I've been both shocked and gratified with Lange's work this new millennium.
Here are my top 5 favorite Lange performances of the 2000's. Funny enough, I think this last 10 year stretch has provided her with some of the best material of her career, not just for her as an actress but as stories/movies in and of themselves.
1. Grey Gardens '09 - Such a beautiful, tender, outrageously good film. This was initially intended for theaters but deemed uncommercial. Nonetheless, HBO was great enough to give it a life on television. It ended up being nominated for 17 Emmys and winning 5, including Best Miniseries/Movie and Lange's first for Best Lead Actress in a Miniseries/Movie. Lange and Barrymore are top notch, with Lange claiming the film with her "Tea for Two Moment". It was Lange's breakout role in nearly a decade.
2. Wild Oats '16 - This recently aired on Lifetime to almost no fanfare. Given no promotion and then dumped on basic cable, it was also initially intended for theaters. It was lined up for a 9/16/16 release date and then just pulled by The Weinstein Company and thrown to Lifetime. Still, it's a beautifully shot, subtly directed, charming and poignant film. It could win major Emmy, Globe, SAG, etc. love. It could also be released theatrically, which some say is happening, in the UK, where it'll be eligible for BAFTA. Whatever happens, it's probably my favorite thing of Lange's in a long while. She's just so damn delightful in it. She's beautiful and heartbreaking and sexy. She and MacLaine are a fire duo. Like crazy good they need to get a series lined up together kinda fire. Effervescent.
3. American Horror Story: Coven '13 - My favorite of all the four seasons Lange was in. I think this is where the show peaked, hitting its stride and discovering its voice. This season was feminist, sexy, angry, funny, scary, disgusting and, ultimately, heartbreaking, too. It showed that a cast made up mostly of women 50 or older could be compelling and addictive. Lange, Bates, Conroy and Bassett all give career high performances here. They're delicious and poignant. Lange won her third Emmy for this and deservedly so. She's mythical and elemental here.
4. Horace & Pete '16 - Oh, what a delight this was to discover one January morning, earlier this year. It came out of nowhere. The brilliance of Louis C.K. suddenly appeared and I was rapt. Certainly one of the best TV shows of the year if not the millennium so far, Horace and Pete hit like a bullet. C.K., Edie Falco, Laurie Metcalf, Steve Buscemi, Alan Alda and Lange were astonishing, serving us up Brooklyn realness and breaking our hearts in the process. Stunning.
5. Sybil '07 - One might think that venturing off to remake one of the most revered TV movies of all time would be a venture doomed to being plagued by comparisons and to fail under them. Not so here. Filmed in Canada over two months, Lange and Tammy Blanchard create a whimsical, noirish, scary world set in the bygone era. Blanchard is a force here and makes the film, but Lange is there every step of the way with her, providing a steady hand and graceful touch to the proceedings. Her Dr. Wilbur is more reluctant and suspicious than Joanne Woodward's was and she's also more feisty. Still, the relationship she develops with Blanchard is uplifting, and provides hop in the midst of such dark circumstances. Sybil, in the end, is a myth that speaks to all of our pain and fears.
