I am talking, of course, about Cherlize Theron in "Monster".

It's not exactly an advertisement for the hobby, but it is certainly a very good performance.

There were a couple of things about the movie that struck me.  One was that a provider was essentially pimped by her gay lover.  It had not occurred to me that gay or bi providers who cater to men are pimped by their women partners, but it seems perfectly plausible, and is perhaps very common.

Another thought I had about the film was that Aileen Wuornos was probably given the death penalty, as opposed to life in prison without parole, because her particular way of coping with the trauma of having been repeatedly raped as an eight year old girl and having been beaten (i.e. betrayed) by her father for telling him that his friend had raped her, was to adopt a very "tough", "hardboiled" personal style in her interactions with other people.  This particular way of coping made her unable to express publicly the remorse that the judge and society wanted to see her show publicly, although she may have felt remorse no less than those murderers who publicly express remorse and as a result are then not sentenced to death.
Ironic that someone would get the death penalty just because of the particular way they cope with a history of child abuse.


-- Modified on 2/21/2004 6:54:02 PM

"Monster" was strongly "dramatized" in several areas.  For a more accurate and detailed picture on this person, you should check out Nick Broomfield's two documentaries on her, "The Selling of a Serial Killer" and "The Life And Death of a Serial Killer".  You will see that this woman was definitely her own worst enemy, and it casts other figures in intersting lights as well.

I think you are right, Theron is a lock for the award.  The competition is weak this year in this category.  Keaton is there only for "maturity and class"...her performance was it's usual good, but far from groundbreaking.  Watts is not viewed as a "top line" actress yet (in spite of and because of "Mulholland Drive"), and her role was more acerbic than dramatically deep.  Morton is an underrated up and comer, but the movie was stolen by the two kids, and she did better work in the small film "Morvern Callar".  Castle-Hughes is really the only one who had a role anywhere near as standout as Theron, but the story itself made her role larger than her acting, even though she was dead on.  

I can't say that I think the death penalty is completely unjust for a serial killer, even if she is as mentally unbalanced as Aileen W. was.  However, as the two documentaries laid out, she was her own worst enemy in the proceedings, and it is not surprising that she was sentanced that way.

Don't piss me off, I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

Halle Berry and Nicole Kidman got their Oscars essentially the same way.  I do have to admit that after watching Cherlize Theron's performance in Samual Goldwin Theatre in AMPAS, she was very convincing.

My dark horse and sentimental pick goes to Naomi Watts.  She is older (35 vs 28), struggled for a long time and gave quite a subtle and full range performance.  It might not be as shocking as Cherlize Theron's but nonetheless very moving.

Dear MrSelfDestruch, you have confused me! And that is not a long journey for me!

What about Mulholland Dr?  I thought Naomi was superb in an extremely complex role ... nearly flawless.  Charlize is also an excellent actress ...

"Well, she brought it on herself" because of her public lack of remorse.  Her lack of apparent remorse in the courtroom did indeed cause her to be her own worst enemy.  So do we just shake our heads and say "well, she brought the death penalty on herself for behaving that way", or do we rise above that and understand that perhaps for her, and perhaps for other abused children, stopping the "tough" facade is psychologically impossible?

paraphrasing Rob Schneider, I think, on Leno about Theron/Monster:  "if all the beautiful actresses hog all the ugly roles, too, what's left over for the ugly actresses?"

Not all the men she killed were trying to rape her or even hurt her. One of the last men she kills in the movie was actually trying to help her. If this is accurate then I think this would have more to do with the death penalty than her lack of remorse.

life in prison without the possibility of parole if she had showed remorse during her trial.

By your own definition.  How can a "nearly insane" person show remorse?  Isn't showing remorse in a death penalty case a matter of cold calculation in response to requests from lawyers?  How can a "nearly insane" person do such a thing, does not the fact that the person is "nearly insane" render his/her thinking illogical to the extent that he/she is not aware of what is in his/her best interest?

might have been a factor in her not showing remorse during the trial.

However, I disagree that all murderers who show remorse are faking it out of self-interest.  Many undoubtably are, but many also feel genuine remorse.

Except for NetMichelle, who has balls (that's meant as a compliment, Michelle).

Growing up in Orlando at the time Aileen committed the crimes has made this discussion uninteresting to me. The story was covered extensively and almost daily on the local news and in the local papers. A friend of my family sat on the jury. To say the least, Monster was not an accurate depiction of the events. The movie was interesting, but my interest in the movie begins and ends with it being a fictionalized drama.

I didn't say anything about Theron's performance. I said she was a lock for the award because there wasn't anyone nominated who had as meaty of a role, except for Keisha Castle-Hughes, and I think her award is for just getting nominated.  I also wasn't putting "Monster" down (and thereby Theron's performance), only saying that it was "somewhat" dramatized, as opposed to Broomfields' two documentaries.

As for Ms. Watts and "Mulholland Drive", I agree that she did a great job with that role.  Nice hooters, too. :P  However, her role in that movie, and the movie itself, were "odd" enough to not only garner her attention, but to also be "overlooked" y the academy, who acknowledge Lynch's brilliance but at the same time think he is a nut.  Also, Ms. Watts couldn't help but look like a great actress next to the wooden and monochromatic Laura Elena Harding.