2024 Awards season and the Oscars

[Chris Knipp]

2024 Awards season and the Oscars

Awards season is on us, with the NBR (see below), with the National Film Critics Circle, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the AFI awards and the Gotham Awards all this week. This thread will feature the award lists, all the leadups to the Oscars. The National Board of Review surprises by its placement of WICKED at the top and the odd, questionable choice of Daniel Craig in QUEER as "best actor." The National Film Critics Circle choices are more in keeping with current critical views, where the much admired THE BRUTALIST ranks highest, and most of their other choices make critical sense. My BRUTALIST excpericnce at the NYFF press screenings was too blah to go along there personally (pending a rewatch), but the mentions of NO OTHER LAND, Culkin in A REAL PAIN, Carol Kane, ANORA for the screenplay, all the rest makes sense, even NICKEL BOYS which I haven't seen yet for cinematography makes its sense given its radical POV experimentation, and ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT is a warm and universally appealing "Best International" film choice. Lots of the National Board of Review choices make sense too, but not WICKED, and not FURIOSA, GLADIATOR II, or QUEER, which sort of put a hole in their best list. Just saw JUROR #2, pondering it now. See the IndieWire comments on both of the following lists (in "source") for background on these two groups, the National Film Critics Circle being the more historical one.

National Film Critics Circle
SOURCE
Best First Film: “Janet Planet”
Best Animated Feature: “Flow”
Best Non-Fiction Feature: “No Other Land”
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Best Supporting Actress: Carol Kane, “Between the Temples”
Best Cinematography: Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”
Best International Film: “All We Imagine as Light”
Best Screenplay: “Anora”
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Best Actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, “Hard Truths”
Best Director: RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys”
Best Film: “The Brutalist

National Board of Review 2024 winners
SOURCE
Best Film: Wicked
Best Director: Jon M. Chu, Wicked
Best Actor: Daniel Craig, Queer
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning, A Complete Unknown
Best Ensemble: Conclave
Breakthrough Performance: Mikey Madison, Anora
Best Directorial Debut: India Donaldson, Good One
Best Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, Hard Truths
Best Adapted Screenplay: Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing
NBR Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: No Other Land
Best Animated Feature: Flow
Best International Film: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Best Documentary: Sugarcane
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke,
NosferatuOutstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Top Films (in alphabetical order):
Anora
Babygirl
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Gladiator II
Juror #2
Queer
A Real Pain
Sing Sing

Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order):
All We Imagine As Light
The Girl with the Needle
I’m Still Here
Santosh
Universal Language

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
Black Box Diaries
Dahomey
Look Into My Eyes
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
Bird
A Different Man
Dìdi
Ghostlight
Good One
Hard Truths
His Three Daughters
Love Lies Bleeding
My Old Ass
Thelma

I have to catch up. on the Independent list and see BIRD, A DIFFERENT MAN. Recently saw HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, superbly acted drama of sisters waiting for their father to die that's a bit slow, I thought; and the sprightly, intense violent lesbian neo-noir with Kristen Stewart, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, which definately deserves to be here, as does Mike Leigh's HARD TRUTHS (NYFF). I'd forgotten Sean Wang's fluent first feature about being a boy growning up Taiwanese American in California, DIDI: it probably deseerved some menton on my own personal best list page. I need to catch up on these International titles: THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE, SANTOSH, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. Why is the coming Dylan biopic I'M NOT HERE listed there?

[Chris Knipp]

AFI Motion PIctures of the Year
source
Foreign or international films are usually considered "ineligible" for this list, but EMILIA PEREZ is obviously an exception. This year there is a heavy emphasis on smaller, indie-style entries, and it's a stellar list likely to be Oscar-nominated. The AFI Awards luncheon will talke place January 10, 2025 at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills.

Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
A Real Pain
Sing Sing
Wicked

[Chris Knipp]

ADRIEN BRODY INTHE BRUTALIST

The New York Film Critics Circle
SOURCE
Smaller group than the National Film Critics Circle, but it includes 45 of the country's most notable movie reviewers, among them Owen Gleiberman (VARIETY), Bilge Ebiri (NEW YORK MAGAZINE), David Rooney (THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER), Kyle Smith (WSJ), Amy Taibin (ART FORUM), Peter Travers (ABC NEWS), RIchard Brody (THE NEW YORKER) and Stephanie Zacharek (Time). For the entire list, go here: https://www.nyfcc.com/membership/

Here are all of this year’s NYFCC winners. HTHE BRUTALIST is the big winner, with its star getting the Best Actor aeards too, and RaMell Ross tapped for director for NICKEL BOYS. ANORA gets some love for the screenplay, again, and ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT gets Best Ineternational Film agaiin. C
THE BRUTALIST releases in the US Dec. 20, 2024 and will be shown at some locations in 70mm including AFI Silver at Silver Spring, Maryland.

The NYFCC'S awards list:
BEST FILM: The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
BEST DIRECTOR: RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys
BEST ACTOR: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
BEST ACTRESS: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Carol Kane, Between Two Temples
BEST SCREENPLAY: Anora, Sean Baker
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: No Other Land from Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor
BEST ANIMATED FILM: Flow
BEST FIRST FILM: Annie Baker’s Janet Planet
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: All We Imagine As Light from Payal Kapadia
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys
SPECIAL AWARD:To Save and Project: The MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation
STUDENT AWARDS: Alexander Swift (Undergraduate, Vassar) and Drew Smith (Graduate, NYU)

[Chris Knipp]

Calendar of pre-Oscars Awards Events
SOURCE

2024
December
9: Golden Globe Awards nominations
10: PGA Awards nominations for documentary films (Producers Guild of America)
12: Critics Choice Awards film nominations
17: Oscars shortlists

2025
January
5: Golden Globe Awards
8: SAG Awards nominations
17: Oscar nominations
26: Satellite Awards

February
2: Grammy Awards
8: DGA Awards (Directors Guild of America)
8: PGA Awards (Producers Guild of America)
15: Writers Guild Awards
16: BAFTA Film Awards
22: Spirit Awards (Film Independent)
23: SAG Awards
23: ASC Awards

March
2: Oscars

[Chris Knipp]

Numerous sets of critics' awards were announced this week. Right now ANORA is leading for best picture, with SING SING and THE BRUTALIST CLOSE BEHIND. The LA Film Critics Association is the most influential.
LAFCA Award winners are:
PICTURE: ANORA
Runner-up: THE BRUTALIST
DIRECTOR: Mohammad Rasoulof, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
Runner-up: Sean Baker, ANORA
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, HARD TRUTHS, and Mikey Madison, ANORA
Runners-up: Demi Moore, THE SUBSTANCE, and Fernanda Torres, I’M STILL HERE
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Yura Borisov, ANORA, and Kieran Culkin, A REAL PAIN
Runners-up: Clarence Maclin, SING SING, and Adam Pearson, A DIFFERENT MAN
SCREENPLAY: Jesse Eisenberg, A REAL PAIN
Runner-up: Sean Baker, ANORA
ANIMATION: FLOW
Runner-up: CHICKEN FOR LINDA
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT
Runner-up: THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
DOCUMENTARY / NON-FICTION FILM: NO OTHER LAND
Runner-up: DAHOMEY
FILM EDITING: Nicholas Monsour, NICKEL BOYS, and Hansjörg Weißbrich, SEPTEMBER 5 (TIE)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jomo Fray, NICKEL BOYS
Runner-up: Lol Crawley, THE BRUTALIST
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Judy Becker, THE BRUTALIST
Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, BLITZ
MUSIC/SCORE: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, CHALLENGERS
Runner-up: Eiko Ishibashi, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST
NEW GENERATION: Vera Drew, THE PEOPLE’S JOKER
DOUGLAS E. EDWARDS INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL FILM/VIDEO: THE HUMAN SURGE 3
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: John Carpenter
SPECIAL CITATION: Adam Hyman, for decades of curating, programming and administrating the screenings and other events of LA Filmforum

[Chris Knipp]

ANORA, THE BRUTALIST, and FLOW reign in the Golden Globes nominations announced today, Dec. 9. The Pamela Anderson Best Actress nom is the first I've heard of THE LAST SHOWGIRL. With its Best Director and Best Supporting Actress noms EMILIA PEREZ is shown not to be so snubbed as The Oscar Expert bros feared lately: it leads in noms here. How could SEPTEMBER push out SING SING in Best Picture? Saoirse Ronan got snubbed in Beat Actress.

SOURCE

GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS

Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Brutalist (A24)
A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures)
Conclave (Focus Features)
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)
September 5 (Paramount Pictures)

Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy
Anora (Neon)
Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
The Substance (Mubi)
Wicked (Universal Pictures)

Best Motion Picture – Animated
Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)
Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films)
Moana 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Alien: Romulus (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Deadpool & Wolverine (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)
Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Twisters (Universal Pictures)
Wicked (Universal Pictures)
The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)

Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language
All We Imagine As Light (Sideshow / Janus Films) – Usa / France / India
Emilia Pérez (Netflix) – France
The Girl With The Needle (Mubi) – Poland / Sweden / Denmark
I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics) – Brazil
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon) – Usa / Germany
Vermiglio (Sideshow / Janus Films) – Italy

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)
Angelina Jolie (Maria)
Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)
Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door)
Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here)
Kate Winslet (Lee)

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams (Nightbitch)
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
Zendaya (Challengers)

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Hugh Grant (Heretic)
Gabriel Labelle (Saturday Night)
Jesse Plemons (Kinds Of Kindness)
Glen Powell (Hit Man)
Sebastian Stan (A Different Man)

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture
Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez)
Ariana Grande (Wicked)
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Director – Motion Picture
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold (The Brutalist)
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Peter Straughan (Conclave)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Volker Bertelmann (Conclave)
Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)
Kris Bowers (The Wild Robot)
Clément Ducol, Camille (Emilia Pérez)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (Challengers)
Hans Zimmer (Dune: Part Two)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Beautiful That Way” –– The Last Showgirl
Music & Lyrics By: Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Zachrisson
“Compress / Repress” –– Challengers
Music & Lyrics By: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
“El Mal” –– Emilia Pérez
Music & Lyrics By: Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard
“Forbidden Road” –– Better Man
Music & Lyrics By: Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek
“Kiss The Sky” –– The Wild Robot
Music & Lyrics By: Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael
Pollack, Ali Tamposi
“Mi Camino” –– Emilia Pérez
Music & Lyrics By: Clément Ducol, Camille