two lead performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It was an uphill battle the whole way (including an initial NC-17 rating controversy), but when the nominees were announced, the film managed to be half way successful, securing a nomination for Michelle Williams, but failing to do the same for Ryan Gosling. I found the choice a bit bewildering, because of the two performances I definitely felt Gosling's was stronger, but Williams' performance was by no means weak. Playing the same role at two different points in a relationship (it's magically irreverent beginnings and its bitter solemn ending), Williams quite understated performance portrays a woman making lemonade out of lemons, doing the best she can under difficult circumstances. The result is a doomed relationship of obsessive admiration on one side and not fully requited love on the other. Williams gives her character the feel of someone always on guard, holding something back, which makes sense given the household she was raised in and her hurried relationship with Gosling's character, but it is also alienates her from the audience, making it hard to sympathize with her as much as you want to. It may have not been written in the script, or maybe Derek Cianfrance purposefully directed Williams to act this way, but there is some spark of shared humanity missing from her character which makes me hesitant to heap as much praise on the performance as I might otherwise. The only moment where we even get a hint at any sense of humor from Williams character is in her hilariously dark joke about a boy and a pedophile who are walking in the woods, but other than this, her character is unfortunately distant. Williams' performance is a good one, but there is just something intangible lacking, making it short of the emotional punch in the gut it was meant to be, which is why I rank it fourth among the nominees.