BAFTA 2012 Winners. It's Our Final Pre Oscar Pit Stop

For reasons unbeknownst to  our puny mind American television doesn't believe in watching the BAFTAs live and instead makes us wait until we already know the winners and have possibly lost interest (especially on nights when they air hours after we know the winners opposite the Grammy Awards). I freely admit I've skipped them in busier years. I haven't been able to find a live stream of the actual show but this link promises a highlights reel and the video embedded at the bottom of this post covers arrivals so you can see a few of the gowns and a few interviews with the stars. 

I've given up the notion of live blogging as it'll be anti-climactic tonight at 8 pm but Xan Brooks at the Guardian was updating the event today.

I'm guessing: The Artist, Scorsese, Streep, Dujardin, Spencer and Plummer) UPDATE: Well, I got five of the six. Scorsese lost to Hazanavicius.

Quick Question before the winners: Why is everyone from Downton Abbey in mourning? So many black gowns. Or maybe they're just predicting that we'll all be in mourning when the second season ends and we have to wait another year. Nooooo

Downton Abbey Forevah!

WINNERS
Best Film: THE ARTIST
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin in THE ARTIST
Best Actress: Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for THE ARTIST

Animated Film: RANGO
Adapted Screenplay: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Documentary: SENNA
Rising Star (voted on by the public): ADAM DEACON
Original Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius for THE ARTIST
Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema (tribute/noncompetitive): JOHN HURT
Outstanding British Film: TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer in THE HELP
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer in BEGINNERS

Production Design: HUGO
Outstanding Debut: Paddy Considine for TYRANNOSAUR
Foreign Language Film: THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Makeup and Hair: THE IRON LADY
Costume Design: THE ARTIST
Cinematography: THE ARTIST
Editing: SENNA
Score: THE ARTIST
Live Action Short: PITCH BLACK HEIST (starring Michael Fassbender. Why have I not heard of this?)
Animated Short: A MORNING STROLL
Visual Effects: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2
Sound: HUGO

The Beautiful People... The Beautiful People... ♫ BAFTA PHOTOS AND RED CARPET ARRIVAL VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

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Our Favorite BAFTA Tradition

I forgot to mention this goodie but with BAFTA hitting this weekend (we'll live blog) we're quite happy that this is an annual tradition now with BAFTA. Each year they hire illustrators to make Best Picture guides for their nominees. Look at this one for Drive. 

The scorpion jacket is an obvious image to go with but where this really wins me over is the little touches like the bold red splash, the clenched fist, the faint suggestion of an elevator (that glowing button) and that tell-tale glove hanging from the back pocket. It just such an instant recall of so much of the movie's indelible moments. 

The Help, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Artist and The Descendants after the jump

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BAFTA Nominations: Driver, Marilyn, Soldier, Spy

The BAFTA nominations are out and though we've begun to lose interest in precursors -- 7 days until Oscar nominations are announced -- we should list them anyway! Precursors has two meanings for me. There's the calendar meaning which merely includes all awards that precede the Oscars. But there's a second meaning which is the awards that primarily exist to do just that, precede and thus predict the Oscar. We tend to never lose interest in the precursors that have their own personalities and quickly move on from the others.

BAFTA'S BEST PICTURE. Can you imagine how exciting this year would be if there were only five Oscar nominees again. What the hell would be nominated?

BAFTA's final shortlist is different enough than what we expect Oscar's to look like (Drive and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy both have devout fans but haven't captured that much awards heat in Hollywood) that we are forced into being slightly more interested than usual!

BEST FILM
THE ARTIST - Thomas Langmann
THE DESCENDANTS - Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
DRIVE - Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
THE HELP - Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

Is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which has won some notice from the guilds and a fair amount of interest at the box office gaining ground towards major Oscar nominations next Tuesday or not? It's one of the big question marks right there along with is the abundant Dragon Tattoo guild love a case of perfect timing or 'crossover appeal and you'll see it at Oscar, too!'

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN - Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
SENNA - Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
SHAME - Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN - Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ATTACK THE BLOCK - Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND - Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
CORIOLANUS - Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE - Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR - Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

Given that there is no Oscar equivalent of this category and few clues in their nominations as to which of these they loved, we're interested to see who wins this one. I suspect it will be Tyrannosaur but I'll admit I'm personally rooting for Attack the Block. I'm not as crazy for it as Michael is but I do appreciate its energy and no budget invention.

Directors, Actors and everything else after the jump...

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BAFTA's Narrow "Rising Star" Field

I don't even know why I'm posting this. BAFTA seems determined to be the least respectable awards group this side of "People's Choice". They apparently use a partially celebrity juru to select their 5 wide Orange Rising Star category from a field of 8. Ouch! Then the public gets to vote. NoooOOoooo THE DREAD PEOPLE'S CHOICE.

Which means it's another one of those torture devices like Oscar finalist lists for celebrities or movie hopefuls where less than half of the field have to be jettisoned to get the nominee list. "Congratulations. You were the last kid picked for the team. i.e. you weren't picked. Loser!" This year's losers are all buzzy actresses: Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones, and Jessica Chastain. 

The official sausage party nominees...
I've added what they'd done lately though the award is for the person and not a specific work.

• Adam Deacon (actor/rapper/director) ...Kidulthood, Adulthood, Anuvahood
• Chris Hemsworth (actor/Avenger) ... Thor
• Tom Hiddleston (actor/god) ... Thor, War Horse, Deep Blue Sea
• Chris O'Dowd (actor/comedian) ... Bridesmaids, "the It Crowd"
• Eddie Redmayne (actor/actor) ... My Week With Marilyn, "Red"

I was about to say "who would you vote for?" but it seems like more of a do, dump or marry? type field since it's such a tiny range of types -- all British or Australian guys born between 1979 and 1983! (I don't want to talk about how lame it is to not even consider the Weekend boys for this honor in honor of people who are already a lot more famous. "Rising star" is like "Breakthrough" in how much leeway it gives you to award people whose careers are already somewhat made. What is with the Brits and Weekend? They can't see its worth and it's right in front of them!) 

But back to the RISING STARS: Who do you think gets an Oscar nomination first and second and never?

Why do you think Jessica, Felicity, and Jennifer just weren't good enough for the jury of industry types which included the likes of Simon Pegg, Sienna Miller and Harry Potter director David Yates?

BAFTA Long List Losses

I've said it before and I'm forced to say it again. I'm *so* glad that the American Academy does not publish a long list. i.e. the semi-finals. You see, It's so much more bearable / engaging when you can imagine that straight up great achievements or achievements you really responded to personally but you knew might have trouble rallying huge swaths of support were in 6th or 7th place or 10th place in voting. The way BAFTA does it, however, you are forced to understand that Oscar buzz is everything and Super Size Mediocrities will always triumph over critical darlings or more challenging Art.

Take the Best Picture categories for a prime example. Notice that Weekend for example, a very British and very acclaimed film is not one of their "outstanding" homegrown products (they might want to check the reviews again) and notice that auteurist films frequently called masterpieces by their fans (The Tree of Life and Melancholia) are also absent. Other films ignored because you have to have space for The Lukewarmly Reviewed Biopics About Lady Actresses and Lady Politicians are... no, no. It's too horrible to start listing them!

Best Film The Artist, The Descendants, Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Hugo, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, My Week with Marilyn, Senna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, and We Need to Talk About Kevin 

Outstanding British Film Arthur Christmas, Attack the Block, Coriolanus, The Guard, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Iron Lady, Jane Eyre, My Week with Marilyn, Senna, Shame, Submarine, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tyrannosaur, War Horse, and We Need to Talk About Kevin 

BAFTA voters went crazy 4 My Week With Marilyn, longlisted many many times

Film Not in the English Language  Abel, As If I Am Not There, The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan, Calvet,  Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries), Incendies, Little White Lies, Pina, Post Mortem, Potiche, Le Quattro Volte, A Separation, The Skin I Live In, Tomboy and The Troll Hunter

More long list looniness with commentary after the jump...

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