"God, I'm glad I'm not me."

I first became fully aware of Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. I remember watching her brilliant performance – I’m not one of those Tolkien snobs who thought the movies totally butchered the books – and recognized her from minor roles she had been in, but nothing massive. T0 me, being in The Lord of the Rings was about as big a role as an actor could ask for.
Afterwards, in the spirit of further support for Rings – like it really needed it – I started paying attention to all the actors wherever they popped up. Orlando Bloom started showing up everywhere, and Viggo Mortenson finally was picked up by Hollywood’s radar, but Blanchett had been doing steady work for years before Rings, and continued right on.
Upon meditating on all her performances prior to Rings and since, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: she is one of the best actresses of this age. No doubts about it.
Not only is she extremely convincing in every role she plays, but her ability to take on real people and bring them to life is truly out of this world. See her portrayal as Queen Elizabeth, her Oscar-winning (and rightfully so) take on Katherine Hepburn, and her most recent – and in my opinion, best – turn as Jude Quinn (a.k.a. Bob Dylan) in I’m Not There. How she lost the Oscar to Tilda Swinton – who did fine in Michael Clayton, but not spectacular – will forever remain a mystery to me. Her portrayal of Dylan just coming off his stunning electric performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, where he alienated the entire folk scene, is so right on, so careful and nuanced, that it is less a performance, and more like a inhabitation. It’s impossible to watch Don’t Look Back (the brilliant documentary of Dylan at this period) without thinking of Blanchett’s Quinn: skinny, androgynous, wired and tired beyond help, while being bitterly sarcastic to a world that doesn’t understand that no genre of music defines him. His angry banter with a reporter from BBC who just doesn’t get “it” is right on, but what really sells the performance is her monologue at the end, capped by the dead on line: “Everybody knows I’m not a folk singer.” That is Dylan at that time, fully summarized in one sentence.
Another thing I think Blanchett has going for her is her beauty. Now, she’s not the stereotypical Hollywood beauty that’s going to bring all the young men and teen into the theatres, like Jessica Alba or Scarlett Johansson, but she has more of a classic, timeless beauty. She reminds me of Helen Mirren, who is still gorgeous after decades of acting. This weird, ethereal beauty allows her to play gorgeous women (see her in the Elizabeth movies and her gorgeous portrayal of Galadriel) to more off-kilter roles (like Quinn and in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).
The only thing I’d like to see from her is a comedy – she so often plays such serious, demanding roles, but I think in a smart, intelligent comedy, she could shine.
As far as I’m concerned, every film that Blanchett is in, allows the audience a chance to view one of Hollywood’s future Golden Ladies while here fire is burning at it’s brightest.