For the second consecutive Sunday, a group of journalists ushered in the awards season for the film (this time with a much more polished virtual ceremony). Last week, it was the increasingly controversial Hollywood Foreign Press Association with its 78th Golden Globe Awards. This week it was the Critics Choice Association with its – well, we, since I have been a voting member for many years – 26th Critics Choice Awards.
It must be said from the bat that between the two groups there is only one person who is also among the nearly 10,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences who will determine the 93rd Academy Awards (for which the nomination is currently being voted ) in progress) – HFPA member Lisa Lu – these results therefore do not directly indicate what the Academy will do.
But in a season like this, when the Academy members have not mixed as usual, and therefore in many cases are looking for guidance on which films to prioritize, these earlier awards may have a greater impact than usual.
So? CCA voters reflected the HFPA’s choices in several key categories. Nomadland, the winner of the Top Globe for Drama (Borat subsequent Moviefilm won the top world for musicals / comedies), was awarded the best picture, and his filmmaker Chloe Zhao, who has been a dubious whisperer in recent days, has won Best Director (making her the only female winner of the award) The Hurt Lockersay Kathryn Bigelow).
The best picture and best director Critics Choice Awards have not been a big predictor of the corresponding Oscars in recent years – the former has not repeated in four of the last six, while the latter has repeated in only four of the last six – so The Chicago 7 Trial (who won the best ensemble award, a good consolation before the SAG awards), Minari (who won the best foreign language film, for which it is not eligible for the Oscars, and the best young actor / actress, for the lovely eight-year-old Alan Kim), et al., should not yet throw in the towel.
The late Chadwick Boseman held strong competition again to win the best actor for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, as was generally expected. (Boseman was awarded the drama actor Globe, while Boratsay Sacha Baron Cohen was awarded the musical / comedy actor award.) And Daniel Kaluuya has the best accompanist for Judas and the Black Messiah, which strengthened his position as the man to beat in that race.
The other recurring winner: the score of Soul, compiled by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste.
Even more interesting, however, are the categories in which the CCA and the HFPA differ. The Best Actress Globes Gone The United States vs. Billie Holidaysay Second day (drama) and I care a lotsay Rosamund Snoek (musical / comedy); CCA voters nominate the former, but not the latter, and prefer to respect rather Promising young womansay Carey Mulligan, a big boost to her campaign, especially given how many CCA voters of the Frances McDormandanchor Nomadland.
Promising young womansay Emerald Fennell also won the best original screenplay Trialsay Aaron Sorkin, who won the single screenplay Globe, which suggests that she and her film should not be underestimated.
The other female acting prize, Best Supporting Actress, went BoratBulgarian outbreak Maria Bakalova. The 24-year-old was forced to compete in one of the starring categories at the Globes, losing to Pike; here she was back in the supporting race, against formidable vets like Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy), Olivia Colman (The father) en Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari), and the winner. Since the last 13 recipients of the Critics Choice Award won the corresponding Oscar, she and her fans must feel much better than they did a week ago (when The Mauritaniansay Jodie Foster – not nominated for the Critics Choice Award – won the Globe of this category.
Meanwhile, the Zhao’s Nomadland screenplay won the Best Custom Screenplay Critics Choice Award, after losing in the Globe category for the single screenplay. Palm springs upset Globe winner Borat in the best comedy category. And A night in Miami came on board with a best song award for ‘Speak Now’, which was composed and performed Leslie Odom, Jr., also a nominated candidate for Best Supporting Actor for the film, among others The life ahead‘s “Io Si”, which won the Globe.
“Below the line” categories were everywhere. Nomadland, with its celebrated long watch, won the best cinematography. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won the best hair and makeup and best costume design. Mank won the best production design. Trial and Sound of Metal tied for the best editing. And Tenet in the VFX category.
On Monday morning, the ten nominees for the American Producers Guild Award will be presented, which should provide much more valuable clues about the minds of academy members, as 614 academy members are producers, most of whom presumably belong to the PGA, and that the PGA uses, just like the Academy, a preferential vote to select its nominees and winners.