Let's consider Melissa Leo's performance on-screen in "Frozen River." After debuting this past weekend in limited release, here's how the film fared:

Reviews are excellent for Melissa Leo's turn as a single mother determined to provide a better life for her children at almost any cost. Meta Critic scores the film at 83 based on 16 reviews while Rotten Tomatoes surveys a dozen top critics to arrive at a score of 92 (though adding in an additional eight second-string reviewers brings that down to 76).

This indie picture is playing in only seven cinemas in L.A., New York and Denver but, buoyed by these notices and its status as Sundance filmfest winner, pulled in an impressive $10,000 per-screen over its first weekend. Yeah, it surpassed "The Dark Knight."

Richard Schickel of Time writes, "There's nothing overtly heroic about her as she plods forward under her burden of her small-scale dreams. She's not cynical, but she's not expecting much, either. She's just knowing and accepting of what fate, good or bad, but never transformative, throws at her. You can see it in her eyes, in her wiry body's alertness to both danger and opportunity. The reserve in Leo's performance, the way it earns our sympathy without asking for it, is screen acting of the highest order."

In his rave review, Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal cites "the critical mass of tenderness and ferocity in Melissa Leo's portrayal."

Awarding the film an A-, Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly says, "Leo's acting has a brittle severity and power. Every moment of her performance feels torn from experience, and so does the movie, which finds a suspense in broken lives that are hanging in the balance."

And for Stephen Holden of the New York Times ,"she brings the same kind of gravity to the role that Patricia Neal did to Alma Brown in 'Hud' 45 years ago. This weathered, redheaded actress makes you believe in her character’s resilience."

Unlike Neal — who won the 1963 best actress Oscar for that role opposite Paul Newman (as well as the Gotham crix prize and the NBR award) — Leo, now 47, has not been a major presence in motion pictures.

The respected character actress was passed over for a supporting Oscar nod in 2003 for her well-received turn as Benicio del Toro's wife in "21 Grams." And she failed to find favor with Emmy voters in the 1990s during her five seasons on "Homicide: Life on the Street." Indeed, her only major acting kudo nom was back in 1985 at the Daytime Emmy Awards when she lost best ingénue for her stint on "All My Children" to Tracey Bregman of "The Young and the Restless."

However, in "Frozen River," Leo shines in a role that has won its fair share of Oscar acclaim — the struggling single mother.

Over the 80 years of Academy Awards, acting as the long-suffering wife has led to more nominations but, beginning with a win by Helen Hayes in 1931 for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet," portraying the self-sacrificing mother has also led to Oscar glory. Among those who have won for playing variations on such a role are Joan Crawford ("Mildred Pierce," 1945), Anna Magnani ("The Rose Tattoo," 1955), Sophia Loren ("Two Women," 1962), Ellen Burstyn ("Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore," 1974), and Sally Field ("Places in the Heart," 1984). More recently, Helen Hunt trumped a quartet of British actresses to win for "As Good as It Gets" in 1997 while in 2000 Julia Roberts triumphed as the feisty "Erin Brockovich" over, among others, Gotham crix pick Laura Linney for "You Can Count on Me." And in 2001 Halle Berry made Oscar history with her win for "Monster's Ball."

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