Lady Love: Toni Collette--1/18

In honor of Toni Collette's Golden Globe win last night for UNITED STATES OF TARA (a brilliant series), she is the subject of today's Lady Love column. I love Toni. She is one of my favorite actresses (I have many favorites, so get used to hearing that sentence.) She has given numerous fantastic performances, pretty much everything she does is fantastic.
Today I want to talk about her brief but affecting performance in THE HOURS. Here it's a performance about the subtle cracking in a facade. Toni as Kitty is everything Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) wishes that she was. Kitty is popular, beautiful, classy and stylish. She has her life together. When she comes to ask Laura to feed her dog while she goes to the hospital for tests on her ovaries, she has to reveal a weakness. She tries to hold it together, but for a brief moment, she loses her grip. Toni does such fantastic things in this scene. She manages to crack just so slightly, and catches herself with such ease. It is a joy to watch. When Laura does the unexpected and plants a passionate kiss on Kitty, Toni is able to show us Kitty's whole range of emotions. Revulsion, flattery, condescension and pity.

Toni makes the most of a brief scene in a fantastic movie. I have seen THE HOURS many times. It has been a while since I last watched it, and thinking back on the most affecting, telling moments in the movie, this scene always comes to mind. It is one of the most memorable. Toni Collette has given MANY moments of brilliance on the screen, so this will definitely not be the last time you see her in this column. LOVE HER!!!!!