Diversity sought in best-actress choices

End-of-the-year movies are hitting theaters, which means it's time for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to start looking for ball gowns, toting up party invitations and complaining that there's nobody to nominate for best actress.

It's an annual ritual in Hollywood, along with sending suck-uppy holiday gifts to Steven Spielberg. And, while it is true that Hollywood does not make enough movies that focus on women, it is equally true that Oscar voters annually overlook the best performances by actresses because they're too lazy to move beyond the "What did Meryl Streep and Susan Sarandon do this year?" thinking that results in so many nominations for those women.

When naysayers such as online critic Emanuel Levy write, "This year's paucity of good female roles may recall 1975, the worst year in Oscar's history, when the Acting Branch had a hard time coming up with five decent leads," what they really mean is that the people the Academy likes to nominate didn't make movies in 2004. And those actresses who did have meaty roles were not in the tasteful, "important" dramas that tend to get nominated. This is confusing to Oscar voters for three reasons:

1. They have to learn some new names.

DAVID LEE Kate Winslet starred in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

The best way to get an Oscar nomination — in any category — is to have been nominated before. Oscars voters, like "Jeopardy" contestants and patrons of the Old Country Buffet, tend to stick with what they know. But this year, Charlize Theron and Gwyneth Paltrow made stinkers. Streep, Sarandon and Glenn Close were in supporting roles. Julia Roberts was the weak link in "Closer." And frequent nominees Michelle Pfeiffer, Jodie Foster and Emma Thompson were unemployed.

A few veterans will be back — Annette Bening is a sure thing for "Being Julia," Hilary Swank is said to be outstanding in "Million Dollar Baby" and Kate Winslet is looking good for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" — but Oscar voters need to go outside their comfort zones to complete their ballots. Some newcomers to think about: Rachel McAdams, who helped "The Notebook" transcend its tear-jerky, based-on-a-crummy-book limitations; Téa Leoni, who is said to give a bravely unlikable performance in "Spanglish"; Emmy Rossum, doing double duty, singing and acting, in "The Phantom of the Opera"; and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose confident performance was the backbone of the underrated "The Village."

2. They have to speak other languages.

There's no "American" in "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences," but Sophia Loren is the only foreign-speaker who has won the award. This would be a good year to rethink that. Catalina Sandino Moreno is amazing in the Spanish-language drama "Maria Full of Grace." Maggie Cheung gives soul to "Hero." Audrey Tautou, denied a nomination for "Amélie," is terrific in "A Very Long Engagement." Her fellow Frenchwoman, Isabelle Huppert, has never been Oscar-nominated despite dozens of blistering performances, the latest in "La Vie Promise" and "Time of the Wolf."

Maybe the most astonishing performance of 2004 is So-ri Moon's in the South Korean "Oasis." Her character has fantasies in which her severe disabilities vanish, and Moon shifts with seeming effortlessness from fantasy to reality, sometimes within a scene.

3. They have to look beyond the Oscar-tested, Oscar-approved movies trumpeted for awards.

High-minded Oscar voters rarely go for horror movies, but that's where two of this year's finest actresses lurk: Sarah Polley's gravity is why the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" is not just a suspenseful shocker but also a great film. "The Forgotten" is not great, but Julianne Moore's intelligent, despairing performance makes it seem better than it is.

Movies made outside the Hollywood system also have a hard time getting Oscar attention. There's usually room for one outsider — Imelda Staunton's towering portrayal of "Vera Drake" will get that slot — but that leaves out Kimberly Elise's ferocious performance as a recovering crackhead/victim of abuse in "Woman Thou Art Loosed," which was partially funded by a religious organization. Ditto Kerry Washington's good work in the bad "She Hate Me."

Oscar voters are also not fond of dark, strange films, which is why no one is talking about Nicole Kidman. Normally, you'd expect her to be on the list. She has been on the Oscar ballot twice, and she received great reviews for both "Birth" and "Dogville," films that feature the kind of flashy, attention-getting scenes Oscar voters dig. But both are controversial: "Dogville" is a shocker that many dismissed as anti-American, and "Birth" features a scene in which Kidman hops into a bathtub with a 10-year-old boy. Laura Dern is equally good in "We Don't Live Here Anymore," but it's a harrowing, nonstudio film, and Oscar voters will generally opt for a movie that reassures them over one that challenges them.

Which is too bad, because there are plenty of great female performances waiting for Oscar voters to discover this year, if they're willing to rise to the challenge.