Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Name the "Best" Film and TV of the Year
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 4:23PM by Nathaniel R
The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (aka GALECA) have announced their annual Dorian Award nominations. We thought we'd share the list here since a few of us at Team Experience are members. Though you might feel like I determined the nominees singlehandedly (PFEIFFER ALERT !!!) I am but one vote among many so I'm relieved that other voters chose the perpfect thing, while voting.
Perhaps it's no surprise that Call Me By Your Name led the nominees with 9 votes. Shape of Water was close behind with 7 nods. What was a surprise was 5 nominations for the still wildly underseen French drama BPM (Beats Per Minute) already shunned by Oscar in the category it should have been frontrunning in.
I personally don't vote in every category, abstaining from the ones I feel are most problematic (does anyone actually agree on what "camp" means in 2018?) or in categories where I feel like I have not seen enough (like documentary though I love almost all the nominees they named this year in that category.) The list with a few notes is after the jump...
FILM OF THE YEAR
- BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- Call Me by Your Name
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- The Shape of Water
So pleased to see BPM make the big list. I often felt like I alone had seen it given its absolutely dismal box office
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR (FILM OR TELEVISION)
- Sean Baker, The Florida Project
- Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
- Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
There must have been a tie somewhere since there are six nominations. Interesting that Christopher Nolan surfaced for Dunkirk. There's only one gay director in the list: Luca Guadagnino.
BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS
- Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
- Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
- Daniela Vega, A Fantastic Woman
Not quite the usual suspects with Daniela Vega taking the spot Oscar pundits always reserve for Meryl Streep.
BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR
- Nahuel Perez Biscayart, BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- Timothee Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
- James Franco, The Disaster Artist
- Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
- Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
A big big showing for BPM all told with 5 nominations including Best Actor. I was sad not to see Jake Gyllenhaal included for Stronger but you can't have everything
SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTRESS
- Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
- Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip
- Allison Janney, I, Tonya
- Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
- Michelle Pfeiffer, mother!
Lemonade anyone? Can you believe La Pfeiffer pfinally made a list? Well done fellow queer opinion makers.
SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR -- ACTOR
- Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
- Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
- Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
- Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me by Your Name
Two for Call Me By Your Name --- reminding us that gay critics are as easily duped as straight critics when it comes to "supporting" games to win nominations -- hi Armie!
LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
- BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- Battle of the Sexes
- Call Me by Your Name
- A Fantastic Woman
- God's Own Country
A wonderful set of films, truly. I counted up the LGBT films released in 2017 for another post I'm working on and it was large... I think 14 films or so? 2018 has a lot to live up to!). I hope you will seek all of these films out.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
- BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- A Fantastic Woman
- First They Killed My Father
- The Square
- Thelma
Another awards season showing for Thelma which previously has only surfaced at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Foreign Film (if I'm recalling correctly) and won the Houston Film Critics prize in foreign film.
SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED)
- James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
I remain forever glad that Oscar doesn't combine the categories because they really are different muscles for writers, adapting versus creating from whole cloth. In the end I will always favor creating from whole cloth so this might be the only time in my life I'll ever vote against my lifelong hero James Ivory.
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
- Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
- The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
- Faces Places
- Jane
- Kedi
Great list! I think the Marsha P Johnson doc is easily the weakest of these but it's still fairly interesting and it is the gayest so it's placement here makes sense. And I'm still so angry that Kedi didn't make the Oscar doc finals.
VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
- Blade Runner 2049
- Call Me by Your Name
- Dunkirk
- The Shape of Water
- Wonderstruck
It's always bugged me that we only have one eye-candy category. How do other gays survive without Costume Design? I don't get it!
UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
- BPM (Beats Per Minute)
- Beach Rats
- God's Own Country
- Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
- Wonderstruck
I voted for Professor Marston here because I thought if any film is "undersung" it's gotta be that one! Disappointed not to see my other vote for Princess Cyd show up but Stephen Cone's films have yet to really break through to wide recognition.
CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR
- Baywatch
- The Disaster Artist
- The Greatest Showman
- I, Tonya
- mother!
Define camp.
TV DRAMA OF THE YEAR
- Big Little Lies
- The Crown
- Feud: Bette and Joan
- The Handmaid's Tale
- Twin Peaks: The Return
Where is Mindhunter?
TV COMEDY OF THE YEAR
- Better Things
- GLOW
- The Good Place
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- Will & Grace
GLOW makes me so happy. You?
TV PEFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTRESS
- Clare Foy, The Crown
- Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies
- Jessica Lange, Feud: Bette and Joan
- Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale
- Reese Witherspoon, Big Little Lies
A murderer's row of talent.
TV PEFORMANCE OF THE YEAR – ACTOR
- Aziz Ansari, Master of None
- Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
- Jonathan Groff, Mindhunter
- Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks: The Return
- Alexander Skaarsgard, Big Little Lies
Yay, my Groff!
TV CURRENT AFFAIRS SHOW OF THE YEAR
- Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
- Late Night With Seth Meyers
- The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
- The Rachel Maddow Show
TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
- Lady Gaga, “God Bless America,” “Born This Way,” etc., Super Bowl LI
- Kate McKinnon, “(Kellyanne) Conway!” Saturday Night Live
- Brendan McCreary, John Mulaney, “I’m Gay,” Big Mouth
- Pink, “Beautiful Trauma,” American Music Awards
- Sasha Velour, “So Emotional,” RuPaul's Drag Race
When the time comes to vote at GALECA I always regret that I dont keep a running list of these things during the year. I abstain from this category even though I think it's a fun category. That said I think the gay episode of Big Mouth was one of its very weakest.
LGBTQ SHOW OF THE YEAR
- Difficult People
- RuPaul's Drag Race
- Sense8
- Transparent
- Will & Grace
UNSUNG TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
- American Gods
- Dear White People
- Difficult People
- At Home with Amy Sedaris
- The Leftovers
CAMPY TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
- Dynasty
- Feud: Betty and Joan
- Riverdale
- RuPaul's Drag Race
- Will & Grace
Define camp.
‘WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!’ RISING STAR AWARD
- Timothee Chalamet
- Harris Dickinson
- Tiffany Haddish
- Daniel Kaluuya
- Daniela Vega
Beautiful. Just beautiful, don'cha think?
WILDE WIT OF THE YEAR AWARD
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
- Samantha Bee
- Stephen Colbert
- Kate McKinnon
- John Oliver
- Jordan Peele
I can never remember who was nominated the year before for this prize so I never know who to vote for.
WILDE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)
- Guillermo del Toro
- Greta Gerwig
- Patty Jenkins
- David Lynch
- Jordan Peele
Artist of the Year. Such an overwhelming title to think about. Who should I vote for?
The Dorian Award winners, including GALECA’s pick for Timeless Star, (a career achievement honor), will be announced Jan. 31. On Feb. 24, the group will gather in Los Angeles to toast the winners.
Reader Comments (44)
Surprised not to see Dee Rees honored here.
the gays have really cooled on Susan Sarandon. No Feud nod
Coco and Loving Vincent weren't "visually striking"?
Can this be the Oscar roster, pretty please?
Except, what gay would give Martin McDonagh a nod?? That's sad!
All in all this is perhaps the best line-up I've seen all season! Finally some people get it! Yes, I am a member and not all of my pets made it (Jamie Bell, Dee Rees) but apart from those two THREE BILLBOARDS nods I think we did exceptionally well. I am especially proud we're the only awards body so far to give anything really to TWIN PEAKS (apart from that lone actor nod at the Globes). Not even the critics choice nominated it for anything!!
Glenn
You've really rocked it! Congrats to all the team!
That Supporting Actress line up though....!!!!
My first year as a member and our lineup is great! So much to be happy about here: Haddish, Vega, Sasha Velour, Pfeiffer! Agreed that the campy category could use some shaping since folks take that word in their own directions. I also had PRINCESS CYD in my Unsung lineup, Nat!
Glenn - precisely how I feel about Difficult People. RIP my beloved show.
You know - some people do hate BPM and its didactic docudrama-like filmmaking. Maybe it's not underseen. Maybe people have seen and do not like it.
That said, the first half with that endless dialogues E X P L A I N I N G things is much worse than the ending, so I don't object this best actor nod.
BPM > Call Me By Your Name. Just sayin'.
I don’t get the Tiffany Haddish should be nominated stuff, she’s funny but I don’t consider that a great performance. She’s just a comedic performer doing her brand of comedy and because her breakout film happened to be great and successful people think it’s a great performance, but 5 years and 10 Tiffany Haddish movies later it’ll feel like a mistake. It would be like nominating Jack Black for High Fidelity. High Fidelity is great and Black is a total scene stealer, but as we would find out later that was just Jack Black doing Jack Black things.
Yay, again no Meryl! God's Own Country > CMBYN. Congrats to all nominees!
@Mike Troutman
Most actors, comedic or dramatic, have a shtick. Isn’t Frances McDormand not bringing familiar characteristics to her role in Three Billboards? Or Michael Shannon in Shape of Water? Regardless if Tiffany Haddish is just playing a version of herself, if that’s what the role requires then it shouldn’t undermine its effectiveness.
Richard Jenkins is really good in "The Shape of Water" Christopher Nolan's direction of "Dunkirk" is amazing- the movie just needed a couple of the cute soldier to start making out ; )
"Call Me By Your Name" >>>>>>>>> "God's Own Country" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "BPM"
The last movie sucks, unfortunately and I don't understand its appeal.
On the other hand "CMBYN" is simply AWESOME. Best movie of the year.
Nat: "There's only one gay director in the list"
I thought Sean Baker was gay? I'm going to google this.
How did Emma Stone, who is playing a Lesbian character, not get nominated for "Battle of the Sexes", when 4 out of the 5 nominees are not even playing Lesbian characters. How does that even work?
Since the Best Director category specifically includes TV, I'm surprised Jean-Marc Vallee wasn't nominated.
Ishmael -- shockingly, he isn't. He is one of those rarities: A white straight male who largely only makes really fascinating compassionate movies about marginal communities.
Dave -- i assume that's a matter of people not being used to voting for tv & film together?
Cal -- a box office gross under $100,000 suggests that people have *really* not seen it. I mean it wasn't even one of the top 75 foreign releases this year! My sense is there were some, like you, who didn't like it. Some, like me, who loved it passionately. But mostly there were people who a) didn't hear about it cuz they don't care about foreign films as a rule b) didn't care about it because it was gay or c) judged it without seeing it, and condemned it for the sin of being an AIDS drama which reminds people that that's all the gay audience used to get when they got movies at all which was indeed a travesty. Still, and all, HIV/AIDS are very much global problems still and the topic should definitely not be ignored by movies just because movies used to go there too often.
That picture of Haddish and Chalamet makes me wanna hide my fruit.
This is off topic, but did anyone else notice the conspicuously missing film "The Square" from Pedro Almodovar's Top 10 list recently. He had about four films ("BPM" of course) from the recent Cannes festival where he was president of the jury. Clearly he wanted BPM, but it also seems that he didn't care for "The Square". Any thoughts?
That supporting actress lineup is LIT!!!!! Love it.
Personally, I hope CMBYN doesnt win the top award. Too predictable. Maybe BPM?
And both CMBYN guys in Supporting? Really? Why does everyone love that damn speech so much? I find it so boring and unrelatable. Live and let live I guess.
And Groff HAS to win that award! Please! lol
camp: [noun] a place usually away from urban areas where tents or simple buildings are erected for shelter or temporary residence
Love. Wish Stone snuck into Actress but still, love these picks, especially the Fantastic Woman love. Also, Supporting Actress is stellar but you know not enough of them saw Manville because that perf made this gay man swoon.
How Lesley Manville for Phantom Thread is not on this list for all of the awards is criminal. Best performance pretty much ever.
Charlie -- well, DDL didn't make it either so maybe not enough people saw it.
Nathaniel,
I consider you a reasonable person, but you really have to stop taking the lazy way out crying "category fraud." You've got Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name all wrong. He may be first billed BUT HE'S NOT THE LEAD. I was a SAG nominator this year and I've got the DVD screener for CMBYN and I've seen it 7 times now. On the third go-round, I took a stop watch and timed every moment that Armie Hammer is on screen. He has 43 minutes LESS screen time than Timothée Chalamet, whose character is onscreen virtually non-stop except for a few transitional scenes. Hammer and Stuhlbarg are supporting actors; Chalamet is the ONLY lead of this movie. Every year, you engage in this kind of knee-jerk reaction to one actor being campaigned in supporting. I'm sorry - for this film this year, you are simply wrong.
Regards,
Jonathan
A pretty terrific lineup, all things considered. But where the hell is Emma Stone? Also, the Leftovers seems underrepresented, and the total lack of queer-friendly, feminism-celebrating Halt and Carch Fire (S4) sure feels like a missed opportunity for a group that is ostensibly all about such. Oh, well, this is leagues better than the mainstream awards.
Poor Shea, she was there too you know?
how did they not nominate a single LGBTQ person for Artist of the Year, esp. with such a great year for LGBTQ cinema.....or at the very least, a straight performer in an LGBTQ-themed film.......
You know damn well Sasha Velour is winning that category!
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME is the most important film of the year and that is all I have to say.
Stuhlbarg's speech at the end of the film is one of the best scene of the year as well and you got to be dumb if you don't think so.
Armie and Chalamet = super cool/peaches forever/best movie ever made
Mariel and Woody = repulsive/burn that movie/put him in jail/castration is the answer
@Ishmael A friend of mine who covered Cannes told me that was a strong gossip about Almodóvar and Sorrentino clashing in the jury. Sorrentino somehow convinced the other members The Square was great and Almodovar had to settle with the Grand Prix for BPM.
forever1267, I'm not sure I understand. GALECA are a LGBTQ oriented group, yes, but only the directly titled LGBT categories are for films about queer themes. It's just like any other awards body. We can vote on whomever we choose, homosexual or not. FWIW, Stone made my ballot (we submit three ranked names per category)
Charlie, I know for many we haven't seen PHANTOM THREAD by the time of voting. It's not out where I am until February.
Mareko -- i have literally never heard this about Halt and Catch Fire before. I assumed it was a male focused show since all the season 1 material seemed to be about a group of men + 1 Mary Stuart Masterson lookalike.
just another reminder that TV shows have to really grab people in their first season to become awards favorites since it's so easy to miss them if you weren't there at the beginning.
Glenn -- Emma was on my ballot too. I guess our two votes weren't enough!
I agree with Jonathan BTW. Armie Hammer is definitely a supporting character in CMBYN. I think the rub here for Nathaniel (and others?) is that Armie SURELY would've been campaigned as a 2nd lead if he was a woman. Those who would do that would still be wrong though.
Halt and Catch Fire is a great show. If you liked Peggy and Joan on Mad Men, you will like Cameron and Donna on Halt and Catch Fire. They are two of the best-written women characters I've seen in any medium. I also think Mackenzie Davis, who played Cameron, is destined for bigger things.
You can skip the first season - the show took a different direction in seasons 2-4. No, it did not get a lot of publicity, but sometimes shows that get a lot of publicity aren't worth your time (e.g., Stranger Things) and sometimes shows that are under the radar are good, too.
Surprised Harris Dickinson didn't get a Best Actor nomination (and they clearly saw and liked Beach Rats). Would've thought this group would be the friendliest toward him. Also that Emma Stone didn't get a Best Actress citation even though they liked Battle of the Sexes.
@Nat, to that point, H+CF didn't start out female-centric but seasons 2-4 definitely were far more invested in the Cameron and Donna characters, as entrepreneurs and business partners, than in their respective mates. The entire series is streaming on Netflix. Enjoy!
@Suzanne, Mackenzie Davis is starring alongside Charlize Theron as the title character in Tully, Diablo Cody's and Jason Reitman's new film, which opens in April.
Ryan T. - they rarely campaign two actors from the same movie as both leads anymore. See also: Carol, August: Osage Country, etc.
Nathaniel - Re: BPM, you didn't mention one of the biggest obstacles to BPM's success that I've said here (maybe multiple times?). I know it's easy to take this for granted if you live on the coasts and have access to every movie, but not everyone else in the country did. BPM had very small distribution and even in the cities it did play in, it didn't play there for very long. So this didn't give the movie much time to build word-of-mouth, get reviewed, etc. People can't pay to see a movie that isn't playing in their town/they don't know about.
insert
In fact, I haven't seen a good LGBT-themed movie until I found this list. I would like to recommend it to a friend who, thanks to a psychologist, confessed that he is gay. I know it was not easy, but together with the help of talkspace reviews we found an online platform. Where he underwent therapy after which he was relieved to be able to confess.