Boston Honors The Holdovers


The Boston Society of Film Critics have announced their picks for the best of 2023.  I believe this is the first best picture award to be picked up by The Holdovers.

Best Picture
Winner: The Holdovers
Runners Up: The Zone Of Interest & May December

Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: The Zone Of Interest

Best Director
Winner: Jonathan Glazer – The Zone Of Interest
Runners Up: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer & Todd Haynes – May December

Best Ensemble
Winner: Oppenheimer
Runners Up: Asteroid City, The Iron Claw & Killers Of The Flower Moon

Best Actor
Winner: Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Runners Up: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer & Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days

Best Actress
Winner: Lily Gladstone – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runners Up: Emma Stone – Poor Things, Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall & Natalie Portman – May December

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Runners Up: Charles Melton – May December, Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things & Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: The Zone Of Interest
Runners Up: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. & Killers Of The Flower Moon

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Holdovers
Runners Up: May December & You Hurt My Feelings

Best New Filmmaker
Winner: Celine Song – Past Lives
Runners Up: Cord Jefferson – American Fiction & A.V. Rockwell – A Thousand and One

Best Documentary
Winner: Geographies of Solitude
Runners Up: 20 Days in Mariupol, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, Kokomo City & Menus-Plaisirs les Troisgros

Best Animated Feature
Winner: The Boy And The Heron
Runners Up: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Robot Dreams & The Peasants

Best Cinematography
Winner: The Taste Of Things
Runners Up: Poor Things & Asteroid City

Best Editing
Winner: Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runner Up: Oppenheimer

Best Score
Winner: Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runner Up: The Zone Of Interest

Here’s What Won At Cannes


And so, another Cannes film festival has come to a close!  Despite my initial predictions and some generally respectful reviews, Ken Loach did not win a third Palme d’Or for The Old Oak so I’m happy about that.  Here’s what did win:

COMPETITION

Palme d’Or: “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet

Grand Prix: “The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer

Director: Tran Anh Hung, “The Pot au Feu”

Actor: Kōji Yakusho, “Perfect Days”

Actress: Merve Dizdar, “About Dry Grasses”

Jury Prize: “Fallen Leaves,” Aki Kaurismaki

Screenplay: Sakamoto Yûji, “Monster”

OTHER PRIZES

Camera d’Or: “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” Thien An Pham

Short Films Palme d’Or: “27,” Flóra Anna Buda.

Short Films Special Mention: “Fár,” Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter

Queer Palm: “Monster”

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Un Certain Regard Award: “How to Have Sex,” Molly Manning Walker

Jury Prize: Asmae El Moudir, “Hounds”

Best Director Prize: “The Mother of All Lies,” Asmae El Moudir

Freedom Prize: “Goodbye Julia,” Mohamed Kordofani

Ensemble Prize: “The Buriti Flower,” cast and crew

New Voice Prize: “Omen,” Baloji

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Europa Cinemas Label: “Creatura,” Elena Martín

Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “A Prince,” Pierre Creton

CRITICS’ WEEK

Grand Prize: “Tiger Stripes,” Amanda Nell Eu

French Touch Prize: “It’s raining in the house,” Paloma Sermon-Daï

GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Pyramide Films, “Inshallah a boy”

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Jovan Ginić, “Lost Country”

As far as the Oscars are concerned, I think the big winner at Cannes was Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.  Yes, it was screened out of competition but the response to the film was so enthusiastic that it pretty much confirmed that, for now, it’s the Oscar front runner.  If nothing else, the response temporarily silenced those who have been insisting that Killers of the Flower Moon would be a disappointment.  (Bizarrely, there’s a whole generation of film commentators who seem to be obsessed with claiming that Scorsese is somehow overrated.  I’d hate to think this is all about something as petty as Scorsese’s criticism of the Marvel films but then again, we live in petty times.)  I would also keep an eye on Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, which many expected would win the Palme but which had to settle for the jury prize.  From what I’ve read, Glazer’s film sounds like it could be an Oscar contender.