Boston loves "The Holdovers" but "American Fiction" takes Washington DC
Sunday, December 10, 2023 at 11:00PM 
Are we underestimating Dominic Sessa in Best Supporting Actor?
With some big wins right off the gate, Killers of the Flower Moon seemed to emerge as the consensus pick for Best Picture among critics. As much as I love Scorsese's latest, watching it sweep would have been boring beyond belief and a discredit to the tremendous cinematic year. Thankfully, an onslaught of awards this weekend changed the tide. No single title is rising above the rest as an absolute favorite, with multiple pictures nabbing top honors. Indeed, while the LAFCA voted for The Zone of Interest, other organizations announced their winners. The BSFC fell head over heels for The Holdovers, while WAFCA went for American Fiction. Apart from some categories, it seems "spreading the wealth" is the season's unofficial motto…
BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS
Best Picture: THE HOLDOVERS
Runners-Up: THE ZONE OF INTEREST & MAY DECEMBER
Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Runners-Up: Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER & Todd Haynes, MAY DECEMBER
Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Runners-Up: Emma Stone, POOR THINGS, Sandra Hüller, ANATOMY OF A FALL & Natalie Portman, MAY DECEMBER
Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, THE HOLDOVERS
Runners-Up: Cillian Murphy, OPPENHEIMER & Kōji Yakusho, PERFECT DAYS
Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, THE HOLDOVERS
Best Supporting Actor: Ryan Gosling, BARBIE
Runners-Up: Charles Melton, MAY DECEMBER, Mark Ruffallo, POOR THINGS & Robert Downey Jr., OPPENHEIMER
Best Ensemble: OPPENHEIMER
Runners-Up: ASTEROID CITY, THE IRON CLAW & KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Best Adapted Screenplay: THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Runners-Up: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET. & KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Best Original Screenplay: THE HOLDOVERS
Runners-Up: MAY DECEMBER & YOU HURT MY FEELINGS
Best Editing: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Runners-Up: OPPENHEIMER
Best Cinematography: THE TASTE OF THINGS
Runners-Up: POOR THINGS & ASTEROID CITY
Best Score: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Runners-Up: THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Best Documentary: GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE
Runners-Up: 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE, KOKOMO CITY & MENUS-PLAISIRS – LES TROISGROS
Best Animated Feature: THE BOY AND THE HERON
Runners-Up: TMNT: MUTANT MAYHEM, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, ROBOT DREAMS & THE PEASANTS
Best Foreign Language Film: THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Best New Filmmaker: Celine Song, PAST LIVES
Runners-Up: Cord Jefferson, AMERICAN FICTION & A.V. Rockwell, A THOUSAND AND ONE
The BSFC tends to be one of the more adventurous critics groups. After all, just last year, they crowned Return to Seoul as their Best Picture. However, they seem more conventional this time, with a few exceptions here and there, like the Geographies of Solitude shout-out in documentary and The Taste of Things' cinematography. I'll be frank: losing their esoteric edge is disappointing, especially when so many of their runners-up feel like bolder choices than the actual winners. As much as one reports on these things in the context of the Oscar race, they should hold on to individual taste and celebrate underseen cinema that can use a boost in visibility.
It should be noted that most of these results came after three rounds of voting, with close calls throughout the ballot. The Supporting Actress prize was an exception, resolved in one round, with Randolph getting almost all members' votes. As the season progresses, The Holdovers' emotional backbone is becoming a steamroller contender. Will she take it all the way to the Oscar? At this point, it seems likely.
WASHINGTON DC AREA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
Best Feature: AMERICAN FICTION
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER
Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Best Actor: Cillian Murphy, OPPENHEIMER
Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, THE HOLDOVERS
Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, MAY DECEMBER
Best Voice Performance: Shameik Moore, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
Best Youth Performance: Dominic Sessa, THE HOLDOVERS
Best Acting Ensemble: OPPENHEIMER
Best Adapted Screenplay: AMERICAN FICTION
Best Original Screenplay: PAST LIVES
Best Editing: OPPENHEIMER
Best Cinematography: OPPENHEIMER
Best Production Design: BARBIE
Best Original Score: OPPENHEIMER
Best Documentary: AMERICAN SYMPHONY
Best Animated Feature: SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
Best International Film: ANATOMY OF A FALL
One wonders how close Jeffrey Wright came to the win here. Indeed, despite American Fiction taking the top prize, Oppenheimer scored three times more wins, looming large over the so-called "below the line" categories.
I want to bring attention to Dominic Sessa's win, as well. Though Melton took Supporting Actor, he may become one of those critical darlings that can't get AMPAS' approval. Sessa, on the other hand, feels like a contender in the same vein as Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea. In other words, expect to see Sessa on my predictions in the next round of Team Experience punditry.
Still today, the St. Louis Film Critics Association announced their nominations. I won't go over them, but you can check the complete list here. The StLFCA loved May December more than most of these groups, nominating its three main actors and Haynes in Director among other honors. Do you know who's also there, besides Melton in Supporting Actor? Sessa, of course. Another interesting tidbit is the presence of DiCaprio and De Niro on the ballot after being ignored by nearly every other awards body. Their winners will be announced on December 17th.
Do you like the variety of Best Picture choices across the various critics groups or would you prefer a clearer precursor pattern?
Reader Comments (14)
Boston often puts in great picks while Washington also delivers.
Julianne Moore and Dominic Sessa are unambiguous leads. Category fraud this year looking to be particularly awful.
DiCaprio was nominated by the Chicago critics.
I’ll try to be positive on this article even though this is turning into one of the most boring and disappointing critics seasons ever.
Boston Positives:
-Paul Giamatti being recognized for my favorite performance from him.
-Killers of the Flower Moon’s score winning. A truly interesting and original score.
-The Zone of Interest winning for international film. Haven’t seen it yet but I just finished the book and really want to see this!
DC Positives:
-Charles Melton winning for a really interesting and tricky performance. Typo in his name: it says Christopher above.
-The tech wins for Oppenheimer. They are up to the high standard of pretty much all Nolan films.
Eh, that’s pretty much it.
Julianne Moore has less than 50% of Portman's screentime, 34:23 vs 1:11:54. Melton has 46:20. So, yes, Julianne Moore is supporting. I think people may think she's a lead because she's great in every single scene and every time she shows up you can expect an impactful moment. Like the film is all about her, but she's not the lead - think Vanessa Redgrave in Julia, for example
Screen time is moot. I thought Anthony Hopkins already proved this? Gracie is the character around which everyone else in MAY DECEMBER circles; she is the scandal, the enigma everyone is trying to decipher, literally the only reason Elizabeth exists in this story at all! This is an unambiguous two-lead situation and anyone who says otherwise has been brainwashed by decades of category fraud normalization.
When discussing the Boston Film Critics group, one must keep in mind that they are total homers when it comes to movies set in Beantown - MYSTIC RIVER, SPOTLIGHT, THE DEPARTED and now, THE HOLDOVERS.
Wae Mest & Cal -- i thought of MAY DECEMBER as a three lead film... but Cal does make an interesting point about "Julia". There are some films where the focus plot character is not the lead. Especially if they're the antagonist. I've been thinking about KILLERS in this regard too. Obviously Lily & Leo are leads but is DeNiro? He's crucial to almost every plot development but as the antagonist i'm not sure i'd call him a lead. (not that i'd nominated him either way)
@NathanielR: Really interesting about DeNiro. I would have predicted he’d be in your category of “obviously a lead” because of the screen time, propeller of most plot points & the fact that DeNiro himself is a movie star and not a JK Simmons or Octavia Spencer type. I still maintain that even though they are different categories, I cannot fathom how one could view Lily as Lead but DeNiro as Supportin, even just on screen time alone.
@Wae Mest, everything in Rebecca is about Rebecca and she's only in the movie as a painting. Moore plays a Rebecca with more screentime than the painting, but the leading is the actress in her quest for this character, just like a detective in a noir. Moore is the maltese falcon and Portman is Bogart!
REBECCA is a bad comparison obviously because she's not even in the movie. Gracie IS in MAY DECEMBER and she is driving the story every step of the way alongside Elizabeth.
Think about it like ALL ABOUT EVE, one woman obsessed with another who is consuming her life. Now you wouldn't argue that Davis or Baxter was supporting now would you?
Wae Mest -- I agree that Moore is a lead. Indeed, I'd categorize MAY DECEMBER as a three-lead film. After some reflection, I'd say the same about KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.
Then again, I know I tend to have a broader definition of lead than many people. THE FAVOURITE, AMERICAN HUSTLE, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, and THE LAST STATION are other relatively recent Oscar movies I thought had three leads despite the consensus categorization.
Wae Mest - Gracie is in the film, but she's mostly a symbol; she doesn't have any action; she's there to be looked at, like a painting. She starts and finishes the movie in the same place she's always been. She's not driving the action; she doesn't have an arc. I compared it to Rebecca because Gracie is the focus of an analytical process, and that analysis is the movie's action. So, in the end, the film's meaning is about her, but the action is not about her at all.
I really like the Holdover won at BSFC. Outside of the scenes set in Boston, it just has such a New England sensibility
It's great to see Sessa pick up youth performance awards, and I hope he continues to win breakthrough awards throughout the season. While I wouldn't nominate him for an Oscar, he is great in his role. .