The choices of the New York Film Critics Circle that were announced on Tuesday... (TFF #40 Films in Bold)
Best Picture: American Hustle
Best Director: Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Robert Redford/All is Lost
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle
Best Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Cinematography: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Foreign Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Best First Film: Fruitvale Station
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Non-Fiction: Stories We Tell***
***TFF #39 film
And the announced winners from the National Board of Review from yesterday:
What's it all mean?
I have said since before TFF #40 started that I expected "12 Years a Slave" to win Best Picture. I'm also on record as having said (since its first trailer dropped) that David O. Russell's "American Hustle" might have the best chance of beating "12 Years". In light of the last week or so, I still feel the same way...though a lot of people are on the "Gravity" and/or "Wolf of Wall Street" wagon as well.
My take on the NYFCC wins is that they do give "American Hustle" an immediate boost but that the reported closeness of the vote for Best Picture and the Steve McQueen win for Best Director means that "12 Years a Slave" is still in very good shape. I think that "Gravity" is the film that may have been nicked up by its exclusion altogether from the NYFCC announcement.
Redford's NYFCC win gives him a shot of adrenaline in the Best Actor race, which many think is the most competitive of all the major categories.
Now, on to the parsing of yesterday's NBR announcement...Here's that list again:
NBR NAMES SPIKE JONZE'S "HER" BEST PICTURE OF 2013
Telluride Film in Bold...
Best Film: HER
Best Director: Spike Jonze, HER
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, NEBRASKA
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte, NEBRASKA
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, FRUITVALE STATION
Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside LLEWYN Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter, THE Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Breakthrough Performance: Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best Foreign Language Film: THE PAST
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell
William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.
Best Ensemble: PRISONERS
Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Wadjda
Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: Gravity
Top Films
(in alphabetical order)
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter MITTY
THE Wolf of Wall Street
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt
Top 5 Documentaries
(In Alphabetical Order)
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square
Top 10 Independent Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World…
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now
Huge boost for "Her" and now it probably moves up on a number of Oscarologists charts as a potential Bet Picture nominee. "Nebraska" gets a boost too. Certainly for Dern's nominations chances but the inclusion of Forte as Supporting winner may help him become a part of the conversation and likely helps the film overall in the Best Picture race.
Also, a likely boost for "Prisoners", which has been largely forgotten in the last month, as well as "Fruitvale Station". I don't think that these results mean that "Her" moves up to the top of the board...I still think "12 Years" probably is the frontrunner. It is worth noting that "American Hustle", which the NYFCC thought was triple worthy of notice on Tuesday, wasn't mentioned at all by the NBR yesterday.
The Coen Brothers fantastic "Inside Llewyn Davis" is set to open in limited fashion this weekend and, as you might expect, there is an intensification of P.R. accompanying that. I've linked a few things that seemed interesting...btw...buy the album, it's terrific!
From The Playlist, Charlie Schmidlin talks to actress Carey Mulligan about "Llewyn" and other matters:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/carey-mulligan-talks-ferocity-in-her-inside-llewyn-davis-character-nicholas-winding-refns-i-walk-with-the-dead-more-20131203
Casey Cipriani talks to The Coens about the music of the film for IndieWire here;
http://www.indiewire.com/article/can-inside-llewyn-davis-become-the-next-o-brother-where-art-thou-soundtrack
And as a side note, the AP via The Playlist reports that the Coens may be penning a film set in ancient Rome...really:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-coen-brothers-say-theyre-writing-a-sandal-movie-set-in-ancient-rome-20131203
DOCS AND THE LAST TWO TELLURIDES
The Academy's short list for the documentary feature Oscar was released this week and includes 2 TFF #39 films and a single possibility from TFF #40. The Los Angeles Times reports that TFF #39 docs Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" and Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing" made the cut as did Teller's "Tim's Vermeer" which was the highest rated film on The People's Telluride poll I conducted after the conclusion of this year's film.
Here's the link to the complete L.A. Times article which includes the complete list of short-listed documentaries:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-oscar-documentary-short-list-20131203,0,40560.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg
BOB TALKS LOST
Anne Thompson talks to NYFCC Best Actor winner Robert Redford about his role in J.C. Chandor's "All Is Lost":
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-oscar-documentary-short-list-20131203,0,40560.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg
MORE ABOUT THE SLAVE FOR 12 YEARS
The L.A. Times also posted this featurette video about the real life Solomon Northup. Check it here:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-12-years-a-slave-legacy-video-featurette-solomon-northup-20131202,0,3863922.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg
More on Monday...have a great weekend!
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