NYFCC Loves Legos, Nuns, and Boyhood
Monday, December 1, 2014 at 11:46AM The NYFCC (New York Film Critics Circle), one half of the two crucial critics prizes for each film year (the other half being the LAFCA who announce soon) gathered this morning for prize time. Their annual game of combative rounds winnowing their choice down to one (usually) in their categories resulted in big wins for Boyhood and really important gets for two key actors.
PICTURE Boyhood
It could well be a steamroller with critics groups. Unless Selma and Birdman get scrappy
DIRECTOR Richard Linklater, Boyhood
We can safely call him locked up for his first Oscar nomination in this category after two nominations for writing
SCREENPLAY The Grand Budapest Hotel
This is the only category that Wes Anderson has ever had real luck in with awards bodies. Can Budapest find a way to slip into the Best Picture Oscar field and change that?
ACTRESS Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant & Two Days, One Night
An enormously important get for Cotillard who has found it a real struggle to connect with awards bodies since her Oscar win for what ironically is an arguably lesser performance than the ones she's been trotting out regularly lately
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
So pleased that this grounded affecting performance has garnered such praise this year. It's a real treat coming from an actress that hasn't been overused overpraised much in her career.
ACTOR Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner
Another enormous "must have" for the preliminary rounds. Spall is up against a super tight Best Actor field and every mention counts towards keeping his name out there. They really should have released this movie earlier. I struggle to understand Sony Pictures Classics preference for late December which often kills "small" films with too little too late push
SUPPORTING ACTOR J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Looks likely march to the Oscar with no problem. Which is sad for Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) and Edward Norton (Birdman) who are both still waiting and both so worthy this year
CINEMATOGRAPHY Darius Khondji, The Immigrant
So underappreciated
ANIMATED FILM The LEGO Movie
Unsurprising and I expect all the flyover state critics prizes to go the same way. The real question as precursor season heats up is which littler film gets some mentions.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Ida
If Ida dominates this field in the precursors might we see it pop up in one or two additional Oscar categories? Wouldn't that be neat?
DOCUMENTARY Citizenfour
A possible steamroller for the non-fiction prizes
FIRST FEATURE Jennifer Kent, The Babadook
Don't miss our interview with this hot new talent. I told her we were wondering about her future and she said "I'm wondering about my future, too!"
Reader Comments (63)
I keep expecting IDA to sneak into the cinematographer's guild (ala White Ribbon or A Very Long Engagement) and finally make people realise it's an Oscar player there. Of course, that may also just be a fantasy.
So happy for Patricia Arquette, although as usual I do hope it's not a one-woman field this year across the critics organisations.
I'm rooting for patricia and I haven't even seen the movie yet, I don't care!
If anyone has any problems with the winners, just remember that Peter Travers and Rex Reed vote on these, so they only have to be as important as you decide they are.
Among the many reasons I want to see The LEGO Movie win the Oscar is to see Lord and Miller take the stage whilst "Everything is Awesome" plays.
Strong slate of winners so far. Grand Budapest remains my #1 film of the year to date, and I still hold out hope this might be Anderson's year for the screenplay award, so every bit helps.
I'm delighted with their choices so far. Simmons or Norton, tough to choose. I'd go with Norton. I'm a big fan, but he was also excellent in his role--funny, abrasive and tender. Simmons, though, has more to chew on. Simmons will most likely win, but hopefully Norton won't be overdue for long.
yes marion, go for that fifth spot! (amy 'layered' adams should sit next year out)
MARION!!!!!!!!
WOW. Jennifer Kent wins Best First Feature for The Babadook. Nathaniel, you should conduct/post a quick follow-up interview!
Hello, Boyhood. Hi, The Immigrant.
I wonder how "Boyhood" will actually do at the Oscars. It will probably sweep the critics prizes this year, and I think it will be nominated, but I'm not sure if it would be the Academy's choice for best picture. None of the prestige pics this year just didn't get unanimous raves the way "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity" did.
Marion wins for both The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night... You go girl. Which role will she pick for oscar campaigning. Harvey get behind her.
Yay for Cotillard, Spall, Wes Anderson and Arquette. Might not be my picks, but they're all more than worthy.
Boyhood is hardly my favorite movie of the year (I'm not even sure it would make my top 20 at this point), but there are so many worse alternatives that I'd be happy for this to become the favorite for BP.
Wish I was more of a fan of Ida and The Lego Movie, though. I don't think anything is going to annoy me more this awards season if those two become front runners in their respective categories.
And I really hope Dick Pope stays in the conversation for his stunning work on Mr. Turner. He deserves ALL the awards.
@Mustafa: Harvey pretty much buried The Immigrant, so I would expect any campaign she mounts to be for Two Days, One Night.
Shame he buried it as I believe it's her finest work,good on Spall he needed this.
It's so strange to be out on Boyhood, a film I didnt care much for, including Patricia Arquette.
@ Sean : Haven't seen Two Days, One Night, but can you imagine Marion winning two Oscars for two foreign language films!
At this point someone will have to slap me and tell me to "snap out of it".
@ Sean : Haven't seen Two Days, One Night, but can you imagine Marion winning two Oscars for two foreign language films!
At this point someone will have to slap me and tell me to "snap out of it".
YES MARION! I've not wanted to see an actress nominated this much since I wanted to see Marion for Rust and Bone. I'm not actually a Marion superfan but she's put in performance after performance after performance that embarrass the academy for not nominating her again.
Keegan: With the lack of an Indie Spirit nom AND this prize going to Cotillard? It's looking like Nat genuinely needs to put Reese at 7th or 8th place life support.
Are they posting the runner-ups this year, as usual?
Marion, je t'aime! NYFCC I finally forgive you for awarding Meryl in The Iron Lady! I got closure! Yay!
Spall and Simmons are actors I deeply respect and I'm also very very happy for Patricia. Let's hope her performance inspire more executives to cast more mature women in films. Watching her change through the movie is one the most fascinating things I've experienced this year.
Marion has scored a win and a nom for The Immigrant, yet the Weinstein Company barely acknowledges it exists.
http://twcguilds.com/
You're pushing Eleanor Rigby and St. Vincent over The Immigrant? Really!?
Hope Princess Kaguya gets some love from the critics. It's a lovely and powerful film, but also needs all the precursor support it can to even secure a nomination.
John: I still get why they're pushing Eleanor Rigby (they see it as a way to build long term for a McAvoy campaign for a later film they put him in and plays into Chastain having, at the very least, a moment), but St. Vincent kind of flopped critically and the Academy hasn't been that into Bill Murray to follow him to that kind of territory. (See also: Passed over for Ghostbusters and Rushmore.) Unless it's sheepishness at the idea of having backed the wrong horse, which I doubt, I'm betting, instead, that those still being there is founded in an unwillingness to forget ANY release that was perceived, on paper at least, as highly Oscar viable that was released after September 1.
So so so SO happy for Marion! I can't believe The Immigrant (and Joaquin Phoenix!!!!) are not in the awards conversation more. And happiest for Grand Budapest winning screenplay. I'm pleased with all the winners, really.
I mean, I will never take a film critic association that awarded American Hustle with Best Picture and Screenplay seriously ever again, but I am pleased for the winners.
Just a simple question: what a normal person can do for the Academy nominate Marion?
Send cookies, pasta, tickets for Lada Gaga, trips to Paris or just the dvd's from the films? That would be nice.
What she have done in this year it's so especial that her fellow actors should encourage this kind of work. So that writers and directors in the future can chalenge themselves in creating great roles for women and not just Lifetime or Superheroes movies.
It's time for the big studios to understand that the talent people dont need to escape to television to make great work. It's Revolution Time, baby!
Is The Immigrant ever going to be on DVD?!?
@CharlesYeah, I want to help!
Maybe we should hire Erin Brockovich and she'll help us to perform 634 sexual favors for Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant!
I'm crossing my fingers for a Cotillard resurgence. She was incredible in The Immigrant! And also she's always amazing and flawless. So..
Go get that Oscar, Patricia Arquette.
Marion!!! "Immigrant" love!!! bless you NYFCC
cal roth sexual favors? I'm in!
You get the girls I get the guys! And Erin can get the paper work or something like that.
I'm very excited for Patricia too. Because she does in the film what Hollywood has prohibited women to do: aged. And she does it beautifully.
I knew hey'd go for MR. TURNER somewhere. they *LOVE* mike leigh
John T! The Immigrant is on Netflix right now!
So so happy for Patricia Arquette. <3
And Marion too, of course. Hopefully Oscar won't snub her again this time.
Harvey better ramp up that campaign for The Immigrant when Marion gets that Golden Globe nomination, MARK MY WORDS! Come on Academy this chick has done some of the most inspired acting the past few years. As RuPaul may say "Don't fuck it up!"
Now, if Scarlett can just win LAFCA then my faith will be restored in critics' ability to vote for their favorites, not for the sake of predicting the Oscars.
Guys, THE IMMIGRANT is Radius. Which, yes, are a part of Weinstein's roster, but they're not the same entity. At least that's my understanding of it. They had their own say on how it was released (same goes for SNOWPIERCER, which they had). If Radius want to put a campaign for the film then they can. Although Harvey may not want them to since it'd be a bit shameful to have his own product upstaged by a film he shunned to a specialty label.
Why do organisations like this do cinematography prizes, but not costumes or art direction or score? I mean, is judging costumes all that more difficult than cinematography?
zig - as far as i'm aware no. they're cracking down on members sharing info online about what went down in voting.
Nathaniel, what are your thoughts on the vote split between Marion's two performances this year? Maybe Harvey and Co. are deliberately pushing the attention to Two Days One Night to shift votes toward one performance instead of between two?
It seems crazy to me that Wes Anderson hasn't won an Oscar yet.
Now Marion needs one big loud mouthed star to sing her praises a la Witherspoon for Watts and Roberts for Bardem. Come out of hiding in Sydney Cate. We got a job for you. She is the right candidate as she has stanned for Marion before.
John -- well the Weinsteins aren't involved with Two Days so that is not it. there does seem to be some sort of immigrant denial within twc thought. must be some behind the scenes situation the world is not privvy to.
Glenn - i've never understood that myself... though the things some critics say about the craft categories make me wish there were some basic tests of film knowledge before you could be labelled a critic at all.
Glenn: Well, Art Direction is kind of a thing that blurs for most people unless it's REALLY SPECIAL. Think Her. Costumes is a loaded gun because the mainstream wants you to go for the frilly period stuff because the Academy has somewhat brainwashed them, but I'm thinking a critics group idea of laudatory costume design is going to be quite a bit more in line with Heathers (this is amazing to look at and will actually be influencing modern style!) than Amadeus (that's a great evocation of old styles, even if it's visually boring!) and they don't want people looking at them quizzically when they want the Academy to hand a Costume Design nom to (offering 1977 as another sampler) Annie Hall over A Little Night Music. Original score is weird and theoretically should be there, but the idea of critics handing out original score prizes probably died with the There Will Be Blood DQ. As for why they still do cinematography? That is a bit easier. That's just "is this lit well/are the camera movements interesting", which is fairly basic to judge without the threat of getting eaten alive or being ridiculously far from the Academy's tastes.
murtada - That's such a good idea. Cate please call the first reporter you know and tell him what you said in Cannes about Marion.
nathaniel... you're the expert here but i'd reconsider Felicity Jones as a 'lock'... i just don't see her getting that many #1 placements on Oscar ballots. as nick mentioned in the podcast, i'd be way more surprising to see Adams (or Pike) get left off
So happy for Cotillard as she was fantastic in The Immigrant, but unless she gets more critics prizes and they ALL choose one film over the other, I could easily see her two performances splitting votes and she ends up with no Oscar nomination.
fingers crossed TWC (or Radius) get their shit together and give Marion Cotillard the campaign she deserves... but from an objective standpoint i can see why Harvey would focus on Amy Adams... especially with Immigrant's release baggage and the possibility of Cotillard splitting her own votes :(
I love Marion's win. It's unexpected and the most deserving of the selected winners.
re: Marion Cotillard…
I really think her hopes for Oscar are in the hands of the Globes now… if the HFPA gives her a nod for the “Immigrant” (a more worthy/accessible film Oscar wise) she could pull it off. But if they cite her for “Two Days” the vote splitting seams inevitable
The beautiful thing about this point in Cotillard's career is that who cares if she ever gets another Oscar nomination? She's been there and done that, and it's on the marquee forever.
After all, how many worthy performances by Deneuve or Ullmann have been overlooked by the Academy...Marion is on her way to acting legend status and it doesn't matter if Oscar pays attention or not. The same goes for Tilda. And to a slightly different degree, Nicole Kidman. Would she have done The Paperboy if she were trying to win an Oscar?
People act like putting this impressive filmography together is a means to the end of being acknowledged by the AMPAS again, and that's so not the point. I think it's better to be an outlier who makes interesting choices (Kidman, Cotillard, Tilda, Julianne) than a "great" actress whose perceived greatness comes through entrenching herself in Oscar attention (Winslet, Adams, Streep, Blanchett).