BAFTA Preview: Best Supporting Actress

The Supporting Actress category is a story of bizarre omissions and an inspired inclusion

Having praised BAFTA yesterday for its Best Actor picks, I must express a certain degree of bemusement over its selections for Supporting Actress. It has largely followed the line of other awards ceremonies, nominating Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain for their performances in The Help, and Melissa McCarthy for her comedic turn in Bridesmaids. However, it has deviated from others by nominating Carey Mulligan in Drive, and Judi Dench in My Week with Marilyn.

Review: Coriolanus

Fiennes' solid Shakespearean directorial debut

Director: Ralph Fiennes

Screenwriter: John Logan, based on the play by William Shakespeare

Cast: Ralph Fiennes (Caius Martius Coriolanus), Vanessa Redgrave (Volumnia), Gerard Butler (Tullus Aufidius), Brian Cox (Menenius) and Jessica Chastain (Virgilia)

Plot: Having triumphed in war against Tullus Aufidius, Caius Martius is entitled Coriolanus and nominated to become Consul of Rome, a city which is starving. His dislike for the people and the cunning of other politicians drives him into exile, where he unites with Aufidius.

Running Time: 122m 53s

Certificate: 15 – Contains strong bloody violence

You have to applaud Ralph Fiennes’ apparent fearlessness in taking on his first outing as a film director. Not only has he taken on the difficult job of directing himself in the title role, but he has chosen one of Shakespeare’s most notoriously troublesome plays.

Review: The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is dead at the roots

Malick's latest is full of visions, and music, and signifies nothing

Director & Screenwriter: Terrence Malick

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain & Sean Penn

Plot: A man looks back on his life as he sits disillusioned in the modern day. He ponders the origins of the universe, the existence of God and his upbringing in 50s suburbia, particularly his complex relationship with his father and his close relationship with his mother.