Sunday Best: Actress 2009

Zooey Deschanel – 500 Days of Summer

photo by Caryn Loveless; RanZag

Alluring, yet always out of reach. This describes the titular character, Summer, played by this year's winner, Zooey Deschannel. The great thing about this performance is that the actress must do 2 things at once. She must create a sense of overwhelming desire and a sense of an impenetrable barrier. By desire, I don't mean something simply romantic. Instead Summer must be someone we would like to spend more time with, either romantically, as a friend, a buddy. She has to be one of those people whose company we crave, even if only tangentially. But the trick is to do that without ever getting past the exterior. This is not to say Summer is shallow, but that she will never let us into her secret world. Deschanel, with her ageless blue eyes seems to smile at you as if to an inside joke you will never fully get.

RUNENRS UP

Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia

Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side

Rachel McAdams – Time Traveler's Wife

Melanie Laurant – Inglorious Basterds