TIFF Jury of One - Nathaniel R
Monday, September 16, 2019 at 10:45PM by Nathaniel R
We've given TIFF two days to settle and it's time to pass out awards (they're invisible but real to us) as we are prone to do and because we must move on --though we have two reviews in progress so they'll pop up soon and we'll be sure to return to some of these films soon as they emerge in movie theaters. Herewith personal favourite things from the 29 films devoured at TIFF. I got sick during the last few days so as medicinal comfort I'm allowing myself ties (gasp!) and lots and lots of categories. Ready? Here we go.
Best Film: Parasite (second runner up for the People's Choice prize)
Best Director: Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
Best Screenplay: Celine Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Adapted Screenplay: Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...
Best Actor: [TIE] Adam Driver, Marriage Story / Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Best Actress: Carice Van Houten, Instinct
Best Supporting Actor: Tracy Letts, Ford v Ferrari
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Best Ensemble: Parasite
Special 'Happiest to See Them In a Movie Again' Prize: Julie Hagerty, Marriage Story (playing Scarlett's mom)
Best Debut Performance: Tom Mercier, Synonyms
Best Child Performance: Roman Griffin Davis, JoJo Rabbit
Best Cameo Performance: [TIE] Merrit Wever, Marriage Story / Sally Rogers, Hope Gap / Fernanda Montenegro, The Invisible Life of...
Best Cinematography: [TIE] The Lighthouse / Ema
Best Production Design: Parasite
Best Costume Design: Harriet
Best Film Editing: Parasite
Best Music: Ema
Best Makeup & Hair: [TIE] JoJo Rabbit / Harriet
Best Sound Mixing: Ford v Ferrari
Best Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari
Best Visual Effects: The Aeronauts
Funniest Comedy: JoJo Rabbit
Funniest Movie: Marriage Story
Silliest Accents (Purposeful): everyone in JoJo Rabbit
Silliest Accent (Purposeful ??): Daniel Craig in Knives Out
Most Blatant Yet Likeable Use of Plot as Metaphor: [TIE] The Platform (entire film) / Knives Out (ending)
Most Confusing Yet Still Somehow Riveting Plot: Saturday Fiction
Best Dog: "Posey" in The Aeronauts
Best Cat: lost grey kitten in Weathering With You (runner up: many horny cats in No 7 Cherry Lane)
Best Musical Sequence: Cast (twin Sondheim numbers) Marriage Story
Best Kiss: Noémie Merlant & Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Sexiest Sex Scene: Noémie Merlant & Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Funniest Sex Scene: Carol Duarte & ???, Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
Craziest Sex Scene: Animated characters, No 7 Cherry Lane
Best Gratuitous Sex Scene(s): Mariana di Girolama & cast, Ema
Most Disturbing Sex Scene(s): Carice van Houten & Marwan Kenzari/Pieter Embrechts, Instinct
Best Gratuitous Nudity: Tom Mercier, Synonyms
Best Narrative Use of Nudity: César Vicente, Pain & Glory
Most 'Actressexual' Activism: No 7 Cherry Lane's obsession with Simone Signoret
Best Single 'Actressexual' Moment: Adèle Haenel doing Meryl Streep's French Lieutenant's Woman entrance in Portait of a Lady on Fire.
Best Credits: Knives Out
Best Opening Scene: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Best Ending: Pain & Glory
And 7 More Beautiful Things Witnessed and Not Mentioned Above
- Scarlett Johansson finally in challenging films / roles again and being predictably wonderful (Marriage Story + JoJo Rabbit).
- The incredible weather & effects animation of Weathering With You.
- Chino Darín's comic inability to pretend to be good with plants while posing as a gardener in the elaborate heist of Heroic Losers
- Gong Li and Marc Chao embracing in the shadows of Saturday Fiction
- Toni Collette's Goop-shade in Knives Out.
- The climactic mirror shot in Atlantics
- Eva Green's fluency: Russian, German, English, and French all in one film (Proxima)? She spoils us.
Apologies to the 6 other films I saw that weren't mentioned in these quickie prizes which somehow managed to honor the other 23. Those films were: Disco, A White White Day (which I really liked but couldn't find a place to honor), Personal History of David Copperfield (quite funny if a bit exhausting), Wet Season, Bombay Rose, and My Zoe.
Reader Comments (39)
No 7 Cherry Lane's obsession with Simone Signoret? When, when, when does it open in America?!?
I'm glad you could find time to see Heroic Losers! It was chosen by the Argentine Academy to represent us to the Goya Awards. They usually choose our candidate for the Oscar the very last day (or I should say at the very last minute!). They don't realize that being "Argentina's submission" during festivals would somehow be a magnet to people who otherwise wouldn't bother...
What's the other film that tied with JOJO RABBIT in Best Hair & Makeup?
I'd categorise Fernanda Montenegro's role as more than a "cameo" but, given your current state of health, I will overlook it. :-)
Travis -- she only has one scene!
Ken -- i mean. i couldn't believe what i was watching. It devotes like a whole mini-act in the film to her. It's such a hallucinatory weird movie but i was there for it.
Laura Dern was aces in Marriage Story. Every glance, every microaggression was hilarious. But that whole ensemble was utterly genius. Ray Liotta. Julie Hagerty. Wallace Shawn. Alan Alda. Merritt Wever, etc. Everyone got a moment to shine, even if it was brief, and everyone was so funny.
Surprised to see you skipped Judy, but still excited to eventually hear your thoughts as a devotee of the subject!
Nathaniel:
Q. Who is the most deserving Best Actress winner of all time?
A. Simone Signoret "Room at the Top" 1959 FACT
Q. Which Julie should have won Best Actress in 1965 - Christie or Andrews?
A. The Julie named Simone Signoret "Ship of Fools" (or Simone sexy-sad-never-met-the-right-man-til-too-late Signoret as Pauline Kael so memorably put it; well she broke my heart), that's who.
I'm prepared for this film.
Adrian S_G -- i'm actually dreading it because Judy is sacred to me and Renee is not an actor i like very much.
Oh, that Best Actor tie is heavenly!!! I'm really hoping Antonio Banderas gets his first Oscar nomination for Dolor y Gloria, because it really is his best work (he has always been at his best under Almodóvar), and Adam Driver just broke me in Marriage Story (both of them did, I don't remember Noah Baumbach being this much of a humanist actually). I'm also happy to know you enjoyed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood so much. I honestly thought I was going to find the film just pleasant, but I was genuinely vemoved by it (mostly because of how thoroughly it captures the spirit of Fred Rogers).
Adrian S-G: Judy is actually quite good. Not just Renée's performance (though that is the film's main draw for good reason), but just how intimate the film is and how focused it is on this particular period of Judy's life, giving the film a momentum that a lot of biopics don't have. It also gives us an understanding of what it must have been like to be Judy Garland. I also look forward to hear Nathaniel's thoughts, though I'm not sure if he will be a fan (seeing how he's expressed that he's not a fan of Renée).
Thanks for this welcome enthusiasm. I look forward.
Thank you for your Best Cat category! I look forward to all future cinema cat coverage here as well 😉
@Ken - I share your love for Simone Signoret, and while waiting for No.7 Cherry Lane to open, I suggest reading her autobiography "Nostalgia isn't What it used to be".
Great title, great actress, amazing life.
Nathaniel, well done, sounds like you had a very good festival, thanks for sharing.
I'm so excited for "Parasite" but want to know nothing about it when I go in. I know I'll see it.
Also re:"The Aeronauts" - women don't belong in balloons.
César Vicente didn't knew he was doing a frontal until he saw the final cut.
Peggy -- how does one not know when one is naked facing a camera? Hmmm
That's what he said! Bless his heart
Pain & Glory has been in BR and DVD for months in Spain now. Where is the fucking gif, spaniards!
Parasite and The Farewell getting picture, director and screenplay nominations are going to be my causes this year. Also Shuzhen Zhao for supporting actress for The Farewell. Hopefully Parasite can also get editing, prod design. Portrait of A Lady getting cinematography would be lovely too.
César Vicente thought the shot was just above his bush
I'm bracing myself emotionally for the Dern v. Bening race. Please God, a tie...
Ok, let's update dem charts!
I also really enjoyed Parasite but am not as enthused as you, probably because of (in my opinion quite unflattering) parallels with Shoplifters. In the same vein, absolutely disappointed with Weathering with You as it is no where near the wonders which is Your Name. But can't wait for reviews or podcasts for both!
Great picks! I especially loved the sex scene categories. There were soooo many awkward sex scenes at TIFF this year, and each one (at least of the ones I saw) served an interesting narrative purpose.
Sorry to hear that you're sick though! Get well!
So exciting to see those Supporting Actor and Actress picks. It seems like something would have to go wrong for Dern to miss, but do you think Tracy Letts has a chance at a nomination (finally)?
cal roth -- Exactly
Spaniards are so fucking lazy, Horny Pepa!
Suzanne -- unfortunately i think Tracy Letts has an uphill climb since it's a double lead film so you know matt damon or christian bale will pretend to be supporting and ruin his chances.
He couldn't even get nominated for August
Love the love for Parasite. I saw it in an Asian city a few weeks ago and it is most likely going to be in my top 5 films for the year, possibly 3.
I wanted to see Dolor y Gloria and Synonymes when I was in Amsterdam and Berlin but subtitles were in the local languages that I have yet to master, so a no go.
Looking forward to The Lighthouse. Speaking of which, Virginia Woolf said "We must wait for the future to show."
Dolor y gloria is a big disappointment .An Almodovar' s bluff
Nathaniel - That's a real shame. And Bale or Damon can afford to miss an Oscar nod if they both compete in lead; they've been recognized plenty in the past.
I am seeing Dern completely walking away with supporting actress like Janney 2 yrs ago.
Could any of the ladies from Portrait of a lady on fire squeeze into what looks like a thin field of nominees.
Yes! Go, Laura Dern. The timing would be perfect, given how after being around forever she’s weirdly in a career high. That the performance is apparently deserving is just magic and a relief to her fans.
Mark & Lucky -- yeah, she'll be hard to beat. It's classic current Dern (her screen persona has shifted quite a bit in recent years) and she's been so popular recently. It's a really smart and funny performance (and obviously she's showing off a bit as she did on Big Little Lies).
I didn't know Julie Hagerty was in Marriage Story. I know her as Polly in Malcolm in the Middle, every cast member of that show (even the cameo characters) is comic gold.
I support the idea for the supporting actress Oscar to Laura Dern specially considering that no one actor have been nominated for a Noah Baumbach film
Also, thoughts on Harriet/Erivo? The praise I've seen has been a bit...half-hearted. If that.