...And the 3rd Annual Team Experience Award Goes To:
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 11:34PM Amir here, to welcome you to the third edition of Team Experience Awards, one of the most prestigious critics’ prizes around the world, bestowed on the best in cinema by members of this website sans Nathaniel. We previously honoured Leos Carax’s Holy Motors (with a lot of support for The Master) and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (with several awards for Gravity). There was a similar situation this year, with two films gaining most of our attention across the categories. Our pick for best picture, however, was a clear consensus favourite and won by a very comfortable margin.
As always, individual ballots proved a lot more interesting than the final results, making the otherwise tedious process of making up spreadsheets really exciting for me. Though there is no sign of it on the list of winners here, there was passionate support for films as varied as We Are the Best!, Norte, the End of History, The Babadook, Godzilla, A Most Wanted Man and The Last of the Unjust. We will get to some of those titles in the trivia section at the bottom of the post, but for now, here are the Team Experience Awards’ winners:
BEST PICTURE
Under the Skin Runner-up: Selma
BEST DIRECTOR
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer) Runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Obvious Child Runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Gone Girl Runner-up: Edge of Tomorrow
BEST ACTOR
Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Runner-up: Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) Runner-up: Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood) Runner-up: Edward Norton (Birdman)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Marisa Tomei (Love Is Strange) Runner-up: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
BEST ENSEMBLE
Pride Runner-up: Selma
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mr. Turner Runner-up: The Immigrant
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel Runner-up: Snowpiercer
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel Runner-up: The Immigrant
BEST MAKEUP
The Grand Budapest Hotel Runner-up: Only Lovers Left Alive
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Under the Skin Runner-up: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
BEST EDITING
Edge of Tomorrow Runner-up: Under the Skin
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Under the Skin Runner-up: Birdman
BEST SCORE
Under the Skin Runner-up: Begin Again
BEST DOCUMENTARY
National Gallery Runner-up: Citizenfour
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Ida Runner-up: Two Days, One Night
BEST ANIMATED FILM
The LEGO Movie Runner-up: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
BEST UNRELEASED FILM
Tie: The Look of Silence; Silvered Water: Syria Self Portrait
TRIVIA
• Interested in our collective full top ten? Here are our films ranked:
- Under the Skin
- Selma
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Pride
- Birdman
- Love Is Strange
- Boyhood
- The Immigrant
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Force Majeure.
• Fourteen members of Team Experience voted for this poll. (Nathaniel does not because you can see his choices over the Film Bitch Awards and his top ten here.) Overall, 163 different films received votes across all categories. 56 different films received best picture votes.
• There were two lonely passions, films placed at number one on a ballot that received no other best picture votes from other contributors: Glenn put A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night at the top of his ballot; I – Amir – chose The Strange Little Cat. My choice turned out to be even less popular than Glenn’s, given that it received no votes in any categories from other voters, not just best picture. Girl, on the other hand, was a popular choice in cinematography and music. On the other hand, only one film placed first on two different ballots: Pride.
• As with previous years, several films fell victim to the release date limbo, that void between NY, LA and festival releases. Chief among these were Mommy, The Missing Picture (which would have surely been a top five entry if we combined its votes from this year and last) and Gloria. Blame the Oscar qualifying run, The Film Experience’s number one pet peeve.
• Widest margin of victory: The Grand Budapest Hotel gained three times as many points as the second placed film in production design. 10 of our 14 contributors put the film at number one on their ballots!
• Narrowest miss: Ava DuVernay (Selma) was one point shy of a runner-up place in best director. Essie Davis (The Babadook) was in a similar position in the best actress race.
Reader Comments (39)
I love best actor and actress. Actress is perfect.
Can you release the top ten for the acting categories? Or top five? My heart needs to
Know Tilda and Imelda got some love ha. Next year you should do
Nominees first to build a bigger picture but awesome work team! Clearly Nathaniel associates with similar minded people!
God I wish you had an edit feature - apologies, am on my phone and driving haha
Morganisaqt- Sorry about Staunton!
Actor: Fiennes, Gyllenhaal, Oyelowo, Spall, Kuhnke
Actress: Cotillard, Cotillard, Davis, Johansson, Slate
Supp. Actor: Hawke, Norton, Pine, Mendehlson (Starred Up), Scott (Pride)
Supp. Actress: Tomei, Arquette, Swinton (Snowpiercer), Russo, Moss (Listen Up Philip)
Suspicious of the Tomei victory. How did she come out of nowhere to be acknowledged?
3rtful: Probably because she's amazing in it.
3rtful- Not sure what's suspicious? Glenn, Jose, Tim, Matthew, Nick, Abstew and Teo all had her on their ballots. That's half of our voters.
I love Tomei but she had almost nothing to do in Love is Strange. I'm never mad at her winning something though. ;)
Amir, you didn't let Jack Palance read off Supporting Actress again did you? You just have to say no to that man, or he'll never stop!
Love that Marion beat herself.
Someone will have to explain the Force Majeure love here. I liked it but, in the first time in a long time, was kind of baffled by the plaudits.
Two Days, One night opens here this weekend. Finally.
caroline- I've done that already! ;)
Love the double Cotillard, surprised by the Lego love and intrigued by the Simmons snub.
I'm with Caroline on Force Majeure. I liked it, but seeing it the day before Wild Tales didn't do it any favors. I thought it would have packed a bigger punch if it had been confined to the length of one of the Tales.
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) Runner-up: Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)
Thank you guys!
I came out guns ablaze for Edge Of Tomorrow, but alas, I am no Emily Blunt and my ploy was easily defeated.
If only all critics awards could yield such lovely results.
Great, great choices. Happy to see Hawke on top. And Fiennes! And those five-wide lineups!
At least Marion won for the less depressing of her two utterly despair-filled performances from 2014. She's so good in Two Days, One Night (and The Immigrant). But it's too bad both movies are merely so-so in comparison to her work.
Bless Amir not just for compiling all these but for the fantastic bits of trivia, background, and stat analysis at the end. I am so proud of our list!
Particularly huge hoorays for Tomei, Cotillard/Cotillard, Silvered Water, and all the Edge of Tomorrow recognition. Wonder if Blunt's votes were spread across lead and supporting? Not that I'm assuming she'd have won otherwise, just curious.
@Sad Man: I thought Tomei had lots to do in Love Is Strange, and found even more to do in her brilliant execution.
Wonderful to see! We did good, guys. That Marisa Tomei nod is like when... well, when Marisa Tomei won her Oscar.
As for Amir's passion of THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT? Well, I'm not a fan of it. But lonely passions are worth it sometimes. It's what makes us individual. For what it's worth, THE MISSING PICTURE would have been my number one, but I think it was my number one last year. I can't tell what movies get released where and when these days.
That best actress prize could only be better if Her performance in The Immigrant were the winner, and not the runner-up. But it's fair. She gave the two best performances of the year and that's it.
Would you mind sharing the ballots?
Amir: I also had Tomei in there! Cheering to see her win, though I did suspect she might be a favourite.
A generally superb lot of selections, well done team! Delightful to see Cotillard dominate; I refrained from giving her two slots just for the sheer amount of other worthy candidates. Actor was even more stacked, so much so that though I'm a big fan of the two leaders, I didn't vote for either of them! Thought Spall might get a foothold here.
Mainly wondering by what kind of landslide Under the Skin won Music. And who my partner in picking Pride was.
David- you're right about the vote. I missed that. Eight of us voted for her then.
As for score, the margin was pretty big. Begin Again would have needed four number 1 placements to match it for points, which is a huge margin considering there are 14 voters only.
Love these winners and seeing who the runners up were.
And yes, Tomei is definitely deserving of top 5 or even no. 1 placement. She had a lot to do, it was a subtly tricky role and she aced it.
out of curiosity, how many performances were the Team members allowed to vote for and was it weighted ballots?
Great winners, but isn't Obvious Child adapted from the short of the same name? Or is it another Whiplash situation?
*checks to see if Under The Skin, Pride, and Marion were properly rewarded*
*is pleased*
:D
Amir--great review. I guess I should have clarified that I've read several reviews and they all seem to have a consensus on what the movie's merits are, and I cognitively *get* it, but I still have no idea if anyone actually really enjoyed that movie, which seems to stretch fairly simple insights into an unnecessarily prolonged "dramedy." (Even more baffling is the fact that people are referring to it as a comedy. It's a little satirical at points but the general tone is hardly comedic.) I felt like the movie had just as many shortcomings as it did positives. I guess that puts me in the boat of the average Oscar voter, sigh.
Nathaniel - Everybody was given a full ballot of five in every category.
Our methodology for annual awards is always the same (and the monthly team polls work roughly the same too) and is weighed in favour of both passion votes and consensus favourites. So number 1 picks get bonus points. Choices that are picked on several different voters' ballots also get bonus points.
Favorites: Double the Cotillard! Under the Skin score/sound and VFX! Edge of Tomorrow Editing! Fiennes and Hawke (neither my #1 but both under-recognized for great performances this year)! PRIDE (my #1 of the year)!
Birdman, GBH, Love Is Strange and Selma all made my Top Ten as well. That honor for Tomei--fantastic.
Still not getting Under the Skin. Never will. LOL
Slay, Marion, slaaaaaaay!
I have to say I don't understand the Under the Skin love at TFE--it was way too opaque for me--but I can appreciate that it is well-made.
We really are awesome. I have nothing else constructive to say in this moment, but that's a hell of a list.
Tim- We Are the Best!
Legend Marisa Tomei was a real surprise. Had Sony Pictures Classics not had its hands full in ten ways this year, I think she, Lithgow, and Molina could've made a mark on the season.
The screenplay choices are bold, but only The Grand Budapest Hotel would be my potential picks of the 4 (including runners-up). Nightcrawler as a shot for original with then Inherent Vice, Snowpiercer, and Under the Skin (2 of those 3 are massive improvements on their source material, and I haven't read Under the Skin) for Adapted. Gone Girl was also strong, however.
It's strange about The Edge of Tomorrow. Good Cruise, great Blunt, great Bill Paxton, strong editing, yet I find moments so flat and generic everywhere else.
Force Majeure is a grower for me. People are so mad at its static compositions, but it echoes Kubrick, Tati, and Haneke, sometimes simultaneously. Incredibly strong and a reminder that family vacations can expose anybody at their most vulnerable. Ostlund did joke it is 'The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie' when talking about Buñuel recently.
I am so alone in Inherent Vice love. Seen it several times, never feeling confused. Joaquin, the ensemble, and Joanna Newson with Elswit and the Screenplay would be owning these awards.
Proud to be a part of this! I'm glad Essie Davis came so close to the top. She was my #1 but MAN what a tough job it was trimming my Best Actress list! Some real gems this year. :)
Hahah Marion is truly something else, being both the winner and runner-up. Amazing.
I would've chosen Birdman for ensemble and runner-up for score (agree with Under the Skin winning) but other than that it's a pretty great crop of nominees and winners. I'd even be interested in seeing who was third and fourth and fifth in some categories.
I'm also glad y'all still appreciated Patricia Arquette and didn't let her real awards season dominance act as backlash here because I do love her performance. And yay for Ethan Hawke, as many have noted its wonderfully understated work.
I mostly just love this because it doesn't feel like lazy voting at all. You guys really spread the wealth, instead of choosing the best ___ of the same five movies, you really voted for films that were the best in respective areas. It's refreshing when I'm so used to seeing lazy group thinking constantly during awards season.
I am so alone in Inherent Vice love.
This will not cheer you up. But you have me. Inherent Vice is a movie I defend wherever I am.
Such a handsome list, guys. Well done to us and thank you to Amir for compiling it altogether