Sunday, February 24, 2019

the 2018 jdb awards

Here are my personal film awards for 2018!

A look back at last year when Get Out won Picture, Director, Ensemble, Original Screenplay & Sound.



picture

EIGHTH GRADE



2018 offered up many specific and engrossing character studies. Bo Burnham's modestly-mounted but deeply affecting Eighth Grade is a standout coming-of-age tale with funny, wry details and an emotional pull.





nominees

BURNING
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
THE FAVOURITE
HAPPY AS LAZZARO
LEAVE NO TRACE
THE RIDER
ROMA
SHIRKERS
WIDOWS





director


Sandi Tan, SHIRKERS


Sandi Tan's tale is a painful one from an artist's perspective, but it's brought to life in her doc with great complexity, humor, creativity and soul. A bright year for female directors. Chloé Zhao's distinctive efforts almost made my line-up and Marielle Heller's film was wonderful as well.





nominees

Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Debra Granik, LEAVE NO TRACE
Yorgos Lanthimos, THE FAVOURITE
Alice Rohrwacher, HAPPY AS LAZZARO





actor


Lakeith Stanfield, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU





Stanfield's well-calibrated, rich turn carries the tricky genre bends of Boots Riley's social commentary dirge.





nominees

Yoo Ah-in, BURNING
Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
Brady Jandreau, THE RIDER
Adriano Tardiolo, HAPPY AS LAZZARO




actress


Olivia Colman, THE FAVOURITE





Colman finally gets a centerpiece performance in The Favourite--showing tremendous range (vocally and emotionally) through all of Queen Anne's miserable existence.

Outisde of a narrowed-down five, there are so many other great lead female performances from 2018: Nadia Alexander in Blame, Glenn Close in The Wife, Viola Davis in Widows, Zoey Deutch in Flower, Edie Falco in Outside In, Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Kindergarten Teacher, Regina Hall in Support the Girls, Helena Howard in Madeline's Madeline, Lady Gaga in A Star is Born, Andrea Riseborough in Nancy (also great in Mandy), Emma Stone in The Favourite, and Charlize Theron in Tully.





nominees

Toni Collette, HEREDITARY
Elsie Fisher, EIGHTH GRADE
Melissa McCarthy, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE





supporting actor

Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?




Classic supporting turn, given great humor and deep specificity by character actor Richard E. Grant.






nominees

Raul Castillo, WE THE ANIMALS
Josh Hamilton, EIGHTH GRADE
Linus Roache, MANDY
Steven Yeun, BURNING



supporting actress


Sakura Ando, SHOPLIFTERS



I was entranced by Ando's very natural presence in Shoplifters throughout. She delivers the film's most crushing line.





nominees

Elizabeth Debicki, WIDOWS
Jeon Jong-seo, BURNING
Shayna McHayle, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
Molly Parker, MADELINE’S MADELINE



original screenplay


Alice Rohrwacher, HAPPY AS LAZZARO





Exemplary script in dialogue and in its unique, twinning form.





nominees

Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Christina Choe, NANCY
Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara, THE FAVOURITE
Boots Riley, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU



adapted screenplay



Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?




The mark of Holofcener, one of my favorite screenwriters, is here. Acerbic and moving.




nominees

Desiree Akhavan & Cecilia Frugiuele, THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST
Gillian Flynn & Steve McQueen, WIDOWS
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, LEAVE NO TRACE
Oh Jung-mi & Lee Chang-dong, BURNING




ensemble


WIDOWS




The hammy collides with the more quietly introspective, in this broad, appealing mix of actorly styles--a throwback to ensemble pics of the 1970s--where, somehow, everyone seems to create a cohesive whole.






nominees

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
THE FAVOURITE
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
SHOPLIFTERS



foreign film


HAPPY AS LAZZARO




Such a mesmerizing fable, made evocative by direction, script and cast. Other nominees here are equally outstanding in their own ways.






nominees


BURNING
COLD WAR
ROMA
SHOPLIFTERS



documentary


SHIRKERS




One of the most interesting docs of the year in its use of the form and the story (and lost film) within it.






nominees

FREE SOLO
MINDING THE GAP
OF FATHERS AND SONS
WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?



cinematography

Pascale Granel, THE WILD BOYS




Really vivid work from Granel, with a mix of hyper-coloring and throwbacks to 30s black & white flicks like Captains Courageous. This was definitely one of the most visually-arresting works I saw this year.




nominees

Alfonso Cuarón, ROMA
Benjamin Loeb, MANDY
Mart Taniel, NOVEMBER
Lukasz Zal, COLD WAR



film editing


Bob Murawski & Orson Welles, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND




Most in this category have very flashy, distinctive editing styles which shape the films with unusual rhythms. The Other Side of the Wind is an astounding feat in Murawksi's six month efforts in editing Welles' famously lost picture.





nominees

Bernard Beets, LET THE CORPSES TAN
Lucas Celler, Sandi Tan, & Kimberley Has, SHIRKERS
Bing Liu, MINDING THE GAP
Joe Walker, WIDOWS



art direction / production design


HEREDITARY





The miniatures, the creepy, woodsy house, Joan's eerie apartment--all an excellent, precise display of art direction and production design at work in Hereditary.






nominees

BLACK PANTHER
EL ANGEL
THE FAVOURITE
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU




film score

Nicholas Brittell, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK




One of the finest film scores I've heard in years--not only in its tuneful beauty--but its evocative use of instrumentation and motifs throughout.







nominees

Thomas Adès, COLETTE
Jóhann Jóhannsson, MANDY
Anna Meredith, EIGHTH GRADE
Thomas Newman, UNSANE



song

“Shallow,” A STAR IS BORN



A big, satisfying ballad that soars in the early part of A Star is Born.








nominees

“All the Stars,” BLACK PANTHER
“Amulet of the Weeping Maze,” MANDY
“OYAHYTT,” SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
“Pray for Me,” BLACK PANTHER



costume design


Sandy Powell, THE FAVOURITE




Powell continues her streak of using unusual, out-of-time fabrics for period costuming. She makes the black & white palate so intrinsic to the characters and themes of the picture.




nominees

Ruth E. Carter, BLACK PANTHER
Sarah Edwards, OCEAN’S 8
Caroline Eselin, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Julio Suárez, EL ANGEL



make-up & hair

SUSPIRIA



Consider me dazzled by the Tilda Swinton transformation, Tilda's long, brushed-out hair, and the gory effects in Suspiria.





nominees

BLACK PANTHER
BORDER
MANDY
ZAMA



sound design

MADELINE’S MADELINE



A clanging, banging, anxious mix--part of the main characters' psyche--a risk that pays off as one of the film's most defining elements.





nominees

FIRST MAN
HEREDITARY
A QUIET PLACE
A STAR IS BORN



visual effects

FIRST MAN




Gorgeous, practical effects. Wish more films of this era employed them.





BLACK PANTHER
PADDINGTON 2

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