Detroit Loves "The Artist", Feels "Shame"
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 11:43AM 
After my chat with Judy Greer I've been feeling homesick for Detroit. Or maybe it's just the ghost of Christmases past floating about though I haven't done a Christmas in Michigan in years. So what a perfect day for the Detroit Film Critics to announce their winners! The Artist is no sweeper but it's proving to be a formidable competitor on the critical map. A nice surprise from Detroit is the solid support afforded Shame which took two of the six acting prizes.
Picture The Artist
Director Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Screenplay Moneyball
Documentary Tabloid
...and the acting prizes
Actress Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Actor Michael Fassbender, Shame
Supporting Actress Carey Mulligan, Shame
Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Breakthrough Performances Jessica Chastain
Ensemble Carnage
How amazing is this ad for SHAME from a UK paper I believe?
Since I used to live in the Detroit area, I know how long it can be before Oscar releases show up there so I read this piece from John Serba on the voting with great interest. Here's what he says about Best Actress:
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn. A strong candidate in a weak-ish field. Although now that I've seen “Young Adult,” I'd have voted for Charlize Theron over Williams. So it goes."
I weep for the Michiganders who had a weak Best Actress year! This year is just incredible for Best Actress but, alas, many of the best performances were found in tiny films that maybe never made it to the Detroit Metro area or did not get the attention they deserved if they showed their which was probably for one week in one theater. So it goes, indeed.
The members of this organization, which I'm only listing due to Motown kinship, are as follows: Kirk Baird (The Toledo Blade), Jason Buchanan (allmovie.com), Jim Fordyce (MIentertainment.biz), Adam Graham (The Detroit News), Corey Hall (The Metro Times), Tom Long (The Detroit News), Jeff Meyers (The Metro Times), John Monaghan (The Detroit Free Press), Warren Pierce (WJR Radio), Greg Russell (WMYD-TV), James Sanford (The Kalamazoo Gazette), Tom Santilli (Examiner.com), Debbie Schlussel (Sirius Patriot Channel 144’s Mike Church Show), Perry Seibert (allmovieguide.com), John Serba (The Grand Rapids Press), Lee Thomas (WJBK Fox 2), Mike Tyrkus (Cinemanerdz.com), Kirk Vanderbeek (Real Detroit Weekly), Greg Walton (WIOG/KRSP), and Stephanie Webb (WZZM, ABC 13), Chris Williams (Advisor & Source Newspapers), and Rob Worley (Backlot D.)
Michigan, Shame, The Artist, critics awards, film critics
Reader Comments (21)
Lol, weak best actress field?! What!
From the critics awards Michelle Williams is a real threat to Viola Davis?--God I hope the Academy goes for a grown-up this year in the Best Actress category.--Either Streep or Davis.
Exactly. If there's a silver lining to Serba's comments, it's the implication that this may be the year in which under-the-wire qualifiers largely—finally—failed to have a solid showing with critics and precursor awards.
I can only imagine the inter-producer-al dialogue: "How could they ignore The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? Where's [insert snubbed actor/director/etc.]? Did they not *see* Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?!" (No, they probably didn't...stupid distributors.)
^ Still praying Viola wins. I want all three (Davis, Streep, Williams) to get Oscars, but it's time for another black Best Actress! Viola deserves it.
Nathaniel it seems to me that you do not want michelle williams to win and is engaging in a sort of anti-michelle campaign. Am I right?
Appreciate the shout-out as another native Michigander/Detroiter(who admittedly lives in New England now); I love that they gave their top acting prizes to Fassy and Mulligan. (Is this the first critics group to actually give Mullligan some awards love?)
And yes, it's easy to forgot that the mid-west just doesn't exist as far as the movie industry is concerned -NYC and LA (and a couple of other major markets) are all that seem to matter, except when they want to toss out the usual junk that they know will make a s**tload of money.
Great! I've just seen "The Artist" today and loved it! In this economy it made me feel very Mia Farrow.
Bérenice Bejo might be a little unknown but that's no reason to consider her supporting... although if you think how crowded is lead actress maybe they're just doing the right thing.
On a side note, I also saw the trailer of "The Iron Lady" and Meryl's performance seems very "Mommie Dearest". Nahtaniel, am I wrong?
It's really nice to finally see Carey Mulligan get some recognition.
Why the anti-Michelle tone? My Week with Marilyn wasn't that bad and she was superb in it. Yes, Davis was great in The Help but I wouldn't necessarily say I enjoyed her more than Williams. I haven't seen Streep yet, so I can't comment. In my own world, Tilda Swinton would win best actress but she stands about a snowball's chance in hell.
@Philip
Viola winning best actress this year will coincide with the ten year anniversary of Halle Berry's historic win. The best part of Viola winning would be that unlike Berry--Davis is an actress in the tradition of Cicely Tyson and Alfre Woodard. That's an extremely important distinction.
Aaron and Amanda -- please point to what I wrote in this post being "anti-Michelle"? This is going to be a long season if everyone thinks i'm anti everything merely by discussing the races and quoting various articles elsewhere ;)
i love michelle williams but i think everyone knows that biopic performances winning gold is exhausting for me. The statistics support my exhaustion. It's like barely any other form of acting is considered worthy of honors. I find that exhausting even in years where I think the biopic performances are super strong. There are many many ways in which one can be a fine actor and mimicry is only one technique.
so far my 3 favorites for actress are: Streep. Williams and Theron .... hoping for a Streep win... her acting was the best of the 3.
Davis should be in Supporting.... just watched the Help again last night... she does not hold the movie together as the other 3 named do ...especially Streep. Davis has terrific actors around her.
I am going off topic but I thought jodie and kate in carnage were campainging as supporting actresess.
I'm curious as to what the Detroit Critic's prize looks like...any photos?
Yeesh, people need to get off of Nathaniel's case! Where in the world did you get "anti-Michelle" in this post??? What is up with people's imaginations lately...
I dont think michelle will win thoughts! I think streep will- for another biopic, still!
I meant I dont think michelle will win though! Damm IPhone!
Is it just me or is this the year Streep will finally win, now that everyone's expectations are dashed, and everyone's kinda yawning over the prospect and no one really loved The Iron Lady anyway? I feel like in this weird year without a fronrunner, the voters are ready to be like "oh fine."
Or could Close still win? She will have sentiment on her side if she gets in. It just seems like a weird year in that the obvious would-be (and sort of actual) frontrunners, Streep, Williams, and Close, are in films that have sort of underwhelmed, the other potential frontrunner (Davis) is not 100% lead and isn't exactly a critics' favorite, and the 5th nominee, whoever it turns out to be (most likely Swinton or Theron) will be lucky just to be nominated, and will not be playing a "likeable" character.
It's rather telling that Nat, of all people, doesn't seem super excited about anyone (other than people like Kirsten Dunst and Elizabeth Olsen, who aren't getting in anyway). I feel like with all the muddiness, they just throw their hands in the air and give it to Streep... which would be kind of disappointing if Iron Lady really isn't any good.
(full disclosure: I'm way behind on my best actress viewing and have not seen any of these performances)
But I'm kind of rooting for a Michelle/Meryl/Viola/Glenn/Swinton lineup simply because then the average age for the category will be 50 and the youngest will be Michelle Williams who is clearly an old soul herself. Plus I love all 5 ladies in general.
I just finished watching Beginners. I'm now hoping for a Christopher Plummer win more than Midnight in Paris Best Picture nomination. What a sweet and endearing supporting performance in a very well-made film. I wish he wasn't the only aspect of that film getting traction.
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