10th Annual Site Awards. (For Film Released in NYC in the 2009 Calendar Year)
BEST PICTURE
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| AVATAR James Cameron (Dec 18th, 20th Century Fox) |
BRIGHT STAR Jane Campion (Sept 18th, Apparition) |
HUNGER Steve McQueen (March 20th, IFC) |
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow (June 26th, Summit) |
PRECIOUS Lee Daniels (Nov 6th, Lionsgate) |
| This thrillingly imagined and yes hokey but so what? envelope-pushing scifi epic is a transporting adventure. Best scene: Taming the dragon. |
Campion's cinematic poetry rivals the beauty of John Keats' own. They make a heavenly match for this fragile romance. Best scene: Kiss in woods. |
This severe prison drama and death-watch for Bobby Sands is bold cinema. It makes apocalyptic dramas look like Disney films. Best scene: The wee foal. |
Bomb squad drama finds explosive force in human implosion. Best scene: There's more then one? Repetitve structure is half the impact. |
What ever its flaws, its heart pumps out copious and remarkable blood sweat and tears out to seal all its cracks. Best scene: Mary's confession. |
| Gold: THE HURT LOCKER Silver: HUNGER Bronze: BRIGHT STAR Rest of the top ten: Inglourious Basterds, Summer Hours, Up in the Air, Coraline and (500) Days of Summer. Top dozen? Whip It and Up. |
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BEST DIRECTOR
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| Kathryn Bigelow THE HURT LOCKER |
James Cameron AVATAR |
Jane Campion BRIGHT STAR |
Steve McQueen HUNGER |
Quentin Tarantino INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS |
| She can do it all: action, character, atmosphere, theme. She can do it all simultaneously. |
For pushing the medium while also reminding Hollywood how one directs action. They do forget. |
Her skills are undiminished. Her singular eye imparts ethereal beauty and compassion. |
For his cinematic artistry, that daring discipline in the telling and the whole blunt force of the thing. |
He alchemized his love of cinema into a sophisticated silly and totally singular movie about the movies. |
| Gold: BIGELOW Silver: MCQUEEN Bronze: CAMPION Finalists: Olivier Assayas adds Summer Hours to the growing case that he's one of the most intelligent and versatile | Spike Jonze takes childhood seriously for Wher the Wild Things Are and remember its swirling magical mix of moods, wonder and confusion. Semi-Finalists: Marc Webb for (500) Days of Summer | Neill Blomkamp for District 9 | Jason Reitman for Up in the Air | Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon | Erick Zonca for Julia. |
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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
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| Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber (500) DAYS OF SUMMER |
Mark Boal THE HURT LOCKER |
Quentin Tarantino INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS |
Sebastián Silva & Pedro Peirano THE MAID |
Olivier Assayas SUMMER HOURS |
| Wonderfully adept at being two films at once, depending on what kind of romantic fool is watching. And it's funny, too. |
A confident minimal structural skeleton adorned with the meat of character and true thematic muscle. |
We need his singular voice. Tarantino isn't exactly disciplined but his verbal dexterity and those daring flourishes are thrilling. |
"The help" is poor but the film earns its riches. Familiar beats comes with complicating details and it all feels very organic. |
This gifted writer/director baldly states his themes here but he speaks with grace and reaches profundity. |
| Gold: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Silver: SUMMER HOURS Bronze: THE HURT LOCKER Finalists: Campion's indelible sings the aria of Fanny & John. Semi-Finalists: The White Ribbon Michael Haneke | Julia Aude Py & Erick Zonca | A Serious Man Joel & Ethan Coen. |
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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
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| Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach FANTASTIC MR. FOX |
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roache and Ian Martin IN THE LOOP |
Geoffrey Fletcher PRECIOUS |
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner UP IN THE AIR |
Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE |
| Not one but two children's books inspired fine films this year. Roald Dahl's book makes for a near perfect Wes Anderson film, doesn't it? |
This offshoot of The Thick of It does sometimes feel like a TV show... but a brilliantly written one with rapid fire delivery and cutting wit. |
The title Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is unwieldy but it illustrates the love the movie holds for the novel. Plus: that dialogue! |
Walter Kim's novel boards the screen. The message may be a touch glib to some but it's wonderful to hear wordy adult banter on the screen again. |
Maurice Sendak's classic lonely tale of a boy's imagination gets a wise and moving companion piece (rather than a lazy xerox) as playmate. |
| Gold: IN THE LOOP Silver: PRECIOUS Bronze: FANTASTIC MR FOX Finalists: Whip It in which Shauna Cross adapts her own memoirs | Coraline in which Henry Selick visualizes Neil Gaiman's classic (which is, coincidentally, a fine companion piece to Where the Wild Things Are) Semi-Finalists: Michael Hoffman adapts Jay Parini's novel The Last Station | Scott Teems expands William Gay's short story That Evening Sun Go Down into That Evening Sun | Joe Penhall walks down Cormac McCarthy's The Road | Neill Blomkamp and Terri Pritchard adapt the short film District 9. |
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