Welcome to Oscar Justice, a new weekly feature at Ice Creams for Freaks.  It’s a simple concept: I give an Oscar to someone who rightfully deserved it, then I follow the repercussions down the line until I am satisfied.

This week on Oscar Justice: Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

OSCAR HISTORY

1995 Best Supporting Actress, Sense and Sensibility – Lost to Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
1997 Best Actress, Titanic – Lost to Helen Hunt, As Good as It Gets
2001 Best Supporting Actress, Iris – Lost to Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
2004 Best Actress, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Lost to Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
2006 Best Actress, Little Children – Lost to Helen Mirren, The Queen
2008 Best Actress, The Reader – WINNER
2015 Best Supporting Actor, Steve Jobs – Lost to Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BACKGROUND

Few actresses made such an impression as quickly as Kate Winslet did.  Following her film debut in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures in 1994, Winslet earned her first Oscar nomination the following year for Sense and Sensibility.  Two years later, another Oscar nomination and global stardom came in the form of Titanic.  From then on, it was only a matter of time before she was winning an Oscar.

Winslet’s fourth nomination earned her the highest of acclaims with the mind-bending tragi-romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Despite the performance of her career, Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby arrived like a steamroller through Oscar season and walked away with Best Picture and a second Best Actress Oscar for Hillary Swank.   Winslet would have to wait four more years until she received her overdue Oscar for Stephen Daldry’s The Reader.

OSCAR JUSTICE 

Kate Winslet defeats Hillary Swank in 2004 Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

WHY THIS JUSTICE?

Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actresses of her generation and I LOVE her performance in Eternal Sunshine.  I wanted to reward her best performance in one of my favorite movies.  She puts on a masterclass of emotional swings in a relationship while maintaining a constant characterization.  In lesser hands, Clementine comes across as manic or uneven, but in Winslet’s hands, she is spontaneous without being precious.  Her chemistry with Jim Carrey also carries the film and their sweetness and bitterness towards each other crux’s the film.

Additionally, the actresses she lost Oscars to deserve to have the awards. I’m glad Mira Sorvino, Helen Hunt, Jennifer Connelly, Helen Mirren and Alicia Vikander have Oscars, even if I don’t love their films or their performances.  I like living in a world were these women win Academy Awards.

THE REPERCUSSIONS

Don’t feel bad for Hillary Swank.  She still holds on to the Oscar she won in 1999 for Boys Don’t Cry and I have no intention of taking it away.  Swank continues to work steadily, but has yet to be nominated again.

Assuming the overdue narrative for Winslet does not exist in 2008, she cedes her Oscar to Anne Hathaway’s masterwork in Rachel Getting Married.  With Hathaway already having an Oscar coming into 2012, she steps aside as well.  Fellow nominees Helen Hunt and Sally Field already have at least one Oscar, and as much as I love Jacki Weaver, I am not willing to give her an Oscar for her nothing role in Silver Linings Playbook.   Only one logical choice remains…Amy Adams!

Adams finally gets an Oscar in 2012 for The Master.  Though not known as he best performance or her most adored, Adams is finally able to shed the dreaded Oscar loser moniker that she is already adorned with. 

OVERVIEW 

Kate Winslet wins Best Actress in 2004 over Hillary Swank
Anne Hathaway wins Best Actress in 2008 over Kate Winslet
Amy Adams wins Best Supporting Actress in 2012 over Anne Hathaway

All Oscar Justice category fixes

Next time on Oscar Justice…Angela Bassett cashes in on her lone Oscar nomination, which takes an Oscar away from a two-time winner