14 February 2011

Skandies 2010: The "nominees"

Not all that much suspense about who/what remains, so let's answer potential questions about near-misses and no-chances here, as well as give the top picks a little additional airtime. (Sorry it's all text, incidentally—I have virtually no HTML skills and invariably mangle any attempt to combine words and images, except in the most basic just-one-image-up-at-the-top kind of way.)



Best Picture


• Black Swan
• Dogtooth
• Mother
• The Social Network
• Winter's Bone

Overlap with Oscar nominees: Black Swan, The Social Network and Winter's Bone. All of the English-language films, in other words.
Just missed: Bluebeard (#21), Trash Humpers (#22), Hadewijch (#23), Greenberg (#24), Another Year (#25)
Not so much: 127 Hours (#30), The Fighter (#34), The Kids Are All Right (#38), Blue Valentine (#50), The King's Speech (#66).



Best Director


• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• Olivier Assayas, Carlos
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Yorgos Lanthimos, Dogtooth
• Gaspar Noé, Enter the Void

Previous "nominations": Fincher now ties the Coens and Tarantino for the all-time record in this category, with four; he placed 3rd in both 1999 and 2007 for Fight Club and Zodiac, and was also one of the nominees for Se7en in 1995, the Skandies' inaugural Oscar-style year. Assayas scores his second in a row, having finished 5th last year for Summer Hours. And Noé previously placed 2nd for Irreversible.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Aronofsky and Fincher.
Just missed: Catherine Breillat, Bluebeard (#21); Danny Boyle, 127 Hours (#22); Luca Guadagnino, I Am Love (#23); Pedro Costa, Ne change rien (#24); Mia Hansen-Løve, Father of My Children (#25).
Not so much: David O. Russell, The Fighter (#30); Tom Hooper, The King's Speech (no votes).



Best Actress


• Kim Hye-ja, Mother
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
• Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Vincere
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Julie Sokolowski, Hadewijch

Previous "nominations": Only Portman, who finished 2nd in Supporting way back in 1996 for Beautiful Girls.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Lawrence, Portman. Hey, it's the ones in English again.
Just missed: Chloë Grace Moretz, Let Me In (#21); Dakota Fanning, The Runaways (#22); Kristen Stewart, The Runaways (#23); Lola Créton, Bluebeard (#24); Noomi Rapace, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (#25).
Not so much: Nobody. All five Oscar nominees made our top 20, which almost never happens.



Best Actor


• Jeff Bridges, True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• James Franco, 127 Hours
• Tahar Rahim, A Prophet
• Édgar Ramírez, Carlos

Previous "nominations": Only Bridges, who won this category in 1998 for his previous collaboration with the Coens, The Big Lebowski. But Eisenberg was nearly a nominee once before, finishing 6th in Supporting for Roger Dodger (2002).
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Bridges, Eisenberg, Franco.
Just missed: Gianni di Gregorio, Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di Ferragosto) (#21); Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception (#22); Ewan McGregor, The Ghost Writer (#23); Stephen Dorff, Somewhere (#24); Danny Trejo, Machete (#25).
Not so much: Javier Bardem, Biutiful (#67).



Best Supporting Actor


• Christian Bale, The Fighter
• Matt Damon, True Grit
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
• John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
• Filippo Timi, Vincere

Previous "nominations": Bale scores his third (the record, held by five actors, is four), having placed 3rd in 2000 for American Psycho (in the lead category) and 5th in 2005 for The New World (in Supporting). Damon makes it two in a row, as he finished 4th last year in the lead category for The Informant!. (We like him funny.)
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Bale, Hawkes.
Just missed: Pierce Brosnan, The Ghost Writer (#21); Michael Shannon, The Runaways (#22); Alexander Scheer, Carlos (#23); Andrew Garfield, Never Let Me Go (tie for #24); Birol Ünel, Soul Kitchen (tie for #24).
Not so much: Jeremy Renner, The Town (#38).



Best Supporting Actress


• Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone
• Mila Kunis, Black Swan
• Lesley Manville, Another Year
• Aggeliki Papoulia, Dogtooth
• Olivia Williams, The Ghost Writer

Previous "nominations": Nobody
Overlap with Oscar nominees: None! Though three of AMPAS' choices finished in our top ten.
Just missed: Ellen Wong, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (#21); Mary Tsoni, Dogtooth (#22); Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech (#23); Marion Cotillard, Inception (tie for #24); Nora von Waldstätten, Carlos (tie for #24).
Not so much: Nobody.



Best Screenplay


• Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain and Chris Morris, Four Lions
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, True Grit
• Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone
• Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou, Dogtooth
• Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Previous "nominations": The Coens get a record seventh nod, having previously placed 3rd for Fargo (1996, back when there were two categories), 4th for O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), 3rd for The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), 2nd for No Country for Old Men (2007), 1st for Burn After Reading (2008), and 4th last year for A Serious Man. Armstrong was also nominated just last year, as part of the team that wrote In the Loop.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Coens, Granik & Rosellini, Sorkin.
Just missed: Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime (#21); Catherine Breillat, Bluebeard (#22); James L. Brooks, How Do You Know (#23); Laeta Kalogridis, Shutter Island (#24); Gianni di Gregorio, Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di Ferragosto) (#25).
Not so much: David Seidler, The King's Speech (#35); Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours (#41); Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter (#65).



Best Scene



Nah, I gotta save something as a surprise.


21 comments:

Jeff said...

Too many of my faves "just missed". Sorry, Harmony. Blame Pedro.

At least Gaspar deservedly made the top 5 as he was clearly one of the two best directors this year.

Nictate said...

Nice to see BLUEBEARD at least hovering so near the top 20 in a few categories, including the preternaturally graceful turn by Lola Créton.

Interesting Sofia Coppola wasn't in close-call range.

Victor Morton said...

And not only Noe, but the two clearly best scripts also made the Top 5. Good job us.

The FOUR LIONS script and Sokolowski are the two I'm happiest (actually "relieved") to see here. Not that they weren't awesome or that I didn't throw them points myself, but I feared they mighta been left down at #21 just from the "number of people who saw" factor. In the case of Sokolowski in particular, I couldn't imagine having seen HADEWIJCH and not giving her points (unless one hates the film categorically, I guess). But how many people actually saw it. I would have actually bet at the start of the countdown a 10-12 placing for both those two.

So ... I'm giddy-happy with Top 5 sted left out altogether.

Private Joker said...

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech (no votes).

Good job buds. This picture is not all that well directed, even if you like it. Once he got that off-kilter composition and super close-up jollies out of his system, Hooper had nowhere else to go but lock the camera down and let his Actors do some Acting.

Private Joker said...

Also, while I may not have been the only person who gave votes to Vengeance or Johnnie To (though perhaps I was), I bet I was the only person to give points to Zhang Yimou for A Woman A Gun and a Noodle Shop. (And pts to the film, too).

Not a perfect film, but it bums me out that it got the shaft. I may be a bit of a Zhang fanboy, but it's that way for a reason. He's usually awesome. And I really hated Curse of the Golden Flower.

thanksbud said...

I gave some points to the opening part where they make the noodles. The rest of it was pretty crap.

Ryan said...

Stephen Dorff, Somewhere (#24)

Whew. Dodged a close one there.

Robert Fuller said...

Wow, I really disagree with those supporting actor choices. One of the first things I said after seeing The Social Network was, "Andrew Garfield's going to get an Oscar nomination." Not because I thought he was any good, but because it was just the sort of eager over-acting that the Academy loves (see also Tim Robbins in Mystic River). So I'm surprised that the Academy didn't love him after all, but the Skandies voters did.

Matt Damon was the weakest element of True Grit, and Bale's performance was mostly massive weight loss and a Boston accent.

md'a said...

Wow, I really disagree with those supporting actor choices.

I'm not getting the Andrew Garfield thing either, frankly, based on this and Doctor Parnassus and Red Riding '74 and what was the first thing he starred in? [Checks.] Oh right, Boy A. He seems awfully, I dunno, weedy somehow. I voted for Armie Hammer, though it took a second viewing for me to appreciate how funny he is in that dual role.

No points from me for Bale, either. Too showy for my taste. I did very much enjoy Damon, though, maybe just because he's so much better than Glen Campbell.

In any case, nothing else matters compared to the thrill of seeing Filippo Timi up near the top. Mezzogiorno no doubt benefited from the NSFC seal of approval, but I figured Timi was a lost cause.

dd said...

Really surprised at the lack of love for David O. Russell. I found THE FIGHTER a stunning piece of directorial work, from the performances to the camera blocking to a lot of sly, quiet choices (like using video for the fights, or the treatment of the sisters) that really add up.

Unless people are punishing him for choosing Verdana as his credit font, in which case, I kind of understand.

Nictate said...

Re: Ryan's Dorff comment:
Subjectivity is as subjectivity does, but Stephen Dorff does something damn remarkable in SOMEWHERE -- he plays it small. No Bale-like histronics, no Wahlberg-like distractingly passive stocism. At times he seems more a human bruise than person in the role -- soul-sick and self-aware enough to know he's shallow and hollow, but stuck. The second time I watched the film, I really studied him and he was as flawless and full of grace as Elle Fanning in her role. Sofia deserves credit for coaxing that grace out of the both of them.

Michael said...

It's sad when you see that your lone 30-bomb made absolutely no difference at all. I feel like an inept British jihadist.

Victor Morton said...

To which bird did you attach that 30-point bomb? Happened to me last year also -- gave 30 to a lead actress who wound up with 35. But the film had only been seen by four other Skandies voters, and though everybody who saw FORBIDDEN LIES liked it (it wound up placing 5th in Avg. grade) its being a documentary probably didn't help getting people to think of Norma Khouri for acting points.

I blame the Jews. And their spark plugs.

Victor Morton said...

"No points from me for Bale, either. Too showy for my taste."

Your LeBeef then is with the character and/or person of Dicky Eklund, not with Bale's performance, which gets across perfectly how much of a showboat Dicky is (especially compared with Micky).

Robert Fuller said...

Garfield was all right in Never Let Me Go, but yeah, I like your word, "weedy."

"I did very much enjoy Damon, though"

Oh, I enjoyed him (I usually do), I just thought he was the film's weakest element, and nothing special. Surely Pepper and Brolin deserve more accolades.

I'm also surprised by the lack of love for Jeremy Renner, now that I think about it. Or Miles Teller, by whom I was more impressed than I was by the two leads.

witherholly said...

The surprise is going to be a comedy.

Ryan said...

No worries, Waz, Monsieur Olive Vera will get'em this year.

Scott Renshaw said...

Per Nictate: "Stephen Dorff does something damn remarkable in SOMEWHERE -- he plays it small."

There's a difference between playing it small and playing it blank. Sheen and Broadbent both brilliantly play "small" in ANOTHER YEAR, but the characters feel real. Dorff's failed breakdown scene is the kicker that there's no *there* there.

Nictate said...

Dorff's failed breakdown scene is the kicker that there's no *there* there.

Dorff showed many nuances beyond blank, but I do agree that the breakdown scene on the phone was a flop. Thing is, that was easy for me to forgive considering the strength of the rest of his performance.

msic said...

No, no 30-pointer for Oliveoil.

It was Supporting Actor. P. Diddy in Get Him to the Greek.

Adam Villani said...

Every time I see a listing for Tom Hooper, director of The King's Speech, my first instinct is to read it as "Tobe Hooper," which is just all kinds of confusing.