The past week has given us the Gotham Awards, the National Board of Review, The Satellite Nominations and the New York Film Critics Circle awards.
I haven't really had much time to write anything, and I almost think that's for the best. We live in a media world where reaction, hot takes and being exclusive seem to be more important than the content we produce. Don't get me wrong. If someone gave me a journalism job tomorrow, I would probably be happy to tweet my every Oscarwatching move, bouncing back and forth from the Beverly Hills hotel to the Warner Brothers lot. It was fun when I did it, if only for a few months. But having to wait to truly process what's happened over the last few days has put some things into perspective.
NBR
The two films I thought NBR might go for were "The Favourite" or "First Man." I got wrapped up in the idea that NBR liked to jettison films into the Oscar race. In my mind, the frontrunners, "A Star is Born" and "Roma" didn't need much help, so they were out. The writing was on the wall for "The Favourite" when I saw it. This is going to be a very tough sell for the Oscar. And "First Man's" Oscar chances are dying a slow death every day. Neither film made the NBRs top 11 films.
The thing I forgot was that NBR also love to champion a social cause. Truth is, they would never vote for a film like "The Favourite." The NBR that voted for "Quills" is not the NBR of today. I need to remember that next year. "Green Book," in retrospect makes perfect sense.
In one of Anne Thompson's pieces about the past week's awards she mentioned that what these early precursors really do is move certain films to the front of the screener pile. I have never really understood this concept because I have never been lucky enough to have a screener pile. That is until this year. I've been trying to watch the films I think will resonate with me, the LGBTQ films that might contend for the Dorian Awards, for which I am a voting Advisory Board member. And, of course, Oscar-y films.
Of the NBRs top 11 films, there were two I hadn't seen. "Mary Poppins Returns" and the Coen Brothers' "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs." One doesn't need a screener for "Scruggs" as it is one of this year's multiple Oscar hopefuls for Netflix.
The Coens are a singular voice, but at the same time they have many voices. I loved "True Grit," "No Country For Old Men" and "A Serious Man." I hated "Burn After Reading" was lukewarm on "Hail Ceaser!" and couldn't even finish "Oh Brother ,Where Art Though."
The first chapter, the one of the film's title, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" was so a bit off-putting and on the nose in its quirkiness for my taste and the second chapter quite boring. But both "Meal Ticket" and the wonderful "All Gold Canyon:" made it worthwhile. This is a dark film, a melding of their many styles. Certainly interesting, but unlikely to make my Top 10 films of the year.
NYFCC
The New York Film Critics Circle gave "Roma" three top prizes (Film, Director and Cinematography). They also went for Regina Hall for Best Actress in "Support the Girls."
Last night I watched it, and I will say that I really liked the film. It takes a minute to get into it, to no fault of the film itself, but more toward its originality. Does Regina Hall give the best performance by an actress this year? Absolutely not.
The New York Film Critics Circle in giving her this award are honestly not much better than the National Board of Review.
She is really good, although her positive persona, at times feels like bad acting...but maybe that's exactly what it's supposed to be....she plays a General Manager who has held the local "Double Whammies" restaurant together despite the town's impending "Mancave" chain and an owner who doesn't quite seem to know what he is doing. We are seeing her at the end of her rope, so that positivity would, in theory, be fraying. I'm still not sure it was intentional craft though.
What does it all mean?
It's hard to tell what these entities are trying to accomplish. Perhaps the NY critics actually think Regina Hall is better than Glenn Close, Lady Gaga and Yalitza Aparicio, but I highly doubt that. It's not only insulting to the actors who didn't win, but also to Hall. If their tactic was bringing attention to Hall, it worked. Reading Twitter I saw that I wasn't the only one who caught up with "Support the Girls" last night.
The biggest, most consistent winner this week has been "First Reformed," specifically Ethan Hawke and Paul Schrader. Hawke won 3 acting awards this week, which is great! I said a bit ago that I feel that "First Reformed" might be headed toward Best Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay nominations. BUT...I wonder if the Satellite Award Nominations might be more telling to what the Academy might do. They only nominated Hawke for Actor and Schrader for Screenplay. We can easily fall into the trap of critics prizes when declaring frontrunners. Never forget last year's "frontrunners" Timothee Chalamet, Laurie Metcalf, and Willem Dafoe. You might even consider Saoirse Ronan in that list, but truthfully, it was always Frances McDormand.
Also, is "A Star is Born" in trouble? I don't think so. One need only look back at 2010. The loudest of the internet seemed to hate "A King's Speech" and the critics were going for "The Social Network." I was championing "Black Swan."
In the end, all that internet criticism about "The King's Speech" mattered not. It was actually beloved by critics with a 95% tomatometer ("A Star is Born" is at 90%).
People love "A Star is Born." And it absolutely can win.
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