Awards season 2023

[Chris Knipp]

HERE'S A BAFTA CATEGORY:

Outstanding British Film
All of Us Strangers
How to Have Sex
Napoleon
The Old Oak
Poor Things
Rye Lane
Saltburn
Scrapper
Wonka
The Zone of Interest

Bong! Lacunae revealed. I haven't seen Rye Lane* or The Old Oak. Have to work on that. Just rewatched Scrapper: it's a film I enjoy rewatching, appreciating how Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson play off each other. The Oscar bros point out though it has several nominations including Special Effects, Napoleon was rotten on ROTTENTOMATOES with both audience and critics (58%/59%)).

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*Seen Rye Lane now. It's wonderful. (Metacritic rating 82%, by the way.)

[Chris Knipp]

BAFTA award masks

2024 BAFTA AWARDS
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Best film
WINNER: Oppenheimer — Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
Anatomy of a Fall — Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
The Holdovers — Mark Johnson
Killers of the Flower Moon — Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas
Poor Things — Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

Leading actress
WINNER: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Vivian Oparah, Rye Lane
Margot Robbie, Barbie

Leading actor
WINNER: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Barry Keoghan, Saltburn
Teo Yoo, Past Lives

Supporting actress
WINNER: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers
Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn

Supporting actor
WINNER: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Jacob Elordi, Saltburn
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Director
WINNER: Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet
The Holdovers, Alexander Payne
Maestro, Bradley Cooper
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer

Original screenplay
WINNER: Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
Barbie — Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
The Holdovers — David Hemingson
Maestro — Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
Past Lives — Celine Song

Adapted screenplay
WINNER: American Fiction, Cord Jefferson
All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
Poor Things, Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer

Original score
WINNER: Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix
Saltburn, Anthony Willis
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Daniel Pemberton

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
WINNER: Earth Mama — Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)
Blue Bag Life — Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
Bobi Wine: The People’s President — Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]
How to Have Sex — Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
Is There Anybody Out There? — Ella Glendining (Director)

Film not in the English language
WINNER: The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer
20 Days in Mariupol — Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
Past Lives — Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Society of the Snow — J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza

Animated film
WINNER: The Boy and the Heron — Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget — Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
Elemental — Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

Outstanding British film
WINNER: The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska
All of Us Strangers — Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
How to Have Sex — Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
Napoleon — Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa
The Old Oak — Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
Poor Things — Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara
Rye Lane — Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
Saltburn — Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie
Scrapper — Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
Wonka — Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby

Documentary
WINNER: 20 Days in Mariupol — Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
American Symphony — Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
Beyond Utopia — Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie — Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
Wham! — Chris Smith

Casting
WINNER: The Holdovers — Susan Shopmaker
All of Us Strangers — Kahleen Crawford
Anatomy of a Fall — Cynthia Arra
How to Have Sex — Isabella Odoffin
Killers of the Flower Moon — Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

Cinematography
WINNER: Oppenheimer, Hoyte van Hoytema
Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro, Matthew Libatique
Poor Things, Robbie Ryan
The Zone of Interest, Łukasz Żal

Editing
WINNER: Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lame
Anatomy of a Fall, Laurent Sénéchal
Killers of the Flower Moon, Thelma Schoonmaker
Poor Things, Yorgos Mavropsaridis
The Zone of Interest, Paul Watts

Costume design
WINNER: Poor Things, Holly Waddington
Barbie, Jacqueline Durran
Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West
Napoleon, Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
Oppenheimer, Ellen Mirojnick

Makeup & hair
WINNER: Poor Things — Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston
Killers of the Flower Moon — Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
Maestro — Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
Napoleon — Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
Oppenheimer — Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid

Production design
WINNER: Poor Things — Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
Barbie — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Killers of the Flower Moon — Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
Oppenheimer — Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
The Zone of Interest — Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

Sound
WINNER: The Zone of Interest — Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers
Ferrari — Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
Maestro — Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One — Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer — Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo

Special visual effects
WINNER: Poor Things — Simon Hughes
The Creator — Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One — Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
Napoleon — Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet

British short animation
WINNER: Crab Day — Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak
Visible Mending — Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
Wild Summon — Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

British short film
WINNNER: Jellyfish and Lobster — Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai
Festival of Slaps — Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
Gorka — Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
Such a Lovely Day — Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
Yellow — Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

EE rising star award (public-voted)
WINNER: Mia McKenna-Bruce
Phoebe Dynevor
Ayo Edebiri
Jacob Elordi
Sophie Wilde

The Top Films
7 wins - Oppenheimer
5 - Poor Things
3 - The Zone of Interest
2 - The Holdovers

SOURCE

I'm waiting to see the Oscar Expert bros reactions. They certainly got some things wrong. Did they know Poor Things would be this much favored? They may have foreseen that Barbie would come away with nothing. Did the BAFTA jury not favor British films as much as they might have? But while Oppenheimer is about Americans, its director and star are British. It's funny, though, that The Zone of Interest, in German, set in Germany, gets "Best British Film." Poor Things is a British story, though some say it's not a faithful version of it; Greek director and American stars, though. The Oscar Expert bros were excited that The Zone of Interest won something else: Best Sound.

[Chris Knipp]

The (French) 49th César awards



ANATOMY OF A FALL/L'ANATOMIE D'UNE CHUTE by Justine Triet was the big winner (six trophies, eleven noms) - also much admired in the US. It was named Best Picture; Thomas Cailley's THE ANIMAL KINGDOM/LE RÉGNE ANIMAL, starring Romain Duris and Paul Kircher, was in second place. There was also a career achievement award to OPPENHEIMER's Christopher Nolan.

Swann Arlaud the lawyer in ANATOMY, won Best Supporting Actor. Sandra Hüller won Best Actress. Best Original Screenplay went to Justine Triet and her cowriter Arthur Harari.

Hüller won over Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, nominated for LITTLE GIRL BLUE; Lea Drucker, up for LAST SUMMER; Hafsia Herzi, nominated for The Rapture; and Belgian actress Virginie Efira, nominated for her work in JUST THE TWO OF US.


JUSTINE TRIET, DIRECTOR OF ANATOMY OF A FALL

The other big winner on the night was THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, French director Thomas Cailley’s follow-up to 2014’s LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT. Cailley picked up the best cinematography trophy and a slew of wins in craft categories like best sound, original score, costumes and special effects.

In other acting categories, Arieh Worthalter won best actor for his starring role in Cédric Kahn’s courtroom drama THE GOLDMAN CASE, and Adèle Exarchopoulos won for best supporting actress for her star turn in ALL YOUR FACES.


SWANN ARLAUD, SANDRA HÜLLER IN ANATOMY OF A FALL

ANATOMY OF A FALL was reviewed on Filmleaf as part of the 2023 NYFF. THE ANIMAL KINGDOM and LITTLE GIRL BLUE have recently been reviewed here as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. THE GOLDMAN CASE and ALL YOUR FACES haven't been covered here yet.

Sandra Hüller has been looking like the European star of the year, appearing in both ANATOMY OF A FALL and English director Jonathan Glazer's German-language Auschwitz-ralated film THE ZONE OF INTEREST - arguably the two best European films of 2023.


ROMAIN DURIS, PAUL KIRCHER IN LE RÈGNE ANIMAL

[Chris Knipp]

Are you ready for the Oscars?

SANDRA HÜLLER IN THE ZONE OF INTEREST

The big (American) awards we've been waiting for are coming Sunday night. Here are some arguments from today's GUARDIAN. What's your pick? Oppenheimer?

Best picture Oscar hustings:

Why Past Lives should win the best Picture Oscar

Why The Holdovers should win the best picture Oscar

Why Maestro should win the best picture Oscar

Why Barbie should win the best picture Oscar

Why The Zone of Interest should win the best picture Oscar

. . .BUT:

Serious themes, serious people, an unflinching dedication to both the craft and the medium of cinema, Oppenheimer ticks the boxes. Bookmakers are duly offering odds as short as 1/25 on for it to take home best picture.

Why Oppenheimer should win the best picture Oscar

Oe maybe Anatomy of a Fall is your pick, or another movie.

[Chris Knipp]

The Oscar WInners for 2024

Best Picture
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer (Winner)
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Director
Justine Triet — Anatomy of a Fall
Martin Scorsese — Killers of the Flower Moon
Christopher Nolan — Oppenheimer (Winner)
Yorgos Lanthimos — Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer — The Zone of Interest

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper — Maestro
Colman Domingo — Rustin
Paul Giamatti — The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy — Oppenheimer (Winner)
Jeffrey Wright — American Fiction

Best Actress
Annette Bening — Nyad
Lily Gladstone — Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller — Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan — Maestro
Emma Stone — Poor Things (Winner)

Best Supporting Actor
Sterling K. Brown — American Fiction
Robert De Niro — Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. — Oppenheimer (Winner)
Ryan Gosling — Barbie
Mark Ruffalo — Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt — Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks — The Color Purple
America Ferrera — Barbie
Jodie Foster — Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph — The Holdovers (Winner)

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction (Winner)
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall (Winner)
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One (Winner)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon

Best Costume Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things (Winner)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things (Winner)
Society of the Snow

Best Cinematography
El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer (Winner)
Poor Things

Best Production Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things (Winner)

Best Sound
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest (Winner)

Best Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer (Winner)
Poor Things

Best Original Score
American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer (Winner)
Poor Things

Best Original Song
“The Fire Inside” — Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” — Barbie
“It Never Went Away” — American Symphony
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” — Killers of the Flower Moon
“What Was I Made For” — Barbie (Winner)

Best Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko (Winner)

Best Live-Action Short Film
The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Winner)

Best Documentary Short Film
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between
The Last Repair Shop (Winner)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

Best Documentary Feature Film
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol (Winner)

Best International Feature Film
Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom) (Winner)

Best Animated Feature Film
The Boy and the Heron (Winner)
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

[Chris Knipp]

EMMA STONE GIVING HER OSCAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Oscar's "Night" 2024

The awards. This year the quality was very high. There are nothing but good things to say about THE ZONE OF INTEREST (an unusually brilliant and edgy Best International Feature Film), OPPENHEIMER, POOR THINGS and its remarkable star Emma Stone, the wonderfully entertaining and smart ANATOMY OF A FALL and Sandra Hüller, who starred in both ANATOMY and ZONE (and though she got no statuette, could be seen sitting there smiling). We might have chosen THE HOLDOVERS. We might have chosen Paul Giamatti. But it was hard to feel disappointed under the circumstances with any of the awards, especially since all the main ones where exactly as expected from the lead-up awards seasons predictions chronicled on this Filmleaf thread.

Snubs? KILLERS didn't get anything, which has happened to Scorsese before. Sadly, Bradley Cooper again didn't get anything for what the show called his "renaissance man" performance, despite reportedly six years learning to conduct a symphony orchestra, and his movie got nothing even for the elaborate makeup by the renowned Kazu Hiro, or for writing, directing, and starring as Leonard Bernstein. Indications are the Academy just didn't like MAESTRO. Maybe if they'd seen it at in the NYFF Main Slate, where everything looks better, as this reporter did, they'd have liked it more. THE BOY AND THE HERON won Best Animated Feature, though as Miyazaki goes it was a bit meh, some think, and everybody loved the new SPIDERMAN. Some of us wish that Annette Bening and Jodie Foster had gotten to go up to the stage instead of just sit and smile.

The show. How did the awards show itself go? Jimmy Kimmel gave a nice, informative intro speech with mild laughs that ruffled few feathers, though it fully honored the labor issues that dominated a lot of Hollywood's year, and endorsed the unions. Ryan Gosling showed his talent with a full-throated performance of the "Ken" song.

Flubs and caresses. The 83-year-old Al Pacino, though like the 80-year-old Robert DiNiro he fathered a baby with a young girlfriend last year, seemed to show cognitive impairment judging by the way he walked on and and just tore open the award envelope for Best Picture with no introduction at all. He read it off right - OPPENHEIMER - though he didn't seem 100% sure he was getting it right. On the other hand the Best Actor awards were elaborately and handsomely introduced by a set of previous winners providing lots of complimentary descriptions of each nominee, which ought to be satisfying to everybody - except those who find scenes of mutual congratulation a bit much (in which case they should probably not watch the Oscars).

Mishaps? Da'Vine Joy Randolph failed to applaud for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL. Did she find it just too depressing, or was she having a costume malfunction, like Emma Stone, whose zipper broke on her sea-lime Louis Vuitton gown before she went up to receive her statuette? If she hadn't pointed this out so plainly people might not have noticed - but I guess under that kind of spotlight somebody always will.

Jonathan Glazer gave the one political acceptance speech, swiftly passed over perhaps here, perhaps a bit confused and confusing, about Gaza and the nightmare in Israel.*

Too early? The ceremony began at seven p.m. East Coast time, which meant four p.m. West Coast time. That's not very festive, considering especially that it was the first day on Daylight Saving Time, so by our bodies' time it was three in the afternoon. And by the way, when are we going to get rid of Daylight Saving Time - which nobody likes?

Though I was unusually well prepared this year, there remains catching up to do. Still not seen: THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR,** Wes Anderson's prize-winning short. 20 DAYS AT MARIUPOL. SOCIETY OF THE SNOW. Tough watches, those. Maybe better start with GODZILLA MINUS ONE.
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*Glazer's speech.
**Now seen, and reviewed here.
P.s. In case you want more detail, Vulture's staff wrote a full roundup, "The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of the 2024 Oscars."

[Chris Knipp]

RADICAL (Christopher Zalla).


EUGENIO DERBEZ AND YOUTHFUL CAST IN RADICAL

An engaging outlier in last year's 'best foreign' list

Remember earlier on this thread we listed "a best international list"? I was:

ANATOMY OF A FALL (France)
CONCRETE UTOPIA (South Korea)
FALLEN LEAVES (Finland)
JAEWAN (India)
PERFECT DAYS (Japan)
RADICAL (Mexico)
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW (SPAIN)
THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE (Germany)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (England)

This omits the other French fave by the way, THE TASTE OF THINGS.
Well, still have not found JAEWAN or cracked SOCIETY OF THE SNOW, but now Ihave seen Christopher Zalla's crowd-pleasing charismatic teacher uplift movie, RADICAL. I've posted a review based on my journal entry, somewhat expanded: see it HERE.