Funny thing about my relationship with writing about movies: I can write 1,000 words on why the red hotel room in Atomic Blonde is absolutely essential if we are to continue as a species, but if I'm pressed to write about the 'big' categories, i.e. acting, writing, directing, it feels like pulling teeth (not necessarily my own) trying to get myself to write anything more lucid than 'hey, wow, Meryl Streep's not bad, right? Did you see that thing she did with her face? It made water (but only part of it)! Amazing!' And unfortunately for all of us, all I've got left to write about this year (at least as far as big lists are concerned) are the very categories that I've no idea how to address.
So here's the deal: I played around with this post for hours, and just couldn't come up with a compelling way to really present it--I felt fairly list-drained, believe it or not, and didn't want to inflict sub-par work on all of you. So instead, I've decided to just rattle off my top five and provide some basic commentary for the category as a whole. This makes for a streamlined reading experience for you, and didn't require me to spend my next five hours racking my brain trying to come up with a longer (but still readable) version. If you're curious for more in-depth thoughts about anything you see here, don't hesitate to ask!
Best Actress
5. Margot Robbie-I, Tonya
4. Meryl Streep-The Post
3. Vicky Krieps-Phantom Thread
2. Florence Pugh-Lady Macbeth
1. Saoirse Ronan-Lady Bird
Honorable mention: Frances McDormand-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A whole flotilla of great work--Margot Robbie convinced me that her opinion of her (charismatic but relatively talentless) was horribly wrong, Meryl Streep gave her best performance in a decade, and Krieps and Pugh gave titanic performances that should catapult them both to the stratosphere. But my love for Lady Bird is well-documented, and I couldn't resist Ronan's climbing narrative as the best young working actress.
Actor
5. Jeremy Renner-Wind River
4. Daniel Kaluuya-Split
3. James McAvoy-Split
2. Daniel Day-Lewis-Phantom Thread
1. Timotheé Chalamet-Call Me by Your Name
Honorable mention: Robert Pattinson-Good Time
Lots to note here--genre emphasis (two horror roles, one villain and one victim, and a western), and Daniel Day-Lewis' alleged last performance--but there's really only room for Chalamet's massive and unavoidable coming out as a huge talent and future star. The sky's the limit for the kid, and I hope his career from here is as big as his obvious talent deserves.
Supporting Actress
5. Naomie Ackie-Lady Macbeth
4. Allison Williams-Get Out
3. Betty Gabriel-Get Out
2. Tiffany Haddisch-Girls Trip
1. Laurie Metcalf-Lady Bird
Big shout-out here to the unsung Get Out girls, without whom the movie couldn't function--imagine it without Allison Williams' perfectly calculated periods of warmth and coldness, or the way Betty Gabriel reinvented the word 'no.' And what kind of year would it be without Tiffany Haddish's mischievously cocked eyebrow right before she explains where she keeps her drugs? This is a great category (maybe the best of the acting categories?), but someone had to come out on top, and Metcalf created one of the most fully realized and tetchily human movie mothers ever, so here we are.
Supporting Actor
5. Sebastian Stan-I, Tonya
4. Barry Keoghan-The Killing of a Sacred Deer
3. Michael Stuhlbarg-Call Me by Your Name
2. Willem Dafoe-The Florida Project
1. Armie Hammer-Call Me by Your Name
Honorable mention: Patrick Stewart-Logan
The big story is of course the tragically oscar-less Call Me boys (seriously, how did the Academy sleep on this?), but that shouldn't overshadow a career re-defining performance from Sebastian Stan, or the utter weirdness that Keoghan brings to his balefully sociopathic teenager in The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Director
5. Paul Thomas Anderson-Phantom Thread
4. William Oldroyd-Lady Macbeth
3. Darren Aronofsky-mother!
2. Luca Guadagnino-Call Me by Your Name
1. Greta Gerwig-Lady Bird
Honorable mention: Yorgos Lanthimos-The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Another stellar category, and I had one hell of a time picking a winner--I played with having every one of these five take the cake. It was awfully tempting to reward Aronofsky's gleeful and unswerving 'my way' approach to mother!, but ultimately I had to go with one of the helmers of what I called two of the best movies of the decade on Friday, with Gerwig inching Guadagnino out by a hair. I could give it to Guadagnino for his visual panache or his obvious talent with actors, but I decided to side with Gerwig's sharp eye and world-sized heart.
Original Screenplay
5. Phantom Thread
4. Nocturama
3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
2. Get Out
1. Lady Bird
Honorable mention: BPM (120 Beats per Minute)
In another year, any of these five could have taken the top spot-Phantom Thread's wild sense of humor, Nocturama's terse politics, Killing's jaw-dropping bizarreness, or *especially* Get Out's adept handling of ten different genres and tones. But I figure I've praised Lady Bird enough in the past few days for you to get where this was going.
Adapted Screenplay
5. Thor: Ragnarok
4. The Lost City of Z
3. Logan
2. Lady Macbeth
1. Call Me by Your Name
Honorable mention: Blade Runner 2049
A weirdly franchise/tent-pole heavy category, but they earned it--we'll all be quoting Thor for the next five years, and Logan ripped its genre apart and built it up again from scratch (sidebar: have I mentioned that Logan getting nominated for its screenplay is arguably my favorite Oscar nomination this year? At least in the sense of improbable but totally deserving). But, like with Lady Bird, I've gotten all weepy with praise over Call Me by Your Name lately that all of you already knew how this would turn out.
And believe it or not (and I've a sneaking suspicion you'll believe it), that's a wrap on big list posts for the year. Sometime today or tomorrow I'll bang out some last minute Oscar predictions, but this is where we start to say goodbye to 2017 as a cinematic year (he says, fully aware that it's March, and everyone else stopped thinking about these movies months ago).
For those playing along at home, here are the movies that showed up most frequently in these lists:
Call Me by Your Name-9
Phantom Thread-8
Lady Macbeth-7
Get Out-7
Lady Birth-6
mother!-5
Nocturama-5
Blade Runner 2049-5
As for the most wins, it was a duel to the death between Call Me and Lady Bird (much like plenty of these lists), with Call Me emerging victorious in the end. On the craft end, Phantom Thread, Blade Runner 2049, and Baby Driver hogged more than their share of the spotlight.
Call Me by Your Name-Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song
Lady Bird-Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay
Blade Runner 2049-Production Design, Visual Effects, Cinematography
Phantom Thread-Costume Design, Original Score
Baby Driver-Film Editing, Sound Mixing
And there's another year gone! Looking forward to see what the next 9 months brings to the movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment