Film Bitch Awards: Breakthrough Performers, Small Gem Performances, Memorable Scenes

by Nathaniel R

Diego Calva at the "Babylon" premiere. Photograph by Sthanlee B. Mirador / Sipa USA via AP

In a mad race to finish the Film Bitch Awards before the Oscars, we've posted five more categories!  Breakthrough of the Year features rising stars from the US (Stephanie Hsu, Brandon Perea), UK (Bella Ramsey), Finland (Aamu Milonoff), and Mexico (Diego Calva). It's not strictly an acting award (like the others) but more about which new stars we're most eager to see in another picture... immediately.

Best Actress in a Limited or Cameo Role is also up for the scene stealers who do a lot with a very little like Lia Williams who is so self-regarding and droll as the poet Edith Sitwell in Benediction.

Finally the Best Scenes page is in process now featuring Best Opening Scene (Triangle of Sadness "H&M / Balenciaga" has to be there), Best Ending (The Fabelmans horizon line naturally), Credit Sequence (Jackass Forever's dick kaiju terrorizes) and also a Dozen Memorable Scenes that don't fit into the other various scene categories.

Enjoy!

Great Moments in Gayness: Journey to the Cocksucker in "But I'm a Cheerleader"

In honor of Pride Month, Here’s Christopher James highlighting a pivotal scene from Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader.

Doesn't everyone remember their first time in a gay bar?Satire is a powerful tool. It can take even big dark topics and shrink them down to laughable size. But I’m a Cheerleader represents the high point of what satire can do. Conversion therapy camps are still a blight on our society, despite being declared illegal in 20 states and more municipalities. They have traumatized an uncountable number of queer people. Yet, Babbit’s film subverts the location to be a cotton-candy-colored joke. The film does such a great job of making it a nightmare that loses its shock value because you simply can’t stop laughing AT it.

The joke machine comes to a halt for a joyous moment where we come up for sweet, queer air. The kids escape True Directions to go to a gay bar, "the Cocksucker"...

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Not exactly maternal

Let's drink to Senator Keeley's daughter and our Val. I'm afraid I haven't done much for him in these last 20 years...

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I've been obsessing over this shot in "Us"

by Nathaniel R

Not sure if there's an audience out there for a return of our Hit Me With Your Best Shot series but Jordan Peele's horror smash Us would certainly be a worthy candidate for the treatment. Lately I've been obsessing over this particular image (above) in which Red (Lupita Nyong'o) has handcuffed Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) to her own coffee table. It's not just the slow upsetting crack of the glass, or Lupita's stunning dual performance...

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"I don't see how I can go on living my life the way I've lived it before..."

Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #6: Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich