Monday, December 12, 2011

Awards Watch: Winners at the 37th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards


Best Picture

The Descendants
Runner Up: The Tree of Life

Best Director

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
Runner Up: Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Actor

Michael Fassbender - Shame, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class
Runner Up: Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

Best Actress

Yun Jung-Hee - Poetry
Runner Up: Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Runner Up: Patton Oswalt - Young Adult

Best Supporting Actress

Jessica Chastain - Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, Tree of Life
Runner Up: Janet Mcteer - Albert Nobbs

Best Screenplay

Asghar Farhadi - A Separation
Runner Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - The Descendants

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
Runner Up: Cao Yu  - City of Life and Death

Best Production Design

Dante Farretti - Hugo
Runner Up: Maria Djurkovich - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Music Score

Hanna - The Chemical Brothers
Runner Up: Drive - Cliff Martinez

Best Foreign Language Film

City of Life and Death
Runner Up: A Separation

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Runner Up: The Arbor

Best Animation

Rango
Runner Up: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

New Generation

Antonion Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

What are your thoughts on these winner? Mostly, they make me very happy. While it could be argued there are better films released this year than The Descendants, it's a fine film and I'm not disappointed seeing it take out major awards. Great to see Malick awarded Best Director, and the fact that Scorsese is a runner-up, having won a couple of times recently, seems to me like he has an Oscar slot locked in. Great to see Fassbender and Chastain awarded for a collection of films. Few actors have been as impressive, or as hard-working this year as those two. Asghar Farhadi's screenplay for A Separation is pretty much flawless. This is a great choice. Then there is the Chemical Brothers score for Hanna. Arguably the best score in a year full of strong ones. As much as I loved Tintin I'm still in the Rango corner when it comes to Best Animated. The LAFCA agreed with me, too. Most of the winners (and runner-ups) will be on the Oscar ballot, I'm going to assume. Except for Documentary - both of them were overlooked.

3 comments:

  1. I'm stoked that Malick got the Best Director prize as well as love for Chivo on the Cinematography. I love the L.A. Critics Association prizes. They always pull out some surprises like giving Brazil Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Director in 1985.

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  2. Yeah, I think these are my favourite group of awards yet. There aren't that many surprises here (for me) just genuine good films and professionals awarded for their work.

    Best Director - can we lock in Malick, Scorsese, Payne and Hazanavicius? I'd say so. 5th spot could be a wildcard - Nicholas Winding Refn, Lynne Ramsay, Tomas Alfedson (both doubtful) or perhaps Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter). Or Spielberg (yawn!).

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  3. I am yet to hear anything overwhelmingly positive about Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (few have seen it yet, though) but I really feel like this is the definition of Oscar bait. I'm just not drawn to it at all - and with Hugo taking home awards - do we really expect another film centred on a young kid to be a part of the race?

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