Awards Season 2011

[hearthesilence]

BETTER.

Though Harry Potter isn't my idea of "distinguished" filmmaking and I wish the Interrupters got some love.

[Matt]

Harry Potter isn't my idea of "distinguished" filmmaking

Agreed. They're all handsomely-made films, but that's about all I can say about them. A distinguished film adaptation should be an independent work of art in its own right, not just a string of visualizations of key scenes from the original. Having only read the first book, I had almost no idea what was going on in the last few films.

[lacritfan]

National Board of Review (which was apparently involved in some wacky Freaky Friday style body-switching hijinks with NYFCC):

Stuffy NBB pick Tilda over Meryl and Paradise Lost 3 over Cave of Forgotten Dreams? It does seem like the NBB must've added some new blood while the NYFCC are getting old.
I'm hoping the LAFCA make some left field picks, maybe Drive or Meek's Cutoff or something.

[Jeff]

The irrelevant Golden Satellites, who cover their bases by offering barrelfuls of nominations in each category. How the hell is The Muppets "animated or mixed media?"

Motion Picture

The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Shame
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
War Horse

Director

Tomas Alfredson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard
Steve McQueen, Shame
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Steven Spielberg, War Horse
Tate Taylor, The Help

Best Actress in a Motion Picture

Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Vera Farmiga, Higher Ground
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Emily Watson, Oranges and Sunshine
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best Actor in a Motion Picture

George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Tom Hardy, Warrior
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Actress in a Supporting Role

Jessica Chastain, Tree of Life
Elle Fanning, Super 8
Lisa Feret, Mozart’s Sister
Judy Greer, The Descendants
Rachel McAdams, Midnight in Paris
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Carey Mulligan, Shame
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
Kate Winslet, Carnage

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Colin Farrell, Horrible Bosses
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Christoph Waltz, Carnage
Hugo Weaving, Oranges and Sunshine

Motion Picture, Foreign Film

Faust
Kid with a Bike
Las Acacias
Le Havre
Miss Bala
Mozart’s Sister
Mysteries of Lisbon
A Separation
13 Assassins
The Turin Horse

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media

The Adventures of TinTin
Kung Fu Panda 2
The Muppets
Puss in Boots
Rango
Rio

Motion Picture, Documentary

American: The Bill Hicks Story
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
The Interrupters
My Perestroika
One Lucky Elephant
Pina
Project Nim
Tabloid
Senna
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat

Screenplay, Original

Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine
Mozart’s Sister, Rene Feret
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
The Guard, John Michael McDonagh
Shame, Steve McQueen, Abi Morgan

Screenplay, Adapted

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Lost Unicorn, Steven Moffat, Joe Cornish & Edgar Wright
Albert Nobbs, Glenn Close, John Banville
The Descendants, Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
The Help, Tate Taylor
Moneyball, Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin story by Stan Chervin
War Horse, Lee Hall and Richard Curtis

Original Score

Marco Beltrami, Soul Surfer
Alexandre Desplat, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Michael Giacchino, Super 8
Cliff Martinez, Drive
James Newton Howard, Water for Elephants
John Williams, War Horse

Original Song

Bridge of Light, Pink, Alecia Moore & Billy Mann, Happy Feet 2
Gathering Stories, Jonsi, Jonsi & Cameron Crowe, We Bought a Zoo
Hello Hello, Elton John, Elton John & Bernie Taupin, Gnomeo & Juliet
Lay Your Head Down, Sinead O’Connor, Brian Byrne & Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Life is a Happy Song, Jason Segel & Amy Adams & Muppets, Bret McKenzie, The Muppets
Man or Muppet, Jason Segel & Walter, Bret McKenzie, The Muppets

Cinematography

Bruno Delbonnel, Faust
Janusz KaminskI, War Horse
Emmanuel Lubezki, Tree of Life
Robert Richardson, Hugo
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Tim burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
Hugo – Robert Legato
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Jeff Capogreco, R. Christopher White
Super 8 – Dennis Muren, Kim Libreri, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh
Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler, John Frazier
War Horse – Ben Morris

Film Editing

Chris Gill, The Guard
Mat Newman, Drive
Kevin Tent, The Descendants
Joe Walker, Shame
John Gilroy, Sean Albertson, Matt Chesse, Aaron Marshall, Warrior

Sound (Editing and Mixing)

Drive – Lon Bender, Victor Ray Ennis, Robert Fernandez, Dave Patterson
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener, James Mather
Super 8 – Mark Ulano, Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson,Tom Johnson, Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
The Tree of Life – Craig Berkey, Christopher Scarabosio, Jeremy Peirson, Erik Aadahl, John Pritchett, Kirk Francis
Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – Peter J. Devlin, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Ethan Van Der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
War Horse – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom johnson, Richard Hymns

Art Direction & Production Design

Anonymous, Stephan O. Gessler, Sebastian T. Krawinkel
The Artist, Gregory S. Hooper, Laurence Bennett
Faust, Yelena Zhukova, Jiri Trier
Hugo, Dante Ferretti, Francesca lo Schiavo
Mysteries of Lisbon, Isabel Branco
Water for Elephants, Jack Fisk

Costume Design

Isabel Branco, Mysteries of Lisbon
Mark Bridges, The Artist
Lisy Christl, Anonymous
Lidiya Kryukova, Faust
Michael O’Connor, Jane Eyre
Jacqueline West, Water for Elephants

Best Ensemble, Motion Picture

The Help

Best First Feature

Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine

[eerik]

European Film Awards 2011

EUROPEAN FILM 2011
MELANCHOLIA
by Lars von Trier

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011
Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World)

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011
Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011
Colin Firth in THE KING'S SPEECH

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike)

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011
Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011
Tariq Anwar for THE KING'S SPEECH

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011
Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011
Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011
ADEM (Oxygen) by Hans Van Nuffel

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 - Prix ARTE
PINA by Wim Wenders

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011
CHICO & RITA by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011
THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2011 - Prix EURIMAGES
Mariela Besuievsky

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2011
Mads Mikkelsen

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Stephen Frears

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD
Michel Piccoli

THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD 2011
THE KING'S SPEECH by Tom Hooper

Details: http://europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/efanight/winners" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jeff]

David Edelstein's rather surprising top ten list.

[Alan Smithee]

Melancholia is loathsomely anti-life affirming? And what if it was? How do you champion something so loathsomely anti-life affirming? You champion it. Who said everything has to be life affirming? Oh the man with two Spielberg films in his top 10.

[mfunk9786]

How daaaaaare he put together a Top 10

[Alan Smithee]

No how dare he say, "how can you champion a film that is, in the end, so loathsomely anti-life-­affirming". I'll repeat, it isn't and if it were it wouldn't make the film unworthy of being championed.

[mfunk9786]

That's just like, your opinion, man

[John Cope]

And Cahiers. I can accept this readily enough.

[domino harvey]

Nice to see Super 8 on there

[NilbogSavant]

Whoa. Wasn't expecting to see the new Garrel on anyone's list following its lukewarm reception in Venice. Now I'm more excited to see it.

Does anyone have a good piece on We Have a Pope? Watched it a few weeks ago and wasn't taken with it. It had a few interesting ideas (the allure/fear of power, the ascetic's relation to the body), but the jokes just seemed to fall flat. Maybe I'm missing something?

Anyway, this is the first year I've seen half or more of the Cashiers list. The international DVD market and fansubs have made things pretty immediate.

[antnield]

Does anyone have a good piece on We Have a Pope?

Here's the review from this month's Sight & Sound.

[domino harvey]

Sounds a bit like the excellent reluctant Pope flick Shoes of the Fisherman

[Alan Smithee]

I'm glad to see Dumont make the list. I'm really excited to see Outside Satan if I EVER get the chance. For a Palme D'Or winner it seems like Dumont doesn't get much love or exposure.

Edit: Correction l'Humanite won the grand jury prize.

[hearthesilence]

Sight & Sound :

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

2. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

3. The Kid With a Bike (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)

4. Melancholia (Lars von Trier)

5. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

=6. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

=6. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr)

8. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay)

9. Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)

=10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

=10. This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmashb)

Apparently The Tree of Life won by a wide margin.

[mfunk9786]

Ugh, did everyone see the same film that I did?!

[Alan Smithee]

That's just like, your opinion, man

You're right that my assertion that Melancholia flat out isn't "in the end, so loathsomely anti-life-­affirming" resembles an opinion but I would argue that Edelstein is making a firm declaration that this is the only interpretation when I believe it is open to interpretation.

Spoiler

I would say it's possible that the building of the tent,fortress,cave could be an indication of their always being some possible respite even in the face of certain doom. This could also be saying that all efforts in the face of doom are futile which might be the way Edelstein sees it.

If you declare something is definitively one thing when it could possibly be another or multiple things you are wrong. The possibility of multiple interpretations makes a definitive interpretation impossible. When you can't help but have immense respect for a film and use this as a way of completely disavowing the work in question you are not giving the work in question the respect it deserves.

[knives]

I'm going to have to side with Smithee on this one. While I like Edelstein a lot to say that Melancholia is anti-life affirming is silly and seems to misunderstand the entire second part of the film which I personally took as the most joyous celebration of life I've seen this year. Even if we were to play along with that comment though what about an anti-life affirming message makes a film not worth championing? Edelstein obviously thought it important enough to bring up so there has to be some sort of deep reasoning behind that, so what is it?

[J Adams]

Sight & Sound :

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

2. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

3. The Kid With a Bike (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)

4. Melancholia (Lars von Trier)

5. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

=6. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

=6. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr)

8. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay)

9. Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)

=10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

=10. This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmashb)

Apparently The Tree of Life won by a wide margin.

Even though two of those are on my list that is just as boring as the lists that have The Artist and Moneyball. Stale, predictable arthouse/film festival blah.

Edit: read too fast--The Artist is on S&S as well. Pathetic.

[mfunk9786]

Pathetic! No list that misses such cerebral fare as The Immortals and The Human Centipede II should even be taken seriously!

[knives]

I wish that Contagion would get on a few of these lists though.

[Alan Smithee]

You're trolling mfunk

[mfunk9786]

Thanks for the heads-up!