Albert Nobbs (Rodrigo García, 2011)

Glenn Close clearly wanted a 'crowing achievement' (what various critics have called her performance in the film) at this point in her career after meddling mostly with TV the last couple of years. She is not only the title character of the film, Albert Nobbs, but she produced and co-wrote it as well. Clearly a star vehicle for herself. What better to way to make sure everyone notices her performance than to play a part where she will be dressed as a man for the entirety of the film (except one scene). You can already hear the critics of the future saying, "what a bold choice to play such an unappealing character! Instead of some sexualized woman or respected elder she decided to portray a man, knowing she would look so unappealing!" etc etc. Her performance seems to be the only thing that people are talking about this film, which is no surprise since the film itself has absolutely no merit: it has no visual style or coherence, it is completely un-engaging and by the end seems completely pointless. And if we actually look at Glenn Close's performance it is quite an awkward performance, and not a very great one. While she certainly does look like a man (the make-up was good), she doesn't portray one well at all. Her performance is just not believable and seems incredibly stiff. While the awkwardness might be one of Nobbs' character traits, it was the way they were portrayed that were problematic. Actually, the only enjoyable scenes in the film were those when the acting was so awkward that it became humorous. Mia Wasikowska's performance is also terrible; completely unbelievable; I enjoyed Jane Eyre, this just wasn't the role for her, or anyone.