Toronto, Boston, and NY Online Critics Join the Loud "Best" Chorus
Sunday, December 10, 2017 at 9:00PM by Nathaniel R
Our friends to the north in Toronto gave their biggest prize to a film of the south, Sean Baker's The Florida Project. In their supporting categories they stuck with the clear critical frontrunners Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) and Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) both of whom are probably locking up Oscar nominations in their categories if not the win yet. Toronto's full awards plus the venerable Boston Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Online are after the jump...
TORONTO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
Picture: The Florida Project
Director: Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)
Actress: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
Screenplay: Get Out
First Feature: Get Out
Animated Feature: The Breadwinner
Documentary: Faces Places
Foreign Film: The Square
Best Canadian Film: The three finalists are Hello Destroyer, Werewolf and Wexford Plaza. The winner will be announced on January 9th at their gala. The winner receives a $100,000 case prize.
Emerging Artist: TBA at the gala but the winner receives a $5,000 prize
Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award Montreal-based Inuk filmmaker Isabella Weetaluktuk will also be honored at the gala with $50,000 worth of services from Technicolor.
I'm still not sure that The Florida Project is going to score a Best Picture nomination... in a field of 10 it probably would but the recent balloting has suggested that 7-9 will be most common in the new voting.
BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS
Picture Phantom Thread
Director Paul Thomas Anderson Phantom Thread
Actor Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Actress Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Supporting Actor Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Supporting Actress Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Screenplay Greta Gerwig Lady Bird
Cinematography: Hoyte Van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Documentary: Dawson City Frozen in Time
Foreign Film: The Square
Animated Film: Coco
Editing David Lowery, A Ghost Story
New Filmmaker Jordan Peele, Get Out
Ensemble: The Meyerowitz Stories
Original Score: Jonny Greenwood The Phantom Thread
What I said about The Florida Project above also perhaps applies to Phantom Thread which has proven more attractive to precursors than we ever expected it would when it seemed like the studio was all but hiding it. What's more having talked to people who've seen it (I've somehow missed it to date) it sounds NOTHING like the dull trailer (which is a relief). Is this the year December releases roar back to favor spoiling our excitement these past ten years that October and November are the place to be for Oscar releases? (We maintain that December releases are anti-moviegoers so critics shouldn't root for them since those movies don't actually get around to people until well into the new year and people really ought to be able to have their own opinions about films before Oscar voters chime in)
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE
Picture [TIE] The Florida Project and Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees, Mudbound
Actor: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Actress: Margot Robbie, I Tonya
Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I Tonya
Screenplay: Jordan Peele, Get Out
Breakthrough Performer: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Debut Director: Jordan Peele, Get Out
Ensemble Cast: Mudbound
Documentary: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Foreign Language Film: In the Fade (Germany)
Animated Film: Coco
Cinematography: Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
Use of Music: Steven Price and Kristen Lane, Baby Driver
Top Ten Films (alpha order): Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, I Tonya, Lady bird, Mudbound, Phantom Thread, The Post, and Shape of Water
It NYFCO were higher profile this would be a really good get for both Mudbound and I Tonya. It's a good thing I don't belong to NYFCO since I might have had an aneuryism being in that room today hearing people pass over so many grand performances and films to honor I Tonya in not one but THREE places. What a world.
Other Regional Critics Prizes
• San Francisco Film Critics released their nominations. Some surprises including Annette Bening in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool and some cool tech shout outs to things that haven't been discussed much like the cinematography of The Florida Project
• Boston Online Film Critics Association (not to be confused with the decades old Boston Society of Film Critics) honored Get Out in abundance
• Detroit Film Critics Society gave the big prizes to The Florida Project but threw a couple to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri as well
Reader Comments (22)
The Best Actor race is becoming to close. Now with Get Out rise Kaluuya is coming strong and Franco having a buzzed film and performance add more steam. Better luck next year, Gyllenhaal.
And actress is consolidating with the top 5. Maybe Krieps enters as a surprise?
While I loved both performances, I hope we don't get an Oscar steamroll with Metcalf and Dafoe from here on out. Would love more suspense with so many other good supporting perfs to honor.
@Paranoid Android, I think Laurie Metcalf's dominance of BSA will end when the televised awards are given out. I love her acting and would be thrilled to see her win the Oscar, but it's Allison Janney's to lose--she's worked with everyone and has the showier role.
Leon - I'm hoping Kaluuya can sneak into a nomination. It's not my favorite in the category but it's scary to think he and Spencer, Blige, and Haddish are all just on the cusp of their categories when they're the only POC's in the conversation. I don't wanna see Oscar get more racial backlash.
No love for Gyllenhaal from Boston? I thought this would be an easy get for him...
I liked Dafoe in The Florida Project but it was nothing special.
I can't believe anyone found that "Phantom Thread" trailer dull. It looked like a masterwork to me on first pass.
What a joke, Boston.
Hate it when perfectly good but not special performances get swept along with their hot movie's buzz. Daniel Kaluuya is not worthy of awards. He's a good lead in a horror movie, nothing more. If Gyllenhaal gets snubbed again...
If Gyllenhaal gets snubbed again...
Y'all must get with the idea of Gyllensnub for that noc1rr flop.
I feel that here are underestimating The Florida Project too much. This movie has all the elements that say "Best Movie".
I haven’t bought into Gyllenhaal’s nomination.
For awhile now, I’ve been predicting:
Oldman
Chalamet
Franco
Day-Lewis
Kaluuya
Hanks at #6, then probably Pattinson over Gyllenhaal, honestly. I don’t think he’ll get enough, but I think Pattinson will get more #1 votes than Gyllenhaal. I’d say Washington is also ahead of him, too.
Kaluuya is fine in the role but how anyone can think he’s in the top 10 male lead performances, much less #1 is a head scratch, that’s for sure.
Now, thinking about it, I read the tweets during the voting process for Boston. For Best Actor, the competition was fierce with them, but also with Oldman, Pattinson and DDL. And then, we have a full confirmation of noms with these names and Franco mixed. It seems people have really forgotten "Stronger" or they didn't just care for Gyllenhaal's performance (And let's said he was nominated at the Critics Choice with 7 spots, not the classical 6).
And then for Best Actress, not even the mentions of Daniela Vega were enough (Like happened with LAFCA). SPC really dropped the ball with her, but also if AW is right, the critics have become more "Eurocentric" and linked with foreign to French/German/Italian/Nordic.
Best Picture heat counts for a lot - particularly for best actor, which is why Kaluuya is having a moment now. I’ve been predicting him for awhile, along with Chalamet (lock), Oldman (lock), Franco (likely), and Day-Lewis (likely). I think the last spot is between Kaluuya, Gyllenhaal, and Pattinson, with the edge to the former. Stronger just doesn’t have the passion or the buzz.
I, too, am confused about what will happen with Phantom Thread. It’s gotten extraordinary reviews, and many seem to love it. I could see it get a slew of Golden Globe nods tomorrow. And how on earth can anyone predict Original Screenplay this year? With Paul Thomas Anderson, Get Out, Lady Bird, The Post, Three Billboards, The Shape of Water, The Big Sick, all in contention, it’s a head scratcher. I also don’t think Alexander Payne for Downsizing can be completely out of the running either.
I like Kaluuya’s performance a lot. That movie which is rightly lauded would fall apart without him anchoring it. It’s a very tricky part to pull off more so than the other more classically Oscar bait parts up for contention this year.
Do everything you can to get ANNETTE BENING AN OSCAR THIS YEAR FOR FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL!
She should have been the frontrunner. Instead we are shaping to get Meryl a fourth. I LOVE Streep to death though but that is unnecessary.
Three is perfect for Meryl. Stop trying make the fourth Oscar happen.
I start Meryl to hate! It´s not her fault, but every year the Academy robbed everyone more deserving for a spot only to let her in! 20 Nominations is so NONSENSE! Hepburn, Nicholson got 12 and Davis 10/11. Enough is enough! Her record will not ever be broken, so calm down Academy. PLEASE!!!
Jonathan -- i have bad news for you then. I've talked to 4 people who've seen it and all say the trailer is quite misleading for what the film is actually like.
@Patrick: It's not the Academy. It's Streep's talent that won't calm down! We all know the Academy pays every single performance of hers a lot of attention (witness Music of the Heart and, maybe, One True Thing, and the fact that she practically gets a nomination every two films that she makes). But she is extraordinary. Is the Academy to ignore that because she's got 20 nominations?
People: Performances in genre movies get no respect!
[Daniel Kaluuya picks up steam in the best actor race.]
Also people: I mean...I liked his performance enough, but is it really award worthy?
I would be delighted in Kaluuya, Chamalet & Franco all manage nominations. All of them have perceived academy biases against them (genre or age) so any opportunity to buck those trends would be fantastic.