This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2024

Apologies to Eric H. for starting this thread without him, but he hasn't posted in a while. And today kicks off detrius season with the Gotham Awards nominations.

ANORA ANORA ANORA

Full Gothams lineup:

Best Feature

Anora
Babygirl
Challengers
A Different Man
Nickel Boys

Best International Feature

All We Imagine as Light
Green Border
Hard Truths
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Vermiglio

Best Documentary Feature

Dahomey
Intercepted
No Other Land
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
Union

Best Director

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light
Sean Baker, Anora
Guan Hu, Black Dog
Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

Best Screenplay

Between the Temples
Evil Does Not Exist
Femme
His Three Daughters
Janet Planet

Breakthrough Director

Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls
India Donaldson, Good One
Alessandra Lacorazza, In the Summers
Vera Drew, The People’s Joker
Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown

Outstanding Lead Performance

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Saoirse Ronan, Outrun
Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow

Outstanding Supporting Performance

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

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One
Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass
Izaac Wang, Dìdi
Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys

Conan hosting the Oscars:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/business/media/conan-obrien-oscars-host.html

Don't think I'm going to do as well in Movie Fantasy League as I did last year, so now I'm just hoping that my team, Saoirse and Destroy, beats the team Saoirse and Rescue.

Cahiers du Cinema top 10:

1) Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
2) May December (Todd Haynes)
3) In Water (Hong Sang Soo)
4) The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)
5) All We Imagine As Light (Kayal Kapadia)
6) The Delinquents (Rodrigo Moreno)
7) Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
8) Ma Vie Ma Gueule (Sophie Fillieres)
9) Trap (M. Night Shyamalan)
10) The Other Way Around (Jonas Trueba)

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/11/28/cahiers-du-cinmas-top-10-of-2024-topped-by-alain-guiraudies-misericordia-includes-shyamalan-glazer-and-haynes

[9) Trap (M. Night Shyamalan)

Da fuck?

2023 releases and shyamalan. good start to the season

I didn't know about the new Guiraudie. Yah on the Hamaguchi, possibly his best.

I'm just hoping that my team, Saoirse and Destroy, beats the team Saoirse and Rescue.

Well you’re ahead of me (I’m Tom Holland Drive).

Follow along as NYFCC announces awards:

https://bsky.app/profile/nyfcc.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/nyfcc.bsky.social/post/3lcfxdocia22q

BEST ACTRESS: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

BEST FIRST FILM: Janet Planet

BEST ACTRESS: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

yesss

Forgot to post the Gotham Award winners yesterday. Full list here, but notable winners were A Different Man for feature, RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys) for director, Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) for lead performance, and Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing) for supporting performance.

Back to NYFCC:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Carol Kane, Between the Temples

oh god more fucking category fraud. Kane is a LEAD. Like Culkin.

Kane's my vote for Best Actress actually.

BEST ACTOR: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

BEST SCREENPLAY: Sean Baker, Anora

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: All We Imagine as Light

BEST DIRECTOR: RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

BEST FILM: The Brutalist

xxpost Cahiers has a weird thing for Shyamalan and Eastwood. They tie themselves into knots describing the auteurist marvels those two create (in their eyes).

I watched Trap last night, inspired by this post and uhh

I am a Trap apologist. It's ridiculous fun.

National Board of Review

Best Film: “Wicked”

Best Director: Jon M. Chu, “Wicked”

Best Actor: Daniel Craig, “Queer”

Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, “Babygirl”

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning, “A Complete Unknown”

Best Ensemble: “Conclave”

Breakthrough Performance: Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Best Directorial Debut: India Donaldson, “Good One”

Best Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, “Hard Truths”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, “Sing Sing”

NBR Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “No Other Land”

Best Animated Feature: “Flow”

Best International Film: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Best Documentary: “Sugarcane”

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu”

Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry: “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Oh no the Wicked train begins

John Waters' Top 10

Over the paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20241206153936/https://www.vulture.com/article/john-waters-best-movies-of-2024.html

Golden Globe nominations!
https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/golden-globes-nominations-2025-full-list-1236236911/

Nice to see Challengers and Zendaya show up.

Also, my initial positive reaction to Emilia Perez has soured somewhat, but I'm happy for the sake of my fantasy league team that it scored 10 noms.

How are these two different people?

https://i.imgur.com/jXV0iGq.png

Emilia Perez is just loathsome as a queer film and as musical.

I like the idea of it being a musical, but no, the songs are not very good. Some of the things about the movie that didn't work made more sense when I learned it was originally written as an opera libretto.

LA Film Critics:

Best Picture
Winner: Anora
Runner-up: The Brutalist

Best Director
Winner: Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Runner-up: Sean Baker, Anora

Best Lead Performance
Winners: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths, and Mikey Madison, Anora
Runners-up: Demi Moore, The Substance, and Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Best Supporting Performance
Winners: Yura Borisov, Anora, and Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Runners-up: Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing, and Adam Pearson, A Different Man

Best Screenplay
Winner: Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Runner-up: Sean Baker, Anora

Best Documentary/Nonfiction
Winner: No Other Land
Runner-up: Dahomey

Best Cinematography
Winner: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys
Runner-up: Lol Crawley, The Brutalist

Best Music/Score
Winner: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers
Runner-up: Eiko Ishibashi, Evil Does Not Exist

Best Production Design
Winner: Judy Becker, The Brutalist
Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, Blitz

Best Editing
Tie: Nicholas Monsour, Nickel Boys, and Hansjörg Weissbrich, September 5

Best Animation
Winner: Flow
Runner-up: Chicken for Linda

Best Film Not in the English Language
Winner: All We Imagine as Light
Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize
Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3

New Generation
Vera Drew, The People’s Joker

I thought RaMell Ross's documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) was an incredible film, abstract but totally accessible. I also loved Colson Whitehead's book Nickel Boys, so am looking forward to Ross's interpretation of it

I've been meaning to watch Hale County. Thought it was on Criterion, but it's not (or at least not now).

Way better than Nickel Boys

Florida Film Critics Circle ballots due tomorrow.

I highly recommend All We Imagine as Light and the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat.

what didn't you like about Nickel Boys, Alfred?

The subjectivity of the POV cramped the movie's resonances imo. For a limited intelligence the subjectivity works, but Elwood's so smart that I wanted the film to honor his empathy and observational powers. Let him access the full range of his responses. It worked a couple places: the laundry room, the elder Elwood's bar chat with a fellow inmate.

Sight and Sound Top 50:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/best-films-2024-all-votes

Oscar shortlists for international, documentary, shorts, score, song, sound, VFX, and makeup:
https://press.oscars.org/news/97th-oscarsr-shortlists-10-award-categories-announced

from ScreenSlate's 'favourite first viewings' megapoll, Vera Drew on Unfrosted:

One of the most perverted films I have ever seen. The Right Stuff parody fair-use boomer fetish art. The cinematic equivalent of a sociopath. Sarah Cooper and a Cereal Mascot January 6 sequence. Grandma’s Holes, frooty goopy fetishy marshmallow fluff “what’s the first thing a baby tastes” “applesauce.” “Milk.” Watching Jerry lip sync the end credits song by Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor is like staring into Azathoth.

Our winners: https://x.com/FLFilmCritics

And we did Best Actor right, dammit.

The Guardian’s 50 best films in the UK #1 - All Of Us Strangers

The Guardian’s 50 best movies in the US #1 -The Brutalist

AV Club has been featuring some good film writing lately, like this:

https://www.avclub.com/mufasa-the-lion-king-disney-live-action-problem-faces

Just took the kids to see it and yeah I agree with all that. Don’t get me wrong it was incredibly impressive, the attention to detail was insane, but at the end of the day they just looked like animals. I couldn’t really tell some of the characters apart either. Also there was hardly a still shot the whole time, felt like the camera was constantly spinning in circles for like half of the runtime, made me dizzy to the point where I almost considered walking out. Wasn’t just me either, even my son said “it made my brain hurt”

Golden Globes making things interesting. Feel like Demi Moore has sewn up an Oscar nomination, but that category is stacked. Torres's win makes this an eight-person race, I'd say. I wonder if, for instance, Jolie doesn't make it in.

Anyway...

BEST DRAMA
"The Brutalist"

BEST COMEDY OR MUSICAL
"Emilia Pérez"

BEST MALE ACTOR, DRAMA
Adrien Brody, "The Brutalist"

BEST FEMALE ACTOR, DRAMA
Fernanda Torres, "I’m Still Here"

BEST MALE ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sebastian Stan, "A Different Man"

BEST FEMALE ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Demi Moore, "The Substance"

BEST MALE SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kieran Culkin, "A Real Pain"

BEST FEMALE SUPPORTING ACTOR
Zoe Saldaña, "Emilia Pérez"

BEST DIRECTOR
Brady Corbet, "The Brutalist"

BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Flow"

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM
"Emilia Pérez"

BEST SCREENPLAY
Peter Straughan, "Conclave"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, "Challengers"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"El Mal," "Emilia Pérez"

CINEMATIC AND BOX OFFICE ACHIEVEMENT
"Wicked"

And here's the National Society of Film Critics, announced a few days ago:


Best Picture: “Nickel Boys”
Runners-up:
“Anora”
“All We Imagine As Light”

Best Actor: Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Runners-up:
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”

Best Actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, “Hard Truths”
Runners-up:
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Ilinca Manolache, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World”

Best Supporting Actress: Michele Austin, “Hard Truths”
Runners-up:
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “Nickel Boys”
Natasha Lyonne, “His Three Daughters”

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Runners-up:
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
Adam Pearson, “A Different Man”

Best Director: Payal Kapadia, “All We Imagine As Light”
Runners-up:
RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys”
Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Runners-up:
Radu Jude, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World”
Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best Cinematography: Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”
Runners-up:
Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist”
Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu”

Best Nonfiction Film: “No Other Land”
Runners-up:
“Dahomey”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”

Best Foreign-Language Film: “All We Imagine As Light”
Runners-up:
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Best Experimental Film: “The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire”

Film Heritage Award: Scott Eyman

Film Heritage Award: IndieCollect

Film Heritage Award: To Save and Project: The MoMa International Festival of Film Preservation

Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: “No Other Land”

Looking at Sean Baker's filmography, I realize I hadn't seen any of his movies until Anora. Any I should see? Or is this is "best" at this stage?

A Complete Nora

― *The Anime＼(*^β^*)/ Ring (Whiney G. Weingarten),

you should see the florida project

...and Starlet and Red Rocket and Tangerine!

I finally saw Anora. I like that it is about a woman who as a sex worker has to be transactional in every interaction in her life, so that it becomes all that she knows, but then encounters someone who doesn't want to relate to her in that way.

I think each of the sections of the story go on too long, and so many of the scenes are hectoring, with people screaming at each other over club music.

But I like the concept of it, that a woman who is disrespected is given a chance to reach for something else and completely embraces it, only to then have to go through an ordeal

She at the end is returned in some ways to her previous life but this time everything is different. The last scene of the film is all-time great I think

Sean Baker knows how to end a movie

Unrelated to "Anora" (not least because I think "Anora" is shot really well):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTUM9cFeSo

I'm Still Here acquires poignancy as it nears its last half hour. The quotidian reality of keeping a family together -- ice cream outings, fixing dolls -- while bottling up the hysteria borne out knowing your husband's been killed by your own government is handled quite well. All the actors playing the kids excel. If I were an Academy member, Fernanda Torres would get my vote.

BAFTA winners

Film: Conclave
Director: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Actor: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Actress: Mikey Madison, Anora
Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldana, Emilia Pérez
Original Screenplay: A Real Pain
Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

More:
https://deadline.com/2025/02/bafta-film-awards-winners-list-conclave-emilia-perez-2025-1236291491/

Okay, who's seen the Oscar-nominated shorts (animated and liveaction), and are we concerning ourselves with spoilers?

What's the best way to watch them?

https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/

I went to Landmark E Street yesterday.

Of the Sean Baker movies I’ve seen, Tangerine is the must see.

I loved Tangerine

I know A Real Pain is supposed to be a film about generational trauma, but it celebrates two very annoying guys making the holocaust all about themselves.

Kieran Culkin does his Succession schtick with a vengeance. How is he already anointed as the presumed winner of the academy award?

Because he's good.

Conversation here: A Real Pain (the film)

Independent Spirit Awards

BEST FEATURE
Anora

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Mikey Madison, Anora

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker, Anora

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Flow

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

BEST EDITING
Hansjörg Weissbrich, September 5

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sean Wang, Dìdi

BEST SCREENPLAY
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Dìdi

BEST DOCUMENTARY
No Other Land

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass

I finally saw Anora, and am wondering why anyone who looks so much like the Boston Marathon bomber is to be trusted. I'd ask if she was in a Pretty Woman fantasy, but I didn't see any indication that that film exists in the Bakerverse.

Watched A Different Man, which I thought was pretty good if a bit overdetermined. Would be an interesting pairing with The Substance. Adam Pearson is very good.

so after SAG, I'm gonna say that Moore, Saldana, and Culkin feel like locks. actor is back to a two-way race between Brody and Chalamet. and best picture is unsettled as ever. the PGA-DGA twofer gave Anora some momentum, but now BAFTA and SAG ensemble have gone for Conclave.

Wonder if an actual conclave will be happening during the Oscars.

Can’t believe the AACTA sweep two weeks ago hasn’t been factored in yet as a precursor to the Oscar results

oh wow, Australia really loved the Robbie Williams monkey movie

When I heard about the concept for it I couldn't help but think it was some crazy narcissist move to try and draw more attention to it. I don't think I'll ever get myself to watch it.

a different man was great. haven't seen the substance yet but might tonight

I'm Still Here acquires poignancy as it nears its last half hour. The quotidian reality of keeping a family together -- ice cream outings, fixing dolls -- while bottling up the hysteria borne out knowing your husband's been killed by your own government is handled quite well. All the actors playing the kids excel. If I were an Academy member, Fernanda Torres would get my vote.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 14, 2025 2:31 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I must have skimmed this post since I hadn't seen the movie yet. Now that I have, I agree with it entirely.

i finally got around to "a different man," i loved it. maybe too many ideas but sometimes "maybe too many ideas" are the best movies. i thought it was interesting that it has obvious but superficial parallels with "the substance," but it also had some echoes with "hard truths" in terms of having a central character who seems to be inherently miserable and contrasting him with a similar character with similar experiences but a completely different worldview.

just watched Nickel Boys. thought it was a beautiful film, the best of the 7 nominees I've seen so far

For posterity, the Oscar winners
Oscars 2025

Best picture
Anora

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Mikey Madison, Anora

Achievement in directing
Anora, Sean Baker

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Original Score
The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg

Best international feature film
I'm Still Here, Brazil

Achievement in cinematography
The Brutalist

Best live action short film
I'm Not a Robot

Achievement in visual effects
Dune: Part Two

Achievement in sound
Dune: Part Two

Best documentary feature film
No Other Land

Best documentary short film
The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Original Song
"El Mal" from Emilia Pérez

Achievement in production design
Wicked

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Achievement in film editing
Anora, Sean Baker

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Conclave, Screenplay by Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anora, Written by Sean Baker

Achievement in costume design
Wicked

Best animated short film
In the Shadow of the Cypress

Best animated feature film
Flow

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

I'm glad I didn't stick around to see Mikey Madison win over Demi Moore

Yeah, I'm sad that Moore couldn't pull it out in the end. At the same time, I do like a good Oscars surprise, and that was a pretty big one (even if foreshadowed by the BAFTAs).

Felt bad for Moore, yeah. It would've meant a lot to her, and who knows if she'll get another shot. Hard to be mad about Madison winning though, she lights up the movie.

I spent so long railing against the Academy tossing out legacy or make-up awards to people that I'm surprised I'm a little upset that Moore didn't get it. Maybe it's because this was a better performance than most of those and, without Marianna Jean Baptiste, I don't know that I think I could really choose between her or Mikey's.

One argument for Madison is that her performance is a huge part of what makes Anora what it is, and so if you're going to give the movie Best Picture, it would be odd not to give her Best Actress. I suspect that logic may have carried the day for a lot of voters.

Sue would have smiled and won all the awards!

out of the Actress noms, I’ve only seen Anora and Substance, but they’re both great performances that the films depend on. And each actress has been in the same number of good movies, so it’s just as fair to give it as a legacy award to either.



oh wow, Australia really loved the

nb that the Australian awards are for Australian films. the Furiosa shut-out is egregious though.

I'm happy the Academy recognized a lead comedy performance.

xp but it won the AACTA International Award for best film, too, beating out Anora, Emilia Pérez, Dune 2, and The Brutalist

really happy for ANORA, baker, and mikey madison. deserved wins regardless, but hard not to think hollywood caught a break with the timing of the gascón stuff

I'm way less crazy about Anora than most of ILX is but Madison's comic chops made the first act and half of the second one a delight. I don't at all mind her win even if I rooted for Fernanda Torres.

pretty impressed by sean baker's ability to stay charming and not really repeat himself over 4 different speeches

The sex worker essay Josh linked is good, I was thinking about the portrayal of the work and the workers throughout the film. I do think there's real narrative sympathy there, the story doesn't condemn or judge Ani. There's immorality in the story, but none of it connected to sex work except in the exploitation of it. But of course it's not "realistic," it's a kind of fable, and it doesn't suggest much possibility for Ani or her co-workers outside the confines of their current economic situations. Nor does it in any serious way examine those situations, it just implies or stipulates them. So it's not Pretty Woman, but it's also not a Dardennes film.

Mikey is incredible in that movie, but Moore is maybe the best performance in anything that came out last year?

oh oops I referred to the link Josh posted but it was actually in the Sean Baker thread: https://angelfoodmag.com/romance-labor

I'm one of those dimwits who had to scurry home and search up "ending of Nickel Boys explained"--at least I was right...I may or may not see it a second time. The technique did wear on me at times (more so early on), but it's ambitious and you know you've seen something when it's over. The long collage near the end reminded me of the best parts of 20th Century Women. Between A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, and Nickel Boys, I don't get how Anora won the AA.

I think the film benefits from us having read the book first. It was beautiful, but it downplayed the horrors of the Nickel Academy as presented in the book, and the ending was confusing if you haven't read the book.

I just loved the camera-work, the presentation of the two boys with the camera seeing things from their opposite points of view, the music, and the many interpolated home movies, archival films, and abstract images, all of which seemed so heartfelt

Think it might benefit from a second viewing at home with captions--I lost some dialogue, mostly attributable to my poor hearing.

I wasn't at all happy with the film. I loved the novel, one of the decade's best, and the subjectivity didn't work: it actually shriveled the film for me. But I'm also glad it didn't get the usual realist treatment.

I thought the subjectivity was the strength of the film, I just thought it could have used more drama