Tag Archives: Brigette Lundy-Paine

The Florida Film Critics Circle Honors The Beast

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On the 20th, the Florida Film Critics Circle announced its picks for the best of 2024!

Best Film
Anora
The Beast
The Brutalist
Conclave
Hundreds of Beavers

Best Actress
Carol Kane (Between the Temples)
Léa Seydoux (The Beast)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)

Best Actor
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Josh O’Connor (Challengers)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Baryshnikov (Love Lies Bleeding)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)
Isabella Rosellini (Conclave)
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Willem Dafoe (Kinds of Kindness)
Adam Pearson (A Different Man)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Cast
All We Imagine As Light
Anora
Conclave
Challengers
Saturday Night

Best Director
Sean Baker (Anora)
Bertrand Bonello (The Beast)
Luca Guadagnino (Challengers)
Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light)
RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

Best Original Script
Anora (Sean Baker)
A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)
Challengers (Justin Kuritzkes)
Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
I Saw The TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)

Best Adapted Script
The Beast (Bertrand Bonello, Benjamin Charbit & Guillaume Bréaud)
Conclave (Peter Straughan)
Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve & Jon Spaihts)
Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)
Queer (Justin Kuritzkes)

Best Cinematography
The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
Challengers (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom)
Conclave (Stéphane Fontaine)
Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)
Nickel Boys (Jomo Fray)

Best Visual Effects
Dune: Part Two
Hundreds of Beavers
Tuesday
The Substance
Wicked

Best Artistic Direction/Production Design
The Beast
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Maria

Best Score/Soundtrack
The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
Challengers (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)
Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer)
Flow (Gints Zilbalodis & Rihards Zalupe)

Best International Film
All We Imagine As Light
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Best Animated Film
The Colors Within
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
The Wild Robot

Best Documentary
Daughters
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will and Harper

Best First Movie
Hundreds of Beavers
Janet Planet
The People’s Joker
Stress Positions
Tuesday

Breakthrough Performance
Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow)
Katy M. O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (Hundreds of Beavers)
Zoe Zigler (Janet Planet)

Golden Orange Award for a remarkable contribution to Cinema:
Mountains by Monica Sorelle – A film shot in Miami that paints a loving and critical portrait of what it is like to live there.

The Brutalist Takes Down The Competition In Chicago!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On December 12th, the Chicago Film Critics Association announced their picks for the best of 2024!

BEST PICTURE
Anora
The Brutalist
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
I Saw the TV Glow
Nickel Boys
The Substance

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
Jane Schoenbrun – I Saw the TV Glow

BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Keith Kupferer – Ghostlight

BEST ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Léa Seydoux – The Beast

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Adam Pearson – A Different Man

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Ariana Grande-Butera – Wicked
Natasha Lyonne – His Three Daughters
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora by Sean Baker
The Brutalist by Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Challengers by Justin Kurtizkes
A Real Pain by Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Beast by Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Bréaud, & Benjamin Charbit
Conclave by Peter Straughan
Nickel Boys by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Nosferatu by Robert Eggers
Sing Sing by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Dahomey
Daughters
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez
Evil Does Not Exist
Red Rooms
The Seed of the Sacred Fig

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Challengers – Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Nickel Boys – Jomo Fray
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Dune: Part Two – Jacqueline West
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Jenny Beavan
Maria – Massimo Cantini Parrini
Nosferatu – Linda Muir
Wicked – Paul Tazewell

BEST EDITING
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Dávid Jancsó
Challengers – Marco Costa
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Eliot Knapman & Margaret Sixel
Nickel Boys – Nicolas Monsour

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Dune: Part Two – Hans Zimmer
Nosferatu – Robin Carolan
Wicked – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Hundreds of Beavers
The Substance
Wicked

MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER
Mike Cheslik – Hundreds of Beavers
Vera Drew – The People’s Joker
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine as Light
Greg Kwedar – Sing Sing
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Lily Collias – Good One
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Brigette Lundy-Paine – I Saw the TV Glow
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Adam Pearson – A Different Man

Here’s Al Capone With The 2024 Nominations of the Chicago Film Critics Association!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Chicago Film Critics Association has announced their nominations for the best of 2024!  The winners will be announced on December 12 …. hey, that’s right around the corner.

BEST PICTURE
Anora
The Brutalist
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
I Saw the TV Glow
Nickel Boys
The Substance

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
Jane Schoenbrun – I Saw the TV Glow

BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Keith Kupferer – Ghostlight

BEST ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Léa Seydoux – The Beast

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Adam Pearson – A Different Man

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Ariana Grande-Butera – Wicked
Natasha Lyonne – His Three Daughters
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora by Sean Baker
The Brutalist by Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Challengers by Justin Kurtizkes
A Real Pain by Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Beast by Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Bréaud, & Benjamin Charbit
Conclave by Peter Straughan
Nickel Boys by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Nosferatu by Robert Eggers
Sing Sing by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Dahomey
Daughters
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez
Evil Does Not Exist
Red Rooms
The Seed of the Sacred Fig

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Challengers – Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Nickel Boys – Jomo Fray
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Dune: Part Two – Jacqueline West
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Jenny Beavan
Maria – Massimo Cantini Parrini
Nosferatu – Linda Muir
Wicked – Paul Tazewell

BEST EDITING
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Dávid Jancsó
Challengers – Marco Costa
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Eliot Knapman & Margaret Sixel
Nickel Boys – Nicolas Monsour

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Dune: Part Two – Hans Zimmer
Nosferatu – Robin Carolan
Wicked – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Hundreds of Beavers
The Substance
Wicked

MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER
Mike Cheslik – Hundreds of Beavers
Vera Drew – The People’s Joker
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine as Light
Greg Kwedar – Sing Sing
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Lily Collias – Good One
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Brigette Lundy-Paine – I Saw the TV Glow
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Adam Pearson – A Different Man

Here Are The Independent Spirit Nominations!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, most awards watchers will be devoting most of their attention to the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.  That said, the Independent Spirit nominations were still announced earlier today and Anora had a strong showing.  Meanwhile, The Brutalist, which did so well with the New York Film Critics Circle, picked up a nomination for Best Director but not Best Picture.

Here are the Spirit Nominations.  While looking at the nominations, keep in mind that a lot of potential Oscar nominees were not eligible for a nomination.  As a result, the Spirit nominations aren’t exactly the strongest predictive tool when it comes to guessing what will eventually be nominated by the Academy.

Still, it never hurts to be mentioned!

Best Feature

Anora
Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow
Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys
Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing
Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton

The Substance
Producers: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner

Best First Feature

Dìdi
Director/Producer: Sean Wang
Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters

In the Summers

Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio
Producers: Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Alexander Dinelaris, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Cristóbal Güell, Sergio Alberto Lira, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Daniel Tantalean, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, Stephanie Yankwitt

Janet Planet
Director/Producer: Annie Baker
Producers: Andrew Goldman, Dan Janvey, Derrick Tseng

The Piano Lesson
Director: Malcolm Washington
Producers: Todd Black, Denzel Washington

Problemista
Director/Producer: Julio Torres
Producers: Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone

John Cassavetes Award

Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000

Big Boys
Writer/Director/Producer: Corey Sherman
Producer: Allison Tate

Ghostlight
Writer/Director: Kelly O’Sullivan
Director/Producer: Alex Thompson
Producers: Pierce Cravens, Ian Keiser, Chelsea Krant, Eddie Linker, Alex Wilson

Girls Will Be Girls
Writer/Director/Producer: Shuchi Talati
Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne

Jazzy
Writer/Director/Producer: Morrisa Maltz
Writer/Producer: Lainey Shangreaux
Writers: Andrew Hajek, Vanara Taing
Producers: Miranda Bailey, Tommy Heitkamp, John Way, Natalie Whalen, Elliott Whitton

The People’s Joker
Writer/Director: Vera Drew
Writer: Bri LeRose
Producer: Joey Lyons

BEST DIRECTOR

Ali Abbasi
The Apprentice

Sean Baker
Anora

Brady Corbet
The Brutalist

Alonso Ruizpalacios
La Cocina

Jane Schoenbrun
I Saw the TV Glow

BEST SCREENPLAY

Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Heretic

Jesse Eisenberg
A Real Pain

Megan Park
My Old Ass

Aaron Schimberg
A Different Man

Jane Schoenbrun
I Saw the TV Glow

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Joanna Arnow
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Annie Baker
Janet Planet

India Donaldson
Good One

Julio Torres
Problemista

Sean Wang
Dìdi

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Amy Adams
Nightbitch

Ryan Destiny
The Fire Inside

Colman Domingo
Sing Sing

Keith Kupferer
Ghostlight

Mikey Madison
Anora

Demi Moore
The Substance

Hunter Schafer
Cuckoo

Justice Smith
I Saw the TV Glow

June Squibb
Thelma

Sebastian Stan
The Apprentice

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Yura Borisov
Anora

Joan Chen
Dìdi

Kieran Culkin
A Real Pain

Danielle Deadwyler
The Piano Lesson

Carol Kane
Between the Temples

Karren Karagulian
Anora

Kani Kusruti
Girls Will Be Girls

Brigette Lundy-Paine
I Saw the TV Glow

Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin
Sing Sing

Adam Pearson
A Different Man

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Isaac Krasner
Big Boys

Katy O’Brian
Love Lies Bleeding

Mason Alexander Park
National Anthem

René Pérez Joglar
In the Summers

Maisy Stella
My Old Ass

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dinh Duy Hung
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Jomo Fray
Nickel Boys

Maria von Hausswolff
Janet Planet

Juan Pablo Ramírez
La Cocina

Rina Yang
The Fire Inside

 BEST EDITING

Laura Colwell, Vanara Taing
Jazzy

Olivier Bugge Coutté, Olivia Neergaard-Holm
The Apprentice

Anne McCabe
Nightbitch

Hansjörg Weissbrich
September 5

Arielle Zakowski
Dìdi

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast

His Three Daughters
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto
Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

Gaucho Gaucho
Directors/Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
Producers: Christos Konstantakopoulos, Cameron O’Reilly, Matthew Perniciaro

Hummingbirds
Directors: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras
Co-Directors/Producers: Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco, Jillian Schlesinger
Producers: Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow

No Other Land
Directors/Producers: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
Producers: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

Patrice: The Movie
Director: Ted Passon
Producers: Kyla Harris, Innbo Shim, Emily Spivack

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Director: Johan Grimonprez
Producers: Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius

 BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

All We Imagine as Light
France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Director: Payal Kapadia

Black Dog
China
Director: Guan Hu

Flow
Latvia, France, Belgium
Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Green Border
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium
Director: Agnieszka Holland

Hard Truths
United Kingdom
Director: Mike Leigh

PRODUCERS AWARD  presented by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey – The Producers Award, now in its 28th year, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality independent films.

Alex Coco

Sarah Winshall

Zoë Worth

 SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD  – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 31st year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

Nicholas Colia
Director of Griffin in Summer

Sarah Friedland
Director of Familiar Touch

Pham Thien An
Director of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 30th year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition.

Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
Directors of Sugarcane

Carla Gutiérrez
Director of Frida

Rachel Elizabeth Seed
Director of A Photographic Memory

Here Are The 2024 Gotham Nominations

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Awards season began this morning, with the announcement of the Gotham nominations!

Now, to be clear, the Gotham Awards are not exactly the best precursor when it comes to predicting the Oscars.  The Gothams are designed to honor independent films and, as a result, a lot of Oscar contenders are not even eligible for the Gothams.  Dune 2, for instance, is definitely not a Gotham film.

That said, every little bit helps and, since we’ve got a whole month before the rest of precursors start weighing in, the producers of Anora have to be happy that today’s headlines have all basically been a variation of “ANORA LEADS THE GOTHAMS.”  If you’re going to build momentum on the way to the Oscars, it’s important to stay in the conversation.  Today, Anora is dominating that conversation.

Here are the Gotham nominations!

Best Feature

Anora
Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, producers (NEON)

Babygirl
Halina Reijn, director; David Hinojosa, Julia Oh, Halina Reijn, producers (A24)

Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, director; Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal, Zendaya, producers (Amazon MGM Studios)

A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, director; Gabriel Mayers, Vanessa McDonnell, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)

Nickel Boys
RaMell Ross, director; Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, producers (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Feature

All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia, director; Julien Graff, Thomas Hakim, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, director; Fred Bernstein, Agnieszka Holland, Marcin Wierzchoslawski, producers (Kino Lorber)

Hard Truths
Mike Leigh, director; Georgina Lowe, producer (Bleecker Street)

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Thien An Pham, director; Jeremy Chua, Tran Van Thi, producers (Kino Lorber)

Vermiglio
Maura Delpero, director; Francesca Andreoli, Maura Delpero, Santiago Fondevila Sance, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Best Documentary Feature

Dahomey
Mati Diop, director; Mati Diop, Judith Lou Lévy, Eve Robin, producers (MUBI)

Intercepted
Oksana Karpovych, director; Darya Bassel, Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi, Lucie Rego Pauline Tran Van Lieu, producers (Grasshopper Film)

No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, directors; Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, producers (Antipode Films)

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Johan Grimonprez, director; Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius, producers (Kino Lorber)

Sugarcane
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, directors; Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn, producers (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Union
Stephen Maing, Brett Story, directors; Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, producers (Self-Distributed)

Best Director

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow and Janus Films)
Sean Baker, Anora (NEON)
Guan Hu, Black Dog (The Forge)
Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best Screenplay

Between the Temples, Nathan Silver, C. Mason Wells (Sony Pictures Classics)
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Sideshow and Janus Films)
Femme, Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Utopia)
His Three Daughters, Azazel Jacobs (Netflix)
Janet Planet, Annie Baker (A24)

Breakthrough Director

Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls (Juno Films, Inc)
India Donaldson, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)
Alessandra Lacorazza, In the Summers (Music Box Films)
Vera Drew, The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence)
Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown (Watermelon Pictures)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl (Roadside Attractions)
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)
Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight (IFC Films)
Mikey Madison, Anora (NEON)
Demi Moore, The Substance (MUBI)
Saoirse Ronan, Outrun (Sony Pictures Classics)
Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Yura Borisov, Anora (NEON)
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson (Netflix)
Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters (Netflix)
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)
Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding (A24)
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)
Adam Pearson, A Different Man (A24)
Brian Tyree Henry, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)
Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)
Izaac Wang, Dìdi Y(Focus Features)
Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Playing Catch Up With The Films of 2017: The Glass Castle (dir by Destin Daniel Cretton)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Glass Castle, which some people expected to be an Oscar contender until they actually sat through the damn thing, is a film that nearly inspired me to throw a shoe at my television.

Seriously, I was curled up on the couch and watching the movie on TV.  On the screen, Woody Harrelson was playing an obnoxious, selfish alcoholic who resented both his daughter’s success and her boyfriend.  According to the alcoholic who was living in a trash-strewn hovel with his wife, success meant selling out and money was the root of all evil and blah blah blah.  Anyway, the drunk ended up punching his son-in-law.  The very next scene featured the son-in-law whining about getting punched and that’s when I realized that the film somehow expected us to be on the side of the drunken asshole.

I reached down and picked a shoe up from the floor.  I was just about to throw it at the television when my sister Erin reached out from behind me and grabbed my hand.

“Lisa Marie,” she said, “you are not throwing your shoe at the TV.”

“But Errrrrrrrin,” I whined, “this movie really sucks!”

“Well, then write a review about how much it sucks.  But you’re not going to throw another shoe at the TV.”

Reluctantly, I dropped the shoe.  Though I may have been annoyed at the time, I see Erin’s point.  The Glass Castle is not worth losing a shoe over.

The Glass Castle is based on a powerful memoir by Jeannette Wells.  It tells the story of how she and her siblings were raised by an alcoholic father and an artist mother.  It’s a story that’s full of adventure and pathos and everything else that you could hope for from a family memoir.  It’s also a memoir that works because Walls refuses to idealize her life.  Though she writes about how her childhood seemed like a grand adventure when she was actually living it, she’s also very honest about the fact that it really wasn’t.  Though her love for her family comes through on every page, she never shies away from the darker aspects of growing up as American vagabonds.

The film largely takes the opposite approach to the material.  As played by Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts, Walls’s parents are portrayed as being somewhat lovable eccentrics.  Early on, when her mother’s carelessness leads to young Jeannette being burned and permanently scarred in a fire, there’s a scene where Harrelson compares it to the fire that burns inside of the entire family.  When I realized that we were supposed to be moved by this asinine comparison, I ended up rolling my eyes so hard that the world literally looked like it was upside down for five minutes.  “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?” I yelled at the movie.

This was followed by another scene where, at a public pool, Harrelson attempts to teach Jeanette to swim by repeatedly tossing her into the deep end and nearly drowning her.  And while the film acknowledged that this wasn’t exactly the best parenting technique, it was hard not to feel that we were supposed to think that Harrelson had a point when he said that he was preparing Jeannette to be a strong and independent person who would be able to survive being plunged into the deep end of existence.  “NO!”  I shouted at the TV, “YOU JUST NEARLY DROWNED YOUR DAUGHTER, YOU PRICK!”

(Full disclosure: My Dad once tried the same thing with me.  Fortunately, he only nearly drowned me once — as opposed to Jeannette’s father who just keeps dunking her in the deep end.  Still, it was frightening enough to not only leave me with with an obsessive fear of drowning but it also kept me from ever really learning how to swim.)

When Jeannette grows up, she’s played by Brie Larson, who does a passable Virginia accent and gives about as good a performance as anyone could, considering the script and the direction.  Her husband, David, is played by Max Greenfield.  David is a good, responsible person who doesn’t drink much and who makes a lot of money.  Jeannette’s father looks down on him for those two reasons and the film seems to expect us to do so as well.  But why?  David hasn’t done anything wrong.  He’s certainly not the one who tried to drown his own daughter or who came up with some bullshit explanation about why it was a good thing that she was allowed to burst into flame.  But, if we accept that David’s not a bad guy then we also have to accept that Jeannette’s father is being an asshole.  The film’s not sure how to handle that so instead, we’re just supposed to laugh at David because he gets the worst lines in the script.

It’s a very dishonest film.  Unlike the memoir on which it’s based, it has no interest in honestly examining what it’s like to grow up with an alcoholic.  Instead, it’s too busy giving us Woody Harrelson playing yet another redneck with a drinking problem.  Harrelson does a good enough job but fuck it.  If I want to spend time watching a drunk Woody Harrelson, I’ve got The Hunger Games on Blu-ray.

The Glass Castle ends with footage and pictures of Jeannette’s actual family and, as I watched them, it occurred to me that I would happily watch a documentary about the Walls family.  That would presumably have the honesty that is so lacking in The Glass Castle.