2019 Calvin Awards: Best Actress
By Kim Hollis
February 23, 2019
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Our winner for Best Actress is the fabulous Olivia Colman for her portrayal of Queen Anne in the dark comedy The Favourite. She’s absolutely batty, the product of a privileged environment, loneliness, and pain from gout. Anne has little interest in governing, preferring instead to snuggle with her numerous bunnies. Colman’s portrayal is perfectly spot on, although it’s easy to see why Anne would be revolting to some, she also has a vulnerability that makes the character more than one-note.
Coming in second by just that much is newcomer Yalitza Aparicio, who turned heads in late 2018 as people started watching Roma. Her character Cleo goes through a lot during the film, and yet we always feel her optimism and kindness shining through. Even though she watches her employers’ marriage crumble and effectively serves as surrogate mother to the children while their mother comes to terms with the separation, she endures. And the audience loves her for it.
Third place goes to Glenn Close for the criminally underseen The Wife. Even though I imagine that this is a role Close could play in her sleep, she’s still remarkable as a woman whose talents are unrecognized because a dude – her husband – takes all the credit. What’s impressive about this performance is the slow burn that smolders from the beginning of the film until a big explosion in the final act.
Up next is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known to all you monsters as Lady Gaga. We fell hard for her portrayal of Ally in A Star Is Born. Ally is a kindhearted, talented, joyous individual with lots of aspirations but perhaps not the self-confidence to rise to the occasion. We see her evolution from budding songstress to big time star, and it’s all believable because Lady Gaga makes it so.
Fifth and sixth place go to the same actress but for different roles, and if you total her points for both, she actually ties Olivia Colman. But BOP voting doesn’t work that way – you win for one film, not your combined work for the year. Emily Blunt captured our hearts, both as Evelyn from A Quiet Place and as Mary Poppins. In A Quiet Place, she conveys emotion with almost no dialogue, and it’s impacting and devastating all at once. She’s quite the opposite in Mary Poppins Returns – full of snappy repartee and a delightful songstress. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: she’s practically perfect in every way.
Just five points separate our seventh through tenth place finishers. Seventh belongs to Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade, as her authentic portrayal of a young woman at one of the more awkward life stages rings true for everyone who ever was a teenager (note: that’s probably all of us reading this). Toni Collette takes eighth place for her difficult role in Hereditary. She plays a mother whose family is experiencing strange, terrible things, and we suffer right along with her. Perhaps too much so.
The role of Rachel Chu in Crazy Rich Asians required someone we could root for and who could serve as our eyes and ears in an unfamiliar world. Constance Wu was the ideal choice here, charming, sweet, and the kind of girl that most people would want to take home to mom – assuming your mom isn’t as formidable as Michelle Yeoh. Finally, BOP has loved Melissa McCarthy for a long, long time, so we were naturally inclined to appreciate her performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? even if her character, Lee Israel, is thoroughly despicable and hateful. The fact that she’s willing to jump in and portray such an unlikable soul is a credit to her.
Actresses who just missed our top ten include Nicole Kidman (Destroyer), Viola Davis (Widows), Rachel Weisz (Disobedience), Natalie Portman (Annihilation), Kathryn Hahn (Private Life), Anya Taylor Joy (Thoroughbreds), and Rachel McAdams (Game Night).
2019 Calvin Awards
Calvins Intro
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Cast
Best Character
Best Director
Best Overlooked Film
Best Picture
Best Scene
Best Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best TV Show
Best Use of Music
Breakthrough Performance
Worst Performance
Worst Picture