The SEVEN best actresses of 2010

January 11, 2011 --

Yes, I said SEVEN! If the Academy wanted to shake things up, they should have increased the big four nominations by at least one each, instead of their stupid idea to up the Best Picture nominees to ten!

With all due respect to Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) and Michele Williams (Blue Valentine), whose movies I have yet to see, here are, without question, the Seven Best Lead Performances by an Actress in 2010:

Annette Bening* & Julianne Moore, The Kids are All Right -- These two actresses are equally essential to the movie: I cannot imagine either would be as phenomenal if they didn't have the other. Both deserve recognition in the Lead Actress category.

Sally Hawkins, Made In Dagenham -- with every movie she stars in (too few, sadly), Sally Hawkins surprises me with her talent. Her face is so expressive, her acting so genuine, she is a true joy to watch.

Isabelle Huppert, White Material -- this French treasure never fails to deliver a compelling, fearless performance (she chooses her material very well). Here she plays a French plantation owner in an unnamed African country in the midst of a civil war, trying to hold her family's life together amid the chaos. You can't take your eyes off of her, as usual.

Jennifer Lawrence*, Winter's Bone -- the next three actresses all gave breakthough performances, none more surprising than this young actress (unknown, by me). Playing a mature teen (made head of her disadvantaged household by default) in the hellish backwoods of the Ozarks, she shows a grit and determination to hold her family together at all costs (I sense a theme here!)

Natalie Portman*, Black Swan -- nothing less than a tour-de-force performance, NP inhabits the paper-thin body (and fragile mind) a ballet dancer -- complete with all the rigors of toe-shoes, sore muscles and feet, and back-stabbing colleagues. You never once think she's an actor pretending to be a dancer. It is a transformation worthy of DeNiro!

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit -- don't believe the bullshit tactic by the studio (Paramount) to increase their chances of a nomination by promoting her as a "supporting" actress. She is literally in every scene of the movie! It doesn't matter that she is young and unknown, the movie is about her character Mattie Ross as much as Winter's Bone is about Ree, and Hailee's performance is not only the equal to Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn, she carries the movie. Don't take my word for it, either: the directors agree with me.

* I predict only three of the above-mentioned seven will actually receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination. It wouldn't be the Oscars if they didn't slight somebody in every category, would it?.