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The Films of 2020. The 21st annual FiLM BiTCH Awards

PICTURE | ACTING | VISUALS | AURALS | EXTRAS | SPECIAL | SCENES - you are here

 

and the nominees are...

Best Musical Scene in a Musical (or Performance Heavy Picture)
"Take a Chance on Me / Honey"
AND THEN WE DANCED
"Real"
EMA
"Lion of Love"
EUROVISION
"Chain Gang"
Leslie Odom Jr
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
"Ultraluminary"
OVER THE MOON
  Dance pop group fun gives way to joyful seduction for two. The fuzzy hat <3
Dancing and wreaking havoc 'round the city. Hips perpetually gyrating So over the top but who's complaining when its campy pop spectacle bliss?  Malcolm X describes an unforgettable performance he cant quite hear Introducing Chung'e. She puts on a show for her minions.
 

Finalists: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (finally) a perfect take of the titular song, collective dance performance by the sun in Ema (unfortunately we just get splinters)

Semi Finalists:  "Make it Work" from Jingle Jangle, "Husavik" in Eurovision, "Rocket to the Moon" from Over the Moon, "Double Trouble" in Eurovision, "Miles and Miles" in Jingle Jangle

Note: If a musical number opens or closes a film it is part of the opening or ending category.

 

 

Best Musical Scene in a Non-Musical
"Poverty Porn"
Radha Blank
THE FORTY-YEAR OLD VERSION
Mating Dance
Sacha Baron Cohen & Maria Bakalova
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
Dream Ballet
Cast
I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
"Legendary Woman"
Alexis Chikaeze
MISS JUNETEENTH
"Stars are Blind"
Carey Mulligan & Bo Burnham
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
 D is intrigued and so are we once Radha spits ideas and passion at the mic  One of Borat's most successfully outre moments. The father daughter event gone wrong   Oklahoma! is all over this thing and honestly it's a relief since the film's cerebral fussiness gives way to something more visual/aural  The script's most successful ploy is to put so much pressure on this moment only to upend the script and fuse it to a character arc completed in reaction shots   One of the year's most beloved scenes and with good reasons. It's an oasis of silly joy, a letting down of the guard, in an otherwise tense journey
Runners Up

Finalists: Carrie at the gay bar in The Nest, they've got choreography in Palm Springs

Semi Finalists: Dance number with cardboard faces in Dick Johnson is Dead, A Father daughter duet in Sound of Metal, reprise that college dance in Boys in the Band, Joe's audition in Soul, a Dirty Dancing riff in Holidate

Note: * If a musical number opens or closes a film it is part of the opening or ending category.

 

 

Best Action Sequence
LOVE AND MONSTERS TENET WILD GOOSE LAKE WILD GOOSE LAKE WONDER WOMAN 1984
Chaotic crab climax. It all comes together in a scene that's funny, adventurous, exciting, and touching  Freeport heist both times (forwards/backwards) separated by many scenes but the same one.  The climactic apartment complex chase kicking off with a weaponized umbrella

 A flashback to a gang argument which erupts into fragmented violence in a tiny dark space.

Cheetah vs Diana (Round 1). A hint of how exciting the movie could have been with the right focus.
 

Finalists: that doggie in danger in Love and MonstersOld Guard Andy vs Nyle in the plane; Attempted kidnapping shootout in News of the World

Semi Finalists:  Demon bear climax in The New Mutants; Birds of a Prey funhouse; First time as wolf escape in Wolfwalkers, Chasing the chameleon in Project Power

 

Best Kiss
Anya Taylor Joy & Johnny Flynn
EMMA

Gina Rodriguez and Evan Rachel Wood
KAJILLIONAIRE

Eidin Jalali & Benjamin Radjaipour
NO HARD FEELINGS
Andy Samberg & Cristin Milontti
PALM SPRINGS
Carey Mulligan & Bo Burnham
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
 A quick peck test and then the real commitment (literally - the wedding scene follows)  new concept: love. old concept but fresh direction: consumers. a kiss by the checkout The first intimacies. Almost innocent in their affections.   "In case I don't see you again" a figurative (and literal) explosion of love. Cassie finally lets her guard down. Is a happy ending too much to ask for?

Runners Up

Finalists: Levan Gelbakhiani & Bachi Valishvili in the woods and And Then We Danced but we figured it belonged more to the sex scene category, their secret passion exploding, Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace in Babyteeth , like everything in the film superbly acted 

Semi Finalists: gay bar meet in I Carry You With Me, Dev Patel and Rosalind Eliazar in The Personal History of David Copperfield, Marwen Kenzari and Luca Marinelli defiant romance in the armored van in The Old Guard , Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey catch feelings in the morning in Holidate, and Dylan O'Brien and Jessica Henwick at the end of journey (and fantasy) in Love and Monsters 

 

Best Sex Scene
Radha Blank & Oswin Benjamin
THE 40 YEAR-OLD VERSION
Kate Winslet & Saorise Ronan
AMMONITE
Levan Gelbakhiani & Bachi Valishvili
AND THEN WE DANCED
Essie Davis & Ben Mendelsohn
BABYTEETH
Animated
NO 7 CHERRY LANE
get it get it! A surprise dating success "oh shit oh shit oh shit" Kate Winslet & Saoirse Ronan really rip those corsets off -- and their inhibitions with it.  Passion blooms as the men find privacy in the woods. All the while you worry (and thrill) for them.  Married by appt, each Tuesday. Hilariously realistic and distracted. The sandwich <3  A feverish dream with shape-shifting cat-scratch fantasy. Has to be seen to be believed.
Runners Up

Finalists: Andy Samberg & Cristin Milotti -- "let's just get it over with" -- the first or the seventeenth time in Palm Springs, Mariane de Giolrman & cast - omnisexual married seduction (pt 1 & 2) in Ema, Eidin Jalali and Benjamin Radjaipour in the climax of No Hard Feelings

Semi Finalists: "red rooster and brown hen" in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, bathing beauty blowjob in Wild Goose Lake, marrieds in The Nest, escalating danger in Lost Girls and Love Hotels

 




Best Opening Scene
BEGINNING MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM MINARI PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN SOUND OF METAL
  Sudden terror at the meeting house. The movie will try this type of slealth explosion again multiple times but this is the most successful.  "Deep Moaning Blues" performance prologue. You get The Great Migration, Ma's career, and in-band tension all at once.  Arriving at a new home... on wheels! Most of the family dynamics are already in place. (and that perfect score helps) Drunk girl? Good guy? Wait, nope on both counts once he's taking her home. "What are you doing?" "Purify" The sweat and noise of bandmates and lovers performing. Too loud. Too distorted. Cut to silent morning after
Runners Up

Finalists: Rehearsal in And Then We Danced... he's "too soft" she's not virginal enough... all that gender rigidity in full force.

Semi Finalists: Sex on the train -- horror as arousal in Shirley; the out of tune classroom in Soul; space dog and moon goddess "On the Moon Above" in Over the Moon; Holly the unwilling assassin in Possessor; the talent show in Never Rarely Sometimes Always for its incongruity... the movie is nothing like this; Noirish mystery meet-up in Wild Goose Lake... the movie is exactly like this

 

Best Ending
AND THEN WE DANCED ANOTHER ROUND FIRST COW NEWS OF THE WORLD SOUND OF METAL
 Defiant flamboyant audition

 Ecstatic drunken release

"We'll go soon. I've got you" A brief rest A (happy) family performance of the news  Silence. Acceptance?
Runners Up

Finalists: "What the fuck are you doing in our pool?" in Palm Springs, Tilda has had it and is out in The Human Voice ; "A Change is Gonna Come" as history moves on for all four protagonists in One Night in Miami

Semi Finalists: Fern drives away in Nomadland; the painful sudden absence in Gunda;  Onward pulls off a savvy 'from afar' twist for its expected climax; the high school musical in I'm Thinking of Ending Things

 


Best Credit Sequence / Title Design
BIRDS OF PREY LOVE AND MONSTERS THE PROM PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN RELIC
 [end titles]
Funhouse madness
 [opening titles]
Backstory doodles
[end titles]
Roll call with signage
[opening titles]
Walk of shame(lessness) with hot dog / hot pink titles
[end titles]
Spreading like fungi

 

Finalists: The Human Voice's tools as titles; The elegant simplicty of Emma.'s introduction, a white scroll into the clouds for Mank

Semi Finalists: Blunt cut to the blood drip of She Dies Tomorrow; Old time caligraphy in Wolfwalkers, flowing fabrics and end titles of Mulan 

 

Best Scenes (excluding aforementioned categories)
AND THEN WE DANCED FIRST COW INVISIBLE MAN MANK THE NEST
roaming camera at the wedding party  silent domesticity; a home falling into place attic search and paint can drunk, escorted from the party overpriced angry dinner; she's had it.
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS NO 7 CHERRY LANE PIECES OF A WOMAN RELIC SWALLOW
 titular scene Simone Signoret movie date Home birth in the crawlspace the marble ('I'm proud of myself')

Finalists: Hallucinating dinosaurs in Palm Springs, Swankie's story in Nomadland; Brothers reconcile in And Then We Danced; "unlocked you" Ammonite; Cutler & Ma relax in private in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Hearst castle grounds in Mank

Semi-Finalists: Asking Cassie out in Promising Young Woman; Climactic spouse argument in Minari; Marion on the stake in Mank; waking up in a new male body in Possessor; Shirley at the party; Emma's cruelty at the picnic; An uprising at the mines in News of the World; Cocktail guests in French Exit ; first seance French Exit 

WELCOME TO CHECHNYA WILD GOOSE LAKE
press conference  "Rasputin" (the sting)

 

 NOMINATIONS IN ALL CATEGORIES

(OSCAR PARALLEL & OTHERWISE)
(39 of 39 categories announced thus far | 63 films honored with nominations thus far)

 

11 nominations
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) 

10 nominations
MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
MINARI (5 gold, 1 bronze)

9 nominations
AND THEN WE DANCED (3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)
NEWS OF THE WORLD (1 silver, 1 bronze)

8 nominations
SOUND OF METAL (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

7 nominations
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI (1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)

6 nominations
NOMADLAND (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

5 nominations
EMMA (2 silver)
EUROVISION (2 gold, 1 bronze)
THE FATHER (3 gold, 2 bronze)
MANK (2 silver)
PALM SPRINGS (1 gold, 1 silver)

4 nominations
BABYTEETH (1 silver, 2 bronze)
FIRST COW (1 silver, 2 bronze)
NO. 7 CHERRY LANE (1 silver, 2 bronze)
TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG (1 silver, 2 bronze)
WILD GOOSE LAKE (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

3 nominations
AMMONITE (1 gold)
ANOTHER ROUND (1 gold)
THE 40 YEAR OLD VERSION (1 silver)
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM (1 bronze)
LOVE AND MONSTERS (1 gold, 1 silver)
I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
OVER THE MOON (1 bronze)
TENET (1 bronze)
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA (2 gold)

2 nominations
THE ASSISTANT (1 gold)
THE BOYS IN THE BAND (1 gold)
DA 5 BLOODS (2 bronze)
EMA (1 bronze)
FRENCH EXIT
I CARRY YOU WITH ME (1 bronze)
THE INVISIBLE MAN (1 gold)
MISS JUNETEENTH (1 silver, 1 bronze)
MULAN
PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (1 gold, 1 silver)
THE PROM
RELIC (1 silver)
SHIRLEY (2 bronze)
SOUL (1 silver)
TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
WONDER WOMAN 1984 (1 bronze)

1 nomination
BEGINNING (1 silver)
BIRDS OF PREY (1 bronze)
GUNDA (1 bronze)
THE HALF OF IT
HILLBILLY ELEGY (1 bronze)
JINGLE JANGLE (1 bronze)
KAJILLIONAIRE (1 bronze)
THE LIFE AHEAD
THE MIDNIGHT SKY
THE NEST
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (1 gold)
NO HARD FEELINGS
PIECES OF A WOMAN
POSSESSOR (1 bronze)
SAINT FRANCES (1 silver)
SHE DIES TOMORROW (1 gold)
SWALLOW
TROLLS WORLD TOUR (1 silver)
WOLFWALKERS (1 gold)
YOUR NAME ENGRAVED HEREIN (1 silver)

some trivia

most nominations  11 for Promising Young Woman
most nominations for a non Best Pic nominee 11 for Promising Young Woman
fewest nominations for a Best Pic nominee 5 for Palm Springs
most nominations for a film that did not make the Top Ten List 10 for Ma Rainey...
 

most medals 8 medals to And Then We Danced
most gold medals 5 for Minari 
most silver medals 4 for And Then We Danced 
most bronze medals several films scored 2 bronze
least nominations for a Top Ten Lister -1 each for Wolfwalkers and No Hard Feelings
most nominations for a movie I didn't like - 5 for Eurovision
most nominations without any medals - 3 for I'm Thinking of Ending Things
gold for the only nomination - Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Wolfwalkers, and She Dies Tomorrow all accomplished this weird thing

 

 

The Films of 2020. The 21st annual FiLM BiTCH Awards

PICTURE | ACTING | VISUALS | AURALS | EXTRAS | SPECIAL | SCENES - you are here