MTFB Oscar Take: After Short Lists: Cinematography, Editing, Score and Song / Oscar Shortlist and TFF / London Film Critics and TFF

MTFB OSCAR TAKE AFTER SHORT LISTS:  CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, SCORE AND SONG

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Sinners (3)

2) One Battle after Another (2)

3) Hamnet (1)

4) Frankenstein (4)

5) Train Dreams (5)

Others: F1, Marty Supreme and Nouvelle Vague.

BEST EDITING

1) One Battle After Another (1)

2) Sinners (2)

3) F1 (4)

4) Marty Supreme (5)

5) Hamnet (3)

Others: Frankenstein, It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Sinners (1)

2) One Battle After Another (2)

3) Hamnet (3)

4) Frankenstein (4)

5) Train Dreams (NR)

Others: F1, Marty Supreme and Bugonia.

ORIGINAL SONG

1) Golden/K Pop Demon Hunters (1)

2) I Lied to You/Sinners (2)

3) Dear Me/Diane Warren: Relentless (3)

4) The Girl in the Bubble/Wicked: For Good (4)

5) Train Dreams/Train Dreams (NR)

Others: Last Time (I Seen the Sun)/Sinners, No Place Like Home/Wicked: For Good and Drive/F1. 

OSCAR SHORTLISTS AND TFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Shortlists for 12 different categories as Academy members get ready to cast their votes to nominate films and individuals for the 2026 Oscars. At this point a film can only be nominated in any of the 12 categories if they have been shortlisted.

Among the films from TFF #52 Frankenstein lead the way with six mentions.  Overall TFF #52 were mentioned 27 times across a broad array of the ten categories.  Here' where TFF films landed:

Frankenstein (6): Best Casting, Cinematography, Makeup/Hair, Score, Sound and Visual Effects.

Hamnet (3): Casting, Cinematography and Score.

Sentimental Value (3): Casting, Cinematography and International Feature.

The Secret Agent (2): Best International Feature and Casting.

Bugonia (2): Best Cinematography and Score.

TFF #52* feature films with Single mentions:

The Ballad of a Small Player: Cinematography.

Nouvelle Vague: Cinematography.

Cover-Up: Documentary.

Apocalypse in the Tropics: Documentary (*TFF #51)

It was Just an Accident: International Feature.

Jay Kelly: Score.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" Sound.

TFF #52 Short Films:

All the Empty Rooms: Doc Short.

All the Walls Come Down: Doc Short.

Last Days on Lake Trinity: Doc Short.

Extremist: Live Action Short.

The complete list of all Oscar Short Lists can be found here.

LONDON FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The London Film Critics Circle has named their nominees for film excellence.  Here's how TFF #52 faired:

Hamnet (8): Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, Actress of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year, Young British/Irish Performer of the Year (X 2).

The Mastermind (4): Film of the Year, Actor of the Year, British/Irish Performer of the Year, Technical Achievement: Music.

Sentimental Value (4): Film of the Year, Foreign Film of the Year, Actress of the Year, Supporting Actress of the Year.

Pillion (3): British/Irish Film of the Year, Supporting Actor of the Year, Breakthrough Filmmaker.

The Secret Agent (2): Foreign Film of the Year, Actor of the Year.

Urchin (2): Breakthrough Performer of the Year, Breakthrough Filmmaker.

Single nominations for:

It was Just an Accident: Foreign Film of the Year.

Cover-Up: Documentary of the Year.

One to One: John and Yoko: Documentary of the Year (*TFF 51)

Riefenstahl: Documentary of the Year (*TFF 51)

Bugonia: British/Irish Film of the Year

Blue Moon: Actor of the Year.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: Actress of the Year.

Frankenstein: Supporting actor of the Year.

The complete list of all London Critics nominees is linked here.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Picture, Direction and Acting / The Oscar Shortlists and TFF / Surprise: Bening Tribute to Happen After All / Interviews and Profiles: Elordi, Kravitz, Randolph and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: PICTURE, DIRECTION AND ACTING

Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  As we move to within a month of nomination announcements I am consolidating categories for each post. Today I'm updating the Best Picture, Direction and Acting  categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) Poor Things (5)

5) The Holdovers (6)

6) American Fiction (3)

7) Maestro (7)

8) Past Lives (8)

9) Anatomy of a Fall (-)

10) The Zone of Interest (10)

Alternates:  The Color Purple, Air and May December.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)

2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)

4) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)

5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (-)

Alternates: Bradley Cooper/Maestro, Alexander Payne/The Holdovers and Celine Song/Past Lives.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (1)

2) Emma Stone/Poor Things (2)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall (4)

5) Margot Robbie/Barbie (-)

Alternates: Greta Lee/Past Lives, Annette Bening/Nyad and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple.

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (1)

2) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (3)

3) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (2)

4) Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction (5)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/ Killers of the Flower Moon (-)

Alternates: Colman Domingo/Rustin, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randolph/The Holdovers (1)

2) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (2)

3) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (3)

4) Jodie Foster/Nyad (5)

5) Julianne Moore/May December (4)

Alternates: America Ferrera/Barbie, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn and Sandra Huller/The Zone of Interest.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (2)

2) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

3) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (3)

4) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Charles Melton/May December (5)

Alternates: Willem Dafoe/Poor Things, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

From these six categories, here's how TFF films are predicted:

Poor Things with four nominations and one other possibility: Picture, Direction, Actress (Stone) and Supporting actor (Ruffalo), Willem Dafoe is the added possibility for Supporting Actor.

The Holdovers with three nominations and two other possibilities: Picture, Actor (Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Randolph).  The other two possibilities are Direction and Supporting Actor (Sessa).

The Zone of Interest with two nominations and an added possibility: Picture, Direction and a possible shot at Supporting Actress (Huller).

Anatomy of a Fall with two nominations: Picture and actress (Huller).

Nyad with one nomination and one other possibility.  The nomination for Supporting Actress (Foster) and the possibility for Lead Actress (Bening).

Saltburn with no nominations but possible in two categories: Actor (Keoghan) and Supporting Actress (Pike).

All of Us Strangers possible for Actor (Scott).

Rustin possible for Actor(Colman).

Thursday's categories to be updated will be Screenplays, International Film, Documentary Feature, Cinematography and Editing.

THE OSCAR SHORT LISTS AND TFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar Shortlists for 10 categories on Thursday.  Those 10 categories: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, International Feature, Makeup and Hair Styling, Original Score, Original Song, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Sound and Visual Effects.  

Making the short list in these ten categories means that a film is eligible for nomination in them.

Here's where TFF films landed on the various lists:

Poor Things, The Zone of Interest and American Symphony each made it to three of the lists.

Poor Things: Score, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.

The Zone of Interest: International Feature, Score and Sound.

American Symphony: Documentary Feature, Score and Song.  

No other TFF films made multiple lists but 18 other TFF films were shortlisted in various categories.  Most impressive was in the International Feature category which had nine TFF films listed.  In addition to the above mentioned The Zone of Interest these films also made that shortlist:

The Monk and the Gun

The Promised Land

Fallen Leaves

The Taste of Things

The Teachers' Lounge

Godland (from TFF #49)

Perfect Days

Totem.

In addition to American Symphony three other TFF docs made that shortlist:

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: Ghetto President (TFF #49)

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (TFF #49)

In addition to Poor Things and American Symphony, two TFF films are also on the shortlist for Best Score:

The Holdovers

Saltburn

Three TFF films made the Documentary Shortlist:

If Dreams Were Lightning

The Last Repair Shop

Last Song from Kabul

And finally 27 made it to the Animated Short List and Strange Way of Life made it onto the Live Action Short list.

In all 27 TFF films are still alive in these 10 categories.  Nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

Here's the link to the complete announcement from The Academy.

SURPRISE: BENING TRIBUTE TO HAPPEN AFTER ALL

In a surprise move, Telluride's Silver Medallion that was to have been presented last Labor Day weekend to actress Annette Bening will, instead be presented at a special event in Los Angeles on January 6th.

Bening, like most actors, was unable to attend TFF #50 due to the SAG/Aftra Strike that was ongoing at the time of the fest.

The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets, reports that the event will include a career retrospective complete with clips from Bening's films as well as moderation from her Nyad co-star Jodie Foster.  Meg Ryan will present the Silver Medallion.

The complete THR story is linked here.

 

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers from desertsun.com

Jacob Elordi for Saltburn from Entertainment Weekly

Jamie Bell for All of Us Strangers from The Playlist

Lenny Kravitz for Rustin from Vanity Fair

Christian Friedel for The Zone of Interest from The Film Stage

Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers from Time

Tran Ahn Hung for The Taste of Things from Ioncinema

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Oscar Short Lists / Oscar Prediction Updates: Costumes, Makeup/Hair, Original Song / Indiewire's 2019 Critics Poll

OSCAR SHORT LISTS

Earlier this week The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short lists for nine of its Oscar categories.  I have listed all TFF #46 (and #45) films that have been named on those lists and are thereby still in contention for a possible win.  Here they are:


International Film: Beanpole, Pain and Glory, Parasite, Those Who Remained
Documentary Feature: The Biggest Little Farm (TFF #45)
Original Score: Ford v Ferrari, Marriage Story, Motherless Brooklyn, Pain and Glory
Original Song: Daily Battles from Motherless Brooklyn
Makeup/Hair: Judy
Documentary Short: Fire in Paradise

No TFF #46 films were named to the Oscar short lists in Visual Effects, Animated Shorts or Live Action Shorts.

Complete Short Lists are linked here from Gold Derby.



OSCAR PREDICTION UPDATES: COSTUMES, MAKEUP/HAIR, SONG

Here are updates for three Oscar categories.  These new predictions are updated to reflect The Academy's Short Lists that were announced Monday for Makeup/Hair and Original Song.  TFF #46 films are Bold.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 21st.


COSTUMES

1) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
2) Dolemite Is My Name (2)
3) Little Women (3)
4) Rocketman (4)
5) Downton Abbey (5)
6) The Irishman (-)

Other possibles: Joker, Harriet, Judy


MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Bombshell (1)
2) Joker (4)
3) Rocketman (3)
4) Judy (5)
5) Once Upon a Time... (2)
6) Dolemite Is My Name (-)

Other possibles: Downton Abbey, 1917, Little Women


ORIGINAL SONG

1) Into the Unknown/Frozen II (1)
2) I'm Gonna Love Me Again/Rocketman (4)
3) Stand Up/Harriet (2)
4) Spirit/The Lion King (5)
5) I'm Standing with You/Breakthrough (-)
6) I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away/Toy Story 4 (-)

Other possibles: Speechless/Aladdin, Glasgow/Wild Rose, Letter to My Godfather/The Black Godfather


INDIEWIRE'S 2019 CRITICS POLL

Indiewire surveyed over 300 critics, blogger and industry types to compile a huge database and posted the collective responses on Monday this week.  Eric Kohn and crew provided those in  categories.

TFF #46 films that registered and their positions were:

Best Film

1) Parasite
3) Marriage Story
5) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
6) Pain and Glory
7) Uncut Gems
16) A Hidden Life

Best Director

1) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite
4) Celine Sciamma/Portrait of a Lady on Fire
5) Josh and Bennie Safdie/Uncut Gems
6) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story
7) Pedro Almodovar/Pain and Glory
15) Terrence Malick/A Hidden Life
23) Trey Shults/Waves

Best Screenplay

1) Parasite
2) Marriage Story
7) Pain and Glory
8) Uncut Gems
10) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
16) The Two Popes
24) A Hidden Life


Best Actress

2) Scarlett Johansson/Marriage Story
4) Renee Zellweger/Judy
10) Adele Haenel/Portrait of a Lady on Fire
13) Naemi Merlant/Portrait of a Lady on Fire


Best Actor

1) Adam Driver/Marriage Story
2) Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory
3) Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems
9) Sang Kang-ho/Parasite
13) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes
18) Christian Bale/Ford v Ferrari
22) August Diehl/A Hidden Life


Best Supporting Actress

1) Laura Dern/Marriage Story
7) Julia Fox/Uncut Gems
8) Annette Bening/The Report
10) Park So-dam/Parasite
11) Taylor Russell/Waves
13) Adele Haenel/Portrait of a Lady on Fire
15) ChoYao Jeong/Parasite
18) Penelope Cruz/Pain and Glory
22) Jeong-eun Lee/Parasite

Best Supporting Actor

5) Sang Kang-ho/Parasite
7) Alan Alda/Marriage Story
12) Sterling K. Brown/Waves
13) Ray Liotta/Marriage Story
14) Anthony Hopkins/The Two Popes
20) Asier Etxandia/Pain and Glory


Best Cinematography

3) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
5) Parasite
7) A Hidden Life
8) Uncut Gems
17) Pain and Glory
19) Waves
23) Marriage Story
24) Ford v Ferrari

Best Documentary

6) Varda by Agnes
7) Amazing Grace
10) Diego Maradona
18) The Kingmaker
19) Tell Me Who I Am
22) 63 Up
23) The Biggest Little farm (TFF #45)


Best Foreign Film

1) Parasite
2) Pain and Glory
3) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
19) Birds of Passage (TFF #45)
20) Beanpole


The complete Indiewire critics poll is linked here.



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Oscar Short Lists and TFF #45 / Indiewire's Critics' Poll for 2018 Says TFF #45 Was Gooood / First Man

How's your week going?


OSCAR SHORT LISTS AND TFF #45

As I mentioned in my last post, the Oscar peeps named their short lists in nine categories on Monday electing to do so all in one wave rather than separately.  Consequently, here's a snapshot of where films from TFF landed in the categories that were included among the nine:

Documentary (15 on the short list): Free Solo
Foreign Language  (9 on the list): Birds of Passage, Shoplifters, Roma and Cold War.  Missing from the list: Border and Girl.
Makeup/Hair (7 on the list): Border
Score (15 on the list): First Man
Song: (15 on the list): Revelation from Boy Erased
Visual Effects (10 on the list): First Man
Live Action Short (10 on the list): Caroline, Fauve

No TFF films were among the short listed films in the Documentary Shorts category or the Animated Shorts.

Variety has the complete rundown of all films short listed on Monday here.


INDIEWIRE'S CRITICS' POLL FOR 2018 SAYS TFF #45 WAS GOOOOD

The crew at Indiewire have done their annual compilation of critics' assessments for the year.  The massive undertaking included the responses of 232 critics and after the dust settled, films that played at Telluride in 2018 fared remarkably well.

Indiewire posted the top films and performances in a number if categories on Monday and here's where TFF films landed.

Best Film (of 10)

1. Roma
2. First Reformed (TFF #44)
4. The Favourite
5. Cold War
6. Shoplifters

Best Director

1. Alfonso Cuaron/Roma
4. Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite
5. Paul Schrader/First Reformed (TFF #44)

Best Actress

1. Olivia Colman/The Favourite
2. Yalitza Aparicio/Roma
4. Joanna Kulig/Cold War
5. Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Actor

1. Ethan Hawke/First Reformed (TFF #44)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Rachel Weisz/The Favourite
3. Emma Stone/The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor

2. Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever forgive Me?

Best Documentary

4. Free Solo

Best Screenplay

1. The Favourite
2. First Reformed (TFF #44)
3. Roma
4. Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Roma
3. Shoplifters
4. Cold War

Best Cinematography

1. Roma
2. Cold War
4. First Man
5. The Favourite

The complete article is linked here.

In a separate piece, Imdiewire runs down the top 50 films as rated by the 232 critics that they surveyed and both TFF #45 and TFF #44 were well represented:

43) Birds of Passage
38) Lean on Pete***
35) Border
30) The Other Side of the Wind
25) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
21) First Man
11) The Rider***
6) Shoplifters
5) Cold War
4) The Favourite
2) First Reformed***
1) Roma

(*** designates films from TFF #44)

Indiewire's critics' top 50 is linked here.

FIRST MAN

Sasha Stone at Awards Daily posted a passionate endorsement of Damien Chazelle's First Man on her website this week.  By and large I agree with her assessment about the film and, frankly, were I a voting member of the Academy it would be at the top of my ballot.

It seems a little unusual to me that First Man hasn't performed better at the box office and during this awards season.   In part because there is a group of people that experienced the film at Telluride who all feel much the same way-people that write about films for a living and that I have come to know at least a little bit.  We,have all expressed our belief in the film's quality and if you follow specific media accounts, you can deduce some the people I'm referencing...Sasha being among that group.

It also seems weird that a film that scored so well on my post-festival collection of ratings from fest-goers and business insiders, hasn't connect with the wider public.

I have come to think of Telluride as a terrific bellwether for were the awards season is likely to go.  I have come to the conclusion that T-ride has become an excellent microcosm of film-goers that collectively react much like the Academy will.

But it doesn't seem that way this year with this film.

Maybe this is a disconnect between the Telluride crowd and the rapidly evolving membership of the Academy as it has tried to increase its diversity over the past few years.  Maybe the First Man reaction or lack thereof is an anomaly that won't repeat at TFF #46 and the track record of the last decade or so will reassert itself.

Maybe I'm just wrong.  Wouldn't be the first time.

And it's not that First Man is going to be a total miss come Oscar nomination morning.  It'll likely be nominated for Score, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects. It may get in for Cinematography and Film Editing.  Claire Foy still seems to have a shot at a Supporting Actress nomination.  Even the costumes and production design could still be in the mix for nominations.

Additionally, the Broadcast Film Critics Association gave it 10 nominations last week including Best Picture and Best Direction.  Oscar predictor Kristopher Tapley of Variety/InContention posted his first set of predictions last week and First Man was in seven categories including Best Picture.

But the consensus right now is that the film isn't likely to a Best Picture or Directing nominee on Jan. 22nd and that, to me, seems wrong.

So...

The voting doesn't actually start until Jan. 7th.  Here's the link to Sasha's piece...

Maybe give it a read...she's a much better writer than I am.  And pass it on...

That's your MTFB for this Thursday...more headed your way on Monday.  Happy Holidays all!


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