"What a character!"
Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 8:25PM by Nathaniel R
We're almost finished with the Film Bitch Awards in the Oscar parallel catgories but we took a wee break from that to continue the fun stuff, the "extra" prizes. We've already announced Breakthroughs, Juvenile Performances, Casting and Ensemble work so now we move on to best characters (and we'll end next week with "limited/cameo" performances plus incredible invidividual scenes). This is great fun for us each year so hopefully that cinematic joy is contagious...
HERO of the year
2020 was a strange film year for heroes. Most protagonists were just struggling to survive (Nomadland, First Cow) rather than achieve or inspire. Then there were protagonists that were much more accurately described as antiheroes (Birds of Prey, Shirley, Promising Young Woman). The more traditional heroes were weirdly unheroic this time around (Wonder Woman 1984 anyone?) or were lacking much personality beyond being physically daring and achieving, er, something (Tenet)...
So it was very slim pickings for the top twelve but it's hard to deny the incredibly brave heroism of our nominated heroes Captain Kidd, the Chicago 7, Malcolm X, Maxim Lapunov, and Jane The Assistant.
VILLAIN of the year
Villains were a bit easier to find in 2020 cinema, if not always easy to define. But, if you ask me -- and you did since you're reading! -- Michael in Boys in the Band is a villain. He's that rare case of a protagonist that's actually the antagonist as he's just hateful; Look at what he perpetually puts his friends through! As for a more traditional villain, Pedro Pascal's Max Lord is the main villain of Wonder Woman 1984 but he's a surprisingly dull character so we went for Cheetah even if the movie unwisely reduces her to a henchwoman role in the back half. But Wiig was definitely game and in all of her scenes you can see the kernel of what might have been a much better movie. MORE ON THE NOMINEES...
DIVA of the year
A favourite category to consider each year since the characters are super-sized by their nature, and often invite deepy pleasureable performances from actresses (and the occassional actor) that are either full gourmet dinners or honey-baked ham; we'll take either and both! Divas always hog the spotlight. Meryl Streep, one of our finest "diva" players, had two finalists this year with loud narcissist Dede Allen in The Prom and her much quieter but just as self-involved Alice in Let Them All Talk. But there was only room for one of them in thee nominee list since we also had to make room for two other showbiz divas with a very high opinion of themselves, one formerly wealthy legendary eccentric, and Chang'e the outerspace fashion icon from Over the Moon. Regarding the top five, may we borrow a quote from Dianne Weist in Let Them All Talk and remind you to...
Bow down, bitch."
SEXPOT of the year
Or, in modern parlance, thirst traps. American movies are increasingly asexual so this category and the "sex scene" category are often a bit difficult to fill out each year. Screen eroticism is now mostly the domain of television, which is an interesting arts development since movies and tv used to be in the exact opposite place when it came to horniness! Anyway pickings were slim so for the first time an animated character shows up, Ziming from the little seen festival hit No 7 Cherry Lane. He does everything a nominee in this category should do and then some. Not many movie sexpots (and definitely not any animated ones) inspire erotic dreams and ogling from both men and women within their movies!
SEE THE NOMINEES AND FINALISTS IN ALL FOUR OF THESE CATEGORIES...
Reader Comments (16)
I'm not sure I completely agree that Cassie is an anti-hero in PYW.
I love diva of the year. Good job.
Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens)
Chang'e (Phillipa Soo and animators)
Dede Allen (Meryl Streep)
Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer)
Ma Rainey (Viola Davis)
This is a bit off-topic - apologies - but it does keep striking me as odd that Meryl's character in The Prom has the same name as one of the most famous film editors of all time..!
These are fun! I love the Diva category. I definitely would include Trevante Rhodes from "The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday" in Sexpot, the film may be a mess but that man is hot and Lee Daniels knows it!
@Edward L. - I had a similar reaction to Nicole's character in the film being named Angie Dickinson lol
So, um... how was Trolls World Tour?
I agree with a couple of people already but that Diva category is pretty perfect!
Pascal was infinitely more charismatic than Wiig. I liked her in the beginning, the bumbling, kooky nerd type. But when the script asks her to get mean, she doesn't pull it off. Surprised to find you high on her and not Pascal's really fun camp.
I can't say enough how much I LOVE these "extra" categories. So fun and a true celebration of the film year!
Interesting choices but how in the hell could Rosamund Pike’s gleefully evil “Marla” miss Best Villain?! Also worthy—“Black Mask” (Birds of Prey) and “The Blissfield Butcher” (Freaky).
Mike: 2021 release
the filmjunkie & Mike -- would have definitely considered Trevante & Rosamund but those are 2021 releases for me as i'm a strict calendar year kinda guy :)
I love your mention of Eve the cow, in “First Cow”, as one of the Divas.
I read somewhere that the trouble that they had filming Eve was that she loved the lead actor, John Magaro, and she kept turning around to look at him and nuzzle him.
It really made me think that John Magaro has the skill to get on the same wavelength with any costar.
Sexpot is one of my favorite categories! It takes serious, ahem, skill to pull those roles off.
It appears you didn't see the classy and acclaimed "365 Days" otherwise Michele Morrone would have easily placed. That future Razzie winner definitely has the wildest sex scene of the year!
Riz Ahmed should be more than a semi-finalist for Sexpot! I know the movie isn’t “sexy” but damn did he smolder!
Dan Stevens is amazing, both in Eurovision but also just generally. I really hope he lands another series soon, especially a comedy. He was great in Legion and does really interesting character work. He's also hot!
Love the Diva list. They may not have been a good Meryl awards year, but man did she play the hell out of both of her Divas, to endlessly entertaining results. In particular, I love how her Alice, who is both an absolute Diva but would never want to be considered as such and would (delusionally) draw lines between herself and Dede.