Another unorthodox pandemic year, though this time I felt comfortable setting the deadline in March (mostly to give folks time to see post-qualifying-run straggler The Worst Person in the World; Petite Maman and Memoria saw their true releases delayed so long that I finally gave up and just mailed folks my screeners) rather than July. Having necessarily expanded the 2020 survey's eligibility to include streaming-only titles, I opted to go even further in that direction, inviting voters to "nominate" any film that premiered in 2019 and hadn't yet received any sort of U.S. release. (The nomination process is only necessary because we use an online ballot that doesn't allow for write-ins—all the titles need to be in the pull-down menu.) That used to be the province of an annual adjunct poll called the Undies, but participation had dwindled to the point where it just made more sense to bring undistributed films into the main event. None managed to place this year, but Lvx Æterna (which is now suddenly coming out soon, as it happens; too late for the Skandies' two-year window, though) came pretty close in Picture and Noé just missed in Director, despite very few voters having managed even to see it.
In any case, I'm quite pleased with 2021's results, as my own favorite film took Best Picture for the second consecutive year (though I love Memoria significantly more than I do First Cow, the finest film in what was, for obvious reasons, an unusually weak year) and I actually voted for all eight winners (which is virtually never the case). Looking everything over, the most interesting anomaly involves an unusual, possibly unprecedented correspondence between Picture and Screenplay. Without checking first to see whether I'm right, lemme break down Director vs. Screenplay for the past few years.
(To be clear, what I'm investigating is how many of the films that placed in Picture also placed in Director and/or Screenplay. So "Director 14, Screenplay 10" means there were six films in the top 20 whose directors didn't place and 10 films in the top 20 whose screenwriters didn't place.)
2016: Director 16, Screenplay 13
2017: Director 16, Screenplay 15
2018: Director 16, Screenplay 11
2019: Director 17, Screenplay 15
2020: Director 17, Screenplay 10
2021: Director 13, Screenplay 18
Not quite as stark as I'd expected, but you can see that the polarity's suddenly reversed. Usually we tend to equate general excellence with excellence in directing, less so with excellence in screenwriting. This year every Picture finalist save for France and The Killing of Two Lovers placed in Screenplay (and those were #22 and #25), whereas we hurled points at folks like Villeneuve, Andersson, Tsai, Lowery, and Puiu, whose films fared a bit less well. I note with some concern that many of the "snubbed" directors are female: Sciamma, Hogg, Hansen-Løve. (Hansen-Løve has never placed in Director, incredibly, despite four of her films having made the Picture cut!) Rose Glass did sneak on there, thanks to annual wild card Matthew Butcher considering Saint Maud far and away the year's best film, and of course Campion just missed being a "nominee," but it does perhaps seem as if this group of mostly middle-aged dudes consciously or unconsciously perceives formal prowess as a fundamentally XY endeavor. Me, I'm just impatiently awaiting another opportunity to vote for Ade, Loktev and Ferran.
Another item of note: You can see the effect of Cannes cancelling its 2020 edition in the record nine films from its 2021 Competition slate that have placed in Picture so far, with several titles still eligible this year (though none seems likely to make the cut imo). The previous record was seven, achieved by the Competitions of 2000 (Code Unknown; Dancer in the Dark; Devils on the Doorstep; In the Mood for Love; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Songs From the Second Floor; Yi Yi; two of those were winners), 2011 (Drive; House of Pleasures; The Kid With a Bike; Melancholia; Once Upon a Time in Anatolia; The Tree of Life; We Need to Talk About Kevin), 2016 (Elle; The Handmaiden; Paterson; Personal Shopper; The Salesman; Staying Vertical; Toni Erdmann), and 2019 (Bacurau; A Hidden Life; Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood; Pain and Glory; Parasite; Portrait of a Lady on Fire; Young Ahmed). Average year sees about five. This year it was nearly half of the top 20: Annette; Bergman Island; Drive My Car; France; The French Dispatch Etc.; A Hero; Memoria; Red Rocket, and The Worst Person in the World. Certainly a few of those, like Annette, would have placed last year. Worst years at Cannes, Skandie-wise? Only two Competition films made the cut from 2003 (Dogville + no, not Palme d'Or winner Elephant, but "worst film in the history of Cannes" The Brown Bunny), 2006 (Pan's Labyrinth + Volver; sorry that was your only trip, Theo) and 2017 (Good Time + You Were Never Really Here, though A Gentle Creature won the Undies and is by far that year's best film).
Okay, on to even more number-crunching. (Many of you will want to check out at this point.) (Assuming you didn't check out long ago, that is.) (Which seems like a fair assumption, because otherwise how could you have read that sentence?) (Anyway.) What follows are the stats I used to send out to voters (via snail mail!) back in the '90s, which I still maintain for my own obsessive amusement.NOTE: The layout below is not optimized for mobile. Some of it (the Directors' Gallery at the bottom in particular) will be gobbledygook unless you're on a laptop/desktop.
HIGHEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2021)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of ten votes)
01. 3.65 The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
02. 3.61 Being John Malkovich (1999)
03. 3.61 A Separation (2011)
04. 3.58 Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
05. 3.57 In the Company of Men (1997)
06. 3.56 Secrets & Lies (1996)
07. 3.53 La Promesse (1997)
08. 3.52 Yi Yi (A One and a Two…) (2000)
09. 3.50 From the Journals of Jean Seberg (1996)
10. 3.49 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
It's nearly impossible for new films to make this list, due to a significant uptick in voter stinginess with high ratings since the '90s. Here's how it looks for the last decade-plus (since 2010):
01. 3.61 A Separation (2011)
02. 3.49 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
03. 3.48 Margaret (2011)
05. 3.46 Nocturama (2017)
3.46 Phantom Thread (2017)
07. 3.45 The Tree of Life (2011)
08. 3.44 Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)
09. 3.43 Certified Copy (2011)
10. 3.41 Holy Motors (2012)
Memoria knocks out O.J.: Made in America. It actually would have cracked the "true" list above if not for a single 2.5 vote from an individual who shall remain nameless (given that he's so eager to avoid blowback for this opinion that he left it unrated on Letterboxd and has virtually never mentioned it).
LOWEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2021)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of five votes)
01. 0.20 Date Movie (2006)
01. 0.20 America (2014)
03. 0.50 Collateral Beauty (2016)
04. 0.58 Miss March (2009)
05. 0.60 Dragonfly (2002)
05. 0.60 The Last Face (2017)
07. 0.61 The Roommate (2011)
08. 0.67 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
09. 0.67 The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015)
10. 0.70 Beastly (2011)
10. 0.70 Left Behind (2014)
Nothing new here. Saw sequel Spiral was the year's most despised (among films that received at least five votes), with a comparatively robust 1.50 average. Cherry would have landed here with one more zero, as it got 0.75 from four voters (including two zeros).
MOST DIVISIVE FILMS (2021)
(std. deviation >= 0.75; minimum two votes 3.5 or higher, two votes 1.5 or lower)
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
(lowest-ranked film seen by at least 75% of voters)
1996: Twister (1.80)
1997: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (2.33)
1998: He Got Game (2.59)
1999: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (2.18)
2000: Nurse Betty (2.31)
2001: Vanilla Sky (2.20)
2002: Storytelling (2.03)
2003: The Matrix Reloaded (2.29)
2004: The Village (2.30)
2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2.49)
2006: Little Miss Sunshine (2.52)
2007: Ocean's Thirteen (2.52)
2008: Milk (2.83)
2009: The Hangover (2.35)
2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2.71)
2011: Midnight in Paris (2.47)
2012: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2.37)
2013: American Hustle (2.50)
2014: Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2.44)
2015: While We're Young (2.67)
2016: Knight of Cups (2.52)
2017: The Shape of Water (2.48)
2018: A Star Is Born (2.68)
2019: Joker (2.44)
The first Palme d'Or winner to leave the AVB feeling extremely cheated. (I mean, that's not true at all, but Dheepan and The Square and The White Ribbon didn't "win" this "award.")
PASSIONATE MINORITY AWARD
(lowest average among top 20 films in Picture voting)
1996: Dead Man (2.94)
1997: Crash (2.52)
1998: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (2.68)
1999: The End of the Affair (2.96)
2000: Requiem for a Dream (2.73)
2001: Amélie (2.71)
2002: 8 Women (2.79)
2003: The Good Thief (2.81)
2004: I ♥ Huckabees (2.84)
2005: Oldboy (2.68)
2006: Manderlay (2.69)
2007: Once (2.79)
2008: Funny Games (2.83)
2009: A Serious Man (2.83)
2010: The Exploding Girl (2.75)
2011: Shame (2.63)
2012: Damsels in Distress (2.76)
2013: Spring Breakers (2.72)
2014: Goodbye to Language (2.64)
2015: The Assassin (2.73)
2016: Knight of Cups (2.52)
2017: Downsizing (2.50)
2018: You Were Never Really Here (2.86)
2019: Midsommar (2.80)
First time I've been part of the passionate minority since 2008. (The others that got my vote were I ♥ Huckabees and 8 Women.)
DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE
(highest-ranked film by average rating not to place in Picture voting [10+ voters] )
1996: Get on the Bus (3.29)
1997: Forgotten Silver (3.36)
1998: The Kingdom II (3.14)
1999: My Name Is Joe (3.18)
2000: Erin Brockovich (3.14)
2001: No Man’s Land (3.19)
2002: Roger Dodger (3.14)
2003: The Weather Underground (3.18)
2004: Bright Leaves (3.16)
2005: Howl's Moving Castle (3.15)
2006: The Devil and Daniel Johnston (3.18)
2007: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (3.25)
2008: The Duchess of Langeais (3.20)
2009: Night and Day (3.07)
2010: Another Year (3.21)
2011: Senna (3.07)
2012: The Imposter (3.10)
2013: Drug War (3.17)
2014: National Gallery (3.25)
2015: The Look of Silence (3.28)
2016: I Am Not Your Negro (3.18)
2017: Ex Libris (3.06)
2018: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (3.10)
2019: Apollo 11 (3.13)
Also of note: high averages for the relatively little-seen Acasă, My Home (3.40), The American Sector (3.20), and This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (3.13).
For whatever reason, this is the spot where I've been noting Atli Sigurjónsson's annual predictions, which he sends me privately before the daily countdown kicks off. He was hampered a bit this year by not knowing that Dan Sallitt didn't submit a ballot (hence expecting Short Vacation to fare significantly better than it did), but as usual still mostly got it right by just looking at voters' top 10 lists and Letterboxd and/or Crix Pix ratings. Here they are, with the film's actual placement noted parenthetically.
1. Memoria (1) 2. Annette (2) 3. Pig (4) 4. Drive My Car (5) 5. Licorice Pizza (3) 6. A Hero (7) 7. Red Rocket (6) 8. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (8) 9. The Power of the Dog (10) 10. The Disciple (16) 11. The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (9) 12. Petite Maman (17) 13. The Souvenir Part II (11) 14. France (15) 15. Short Vacation (did not place, #49) 16. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (13) 17. The Worst Person in the World (18) 18. Flee (did not place, #25) 19. The Green Knight (did not place, #26) 20. Bergman Island (12)
He missed West Side Story (#14), The Killing of Two Lovers (#19), and Azor (#20).
DAMN THE REVIEWS, FULL SPEED AHEAD
(lowest average among films seen by at least 10 voters)
1996: Twister (1.80)
1997: Batman & Robin (1.28)
1998: The Avengers | Stepmom [tie] (1.50)
1999: Jawbreaker (1.14)
2000: Pay It Forward (1.41)
2001: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (1.26)
2002: Scooby-Doo (1.08)
2003: Bad Boys II (1.60)
2004: Exorcist: The Beginning (1.21)
2005: Undead (1.29)
2006: The Hills Have Eyes (1.65)
2007: Smokin' Aces (1.64)
2008: Jumper (1.54)
2009: Gigantic (1.00)
2010: The Last Airbender (1.05)
2011: Vanishing on 7th Street (1.55)
2012: This Means War (1.50)
2013: Gangster Squad (1.29)
2014: That Awkward Moment (1.45)
2015: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (1.79)
2016: Zoolander 2 (1.60)
2017: The Assignment (1.77)
2018: Vice (1.67)
2019: Serenity (1.05)
Reviews for House of Gucci actually weren't that bad, and this is the first time the lowest average in this category hit 2.0 (after almost getting there last year). With the exception of Alex Fung and Daniel Waters, who watch everything, voters are just avoiding the obvious dogs
SELECTION COMMITTEE ON CRACK
(lowest average for a film that screened at the New York Film Festival)
(post-expansion: Main Slate only, plus "Special Event" world premieres)
1996: Flirt (2.20)
1997: Kiss or Kill (1.79)
1998: Voyage to the Beginning of the World (1.80)
1999: Dogma (1.89)
2000: Before Night Falls (2.31)
2001: La Ciénaga (1.95)
2002: In Praise of Love (1.95)
2003: Chi-Hwa-Seon: Painted Fire (2.19)
2004: Free Radicals (2.08)
2005: Palindromes (2.15)
2006: Rolling Family (1.83)
2007: The Go Master (1.93)
2008: Married Life (2.25)
2009: The Windmill Movie (2.13)
2010: Hereafter (2.05)
2011: We Are What We Are (1.64)
2012: Hyde Park on Hudson (1.69)
2013: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1.92)
2014: Child of God (2.00)
2015: The Princess of France (2.42)
2016: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2.10)
2017: My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (1.96)
2018: Wildlife (2.29)
2019: A Faithful Man (2.08)
I'm surprised four other voters saw Tragic Jungle, which I never saw anyone talk about anywhere.
ALONE AGAIN (NATURALLY)
(suggested by Alex Fung; lowest average for a film that received a 4-star rating
1996: The Stupids (2.30) | Bryan “Frankenseuss” Theiss (ret.)
1997: Kissed (2.46) | Alex Fung
1998: Psycho (2.11) | Erik Gregersen (ret.)
1999: Twin Falls Idaho (2.28) | Milton Lawson (ret.)
2000: Beautiful People (2.29) | Keith Collins (ret.)
2001: The Road Home (1.88) | Erik Gregersen (ret.)
2002: In Praise of Love (1.95) | Jeremy Heilman
2003: Gigli (1.92) | Jeremy Heilman
2004: The Passion of the Christ (2.18) | Victor J. Morton
2005: The Brothers Grimm (2.29) | Bilge Ebiri
2006: The Fountain (2.21) | Peter Reiher (ret.)
2007: Southland Tales (1.88) | Dave Cowen; Jeremy Heilman
2008: Jellyfish (2.36) | Daniel Waters
2009: 12 (2.29) | Bilge Ebiri
2010: Somewhere (2.41) | Nictate (ret.)
2011: A Serbian Film (1.81) | Daniel Waters
2012: Alps (2.43) | Don Marks
2013: Maniac (2.50) | Jeremy Heilman
2014: Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (2.43) | Victor J. Morton
2015: The Tribe (2.43) | Daniel Waters
2016: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2.10) | Jeremy Heilman
2017: Song to Song (2.24) | Jeremy Heilman
2018: The 15:17 to Paris (2.07) | Jeremy Heilman
2019: Jojo Rabbit (2.25) | Jeff McCloud
Good ol' Jeremy. Almost every year.
AUTEUR! AUTEUR!
Highest-ranked director whose movie didn't place in Picture.
1996: Peter Jackson, The Frighteners (#7)
1997: Wong Kar-wai, Happy Together (#17)
1998: Alex Proyas, Dark City (#17)
1999: Steven Soderbergh, The Limey (#11)
2000: David Gordon Green, George Washington (#7)
2001: Michael Mann, Ali (#8)
2002: Michael Haneke, The Piano Teacher (#14)
2003: Robert Altman, The Company (#7)
2004: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator (#8)
2005: Peter Jackson, King Kong (#10)
2006: Michael Mann, Miami Vice (#9)
2007: Paul Greengrass, The Bourne Ultimatum (#9)
2008: Lance Hammer, Ballast (#14)
2009: Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman (#8)
2010: Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (#14)
2011: Raúl Ruiz, Mysteries of Lisbon (#13)
2012: Hong Sang-soo, The Day He Arrives (#17)
2013: Johnnie To, Drug War (#17)
2014: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (#19)
2015: Aleksei German, Hard to Be a God (#10)
2016: Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women (#10)
2017: Yorgos Lanthimos, The Killing of a Sacred Deer (#14)
2018: Lucrecia Martel, Zama (#9)
2019: Nemes László, Sunset (#10)
2020: Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night (#4)
2021: Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part One (#9)
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
Highest-ranked screenwriter whose movie didn't place in Picture.
1996: Belinda & Philip Haas, Angels & Insects (#4 in Adapted)
1997: David Mamet and Hilary Henkin, Wag the Dog (#5)
1998: Whit Stillman, The Last Days of Disco (#8)
1999: M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense (#18)
2000: John Cusack et al., High Fidelity (#6)
2001: Karen Walton, Ginger Snaps (#6)
2002: Dylan Kidd, Roger Dodger (#2)
2003: Billy Ray, Shattered Glass (#4)
2004: David Mamet, Spartan (#11)
2005: Skander Halim, Pretty Persuasion (#4)
2006: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (#6)
2007: Noah Baumbach, Margot at the Wedding (#4)
2008: Martin McDonagh, In Bruges (#5)
2009: Scott Z. Burns, The Informant! (#8)
2010: Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain and Chris Morris, Four Lions (#5)
2011: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants (#12)
2012: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods (#7)
2013: Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor (#7)
2014: James Ward Byrkit, Coherence (#6)
2015: Andrew Haigh, 45 Years (#8)
2016: Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi, The Nice Guys (#4)
2017: Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (#3)
2018: Mark Perez, Game Night (#8)
2019: Mike Leigh, Peterloo (#14)
2020: Mike Makowsky, Bad Education (#5)
2021: Nicole Holofcener & Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, The Last Duel (#13)
Highest-ranked scene from a film that failed to place in Picture. (Starts a year later because I didn't create Best Scene until '97, after I combined Original and Adapted Screenplay into just Screenplay.)
1997: The car scene, Scream 2 (#6)
1998: Protein-rich hair gel, There's Something About Mary (#7)
1999: Monologus interruptus, Deep Blue Sea (#7)
2000: Smack my Crispin up, Charlie's Angels (#4)
2001: Jimmy shanks a nonplussed Chopper, Chopper (#3)
2002: Evaluating Elizabeth, Lovely & Amazing (#3)
2003: Rainstorm pas de deux, The Company (#4)
2004: "Cousins?" (Molina/Coogan), Coffee and Cigarettes (#3)
2005: First encounter of the close kind, War of the Worlds (#2)
2006: Nude wrestling, Borat (#3)
2007: Han River attack, The Host (#1)
2008: Deranged penguin, Encounters at the End of the World (#10)
2009: Honeymoon on the tracks, You, the Living (#4)
2010: Backseat murder attempt, Let Me In (#5)
2011: Scaling Burj Khalifa, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (#4)
2012: Landing the plane, Flight (#4)
2013: Opening, Post tenebras lux (#2)
2014: Wedding dance, In Bloom (#9)
2015: Donnie vs. Leo (single shot), Creed (#2)
2016: "Would that it were so simple," Hail, Caesar! (#2)
2017: "Bellbottoms," Baby Driver (#4)
2018: Extracting the bullet, Game Night (#1)
2019: Umbrella attack, Shadow (#5)
2020: Meeting with HR, The Assistant (#2)
2021: “Night Colonies,” The Year of the Everlasting Storm (#5)
Cannes Palme d'Or
1995: Underground (#15, 1997)
1996: Secrets & Lies (#2, 1996)
1997: Taste of Cherry (#15, 1998)
1997: The Eel (did not place)
1998: Eternity and a Day (did not place)
1999: Rosetta (did not place)
2000: Dancer in the Dark (#10, 2000)
2001: The Son's Room (did not place)
2002: The Pianist (did not place)
2003: Elephant (did not place)
2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 (did not place)
2005: L'Enfant (The Child) (#6, 2006)
2006: The Wind That Shakes the Barley (did not place)
2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (#1, 2008)
2008: The Class (did not place)
2009: The White Ribbon (did not place)
2010: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (#9, 2011)
2011: The Tree of Life (#1, 2011)
2012: Amour (#6, 2012)
2013: Blue Is the Warmest Color (#8, 2013)
2014: Winter Sleep (#15, 2014)
2015: Dheepan (did not place)
2016: I, Daniel Blake (did not place)
2017: The Square (did not place)
2018: Shoplifters (#19, 2018)
2019: Parasite (#2, 2019)
Venice Golden Lion
1995: Cyclo (#14, 1996)
1996: Michael Collins (did not place)
1997: Fireworks (Hana-Bi) (#5, 1998)
1998: The Way We Laughed (N/A, not theatrically released during window of eligibility)
1999: Not One Less (did not place)
2000: The Circle (did not place)
2001: Monsoon Wedding (did not place)
2002: The Magdalene Sisters (did not place)
2003: The Return (did not place)
2004: Vera Drake (#6, 2004)
2005: Brokeback Mountain (#3, 2005)
2006: Still Life (#18, 2008)
2007: Lust, Caution (did not place)
2008: The Wrestler (#13, 2008)
2009: Lebanon (did not place)
2010: Somewhere (did not place)
2011: Faust (did not place)
2012: Pieta (did not place)
2013: Sacro GRA (N/A, not theatrically released during window of eligibility)
2014: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (did not place)
2015: From Afar (did not place)
2016: The Woman Who Left (did not place)
2017: The Shape of Water (did not place)
2018: Roma (#4, 2018)
2019: Joker (did not place)
Sundance Grand Jury (Dramatic)
1995: The Brothers McMullen (did not place)
1996: Welcome to the Dollhouse (did not place)
1997: Sunday (did not place)
1998: Slam (did not place)
1999: Three Seasons (did not place)
2000: Girlfight (did not place)
2000: You Can Count on Me (#3, 2000)
2001: The Believer (did not place)
2002: Personal Velocity (did not place)
2003: American Splendor (#20, 2003)
2004: Primer (#10, 2004)
2005: Forty Shades of Blue (did not place)
2006: Quinceañera (did not place)
2007: Padre Nuestro (did not place)
2008: Frozen River (did not place)
2009: Precious (Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire) (did not place)
2010: Winter's Bone (#2, 2010)
2011: Like Crazy (did not place)
2012: Beasts of the Southern Wild (did not place)
2013: Fruitvale Station (did not place)
2014: Whiplash (#20, 2014)
2015: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (did not place)
2016: The Birth of a Nation (did not place)
2017: I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (unreleased, placed 5th in the Undies)
2018: The Miseducation of Cameron Post (did not place)
2019: Clemency (did not place)
AVERAGE RATINGS FOR OSCAR WINNERS
I've never posted this list before, because until recently the Oscars happened after the Skandies. But since we're currently up to date, here it is (in descending order, with this year's addition in bold). Again, take ratings for films from the '90s with a grain of salt—no way would The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love get anything close to 3.20+ today.
No Country for Old Men: 3.45
The Departed: 3.42
Parasite: 3.37
The English Patient: 3.27
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: 3.26
Titanic: 3.23
Shakespeare in Love: 3.21
The Hurt Locker: 3.18
Moonlight: 3.14
Million Dollar Baby: 3.06
Gladiator: 3.04
12 Years a Slave: 3.04
American Beauty: 2.97
Argo: 2.86
Spotlight: 2.85
The Artist: 2.82
Chicago: 2.78
A Beautiful Mind: 2.73
Nomadland: 2.72
The King's Speech: 2.63
The Shape of Water: 2.48
Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): 2.44
Slumdog Millionaire: 2.42
CODA: 2.28
Crash: 2.11
Green Book: 2.07
Most Appearances in Top 20 (Actors)
(ties for number of appearances broken by average placement)
01. Tilda Swinton (17)
1. Julia
4s. Michael Clayton
4s. Snowpiercer
5. The Deep End
5. We Need to Talk About Kevin
7. Only Lovers Left Alive
9s. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
11. I Am Love
12s. Burn After Reading
12s. Suspiria
13s. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
14. A Bigger Splash
16s. The Dead Don't Die
18. Female Perversions
19s. Thumbsucker
19s. Trainwreck
02. Philip Seymour Hoffman (15)
1s. The Master
3s. Charlie Wilson's War
5. Capote
6. Synecdoche, New York
6s. The Talented Mr. Ripley
6s. Almost Famous
10s. Magnolia
10s. 25th Hour
11. Doubt
12. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
12s. State and Main
15s. Happiness
15. Owning Mahowny
18. A Most Wanted Man
19s. Mission: Impossible III
03. Isabelle Huppert (15)
1. Elle
2. The Piano Teacher
2s. 8 Women
4. Gabrielle
8. Abuse of Weakness
8. The School of Flesh
8. Things to Come
12. White Material
13s. I ♥ Huckabees
13s. Amour
15. La Cérémonie
17. Time of the Wolf
17. In Another Country
19s. Claire's Camera
19. Home
1. Two Lovers
3. The Master
3. Inherent Vice
3. You Were Never Really Here
5. Her
9s. Gladiator
10. Walk the Line
10. The Immigrant
11. I’m Still Here
13. C’mon C’mon
15. Joker
05. Julianne Moore (11)
1. Far From Heaven
3s. Boogie Nights
6. Still Alice
8s. Magnolia
11. The End of the Affair
13s. The Big Lebowski
15s. An Ideal Husband
16s. A Single Man
16. Gloria Bell
19. Savage Grace
19. The Kids Are All Right
(Was also the Actress winner for Safe in 1995, when the survey employed Oscar-style voting.)
Joaquin Phoenix knocks out Scarlett Johansson.
Most Films Landed in Top 20 (Directors)
(again, ties broken by average placement)
01. Joel [& Ethan] Coen (10)
1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. No Country for Old Men
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. The Man Who Wasn't There
6. Fargo
7. A Serious Man
10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
11. Burn After Reading
12. The Big Lebowski
12. True Grit
Did not place: Intolerable Cruelty; The Ladykillers; Paris je t'aime [segment]; Hail, Caesar!; The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ineligible: Everything prior to Fargo; To Each His Own Cinema [segment]
02. Paul Thomas Anderson (8)
03. Martin Scorsese (8)
1. The Departed
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Silence
5. I Heard You Paint Houses
7. Kundun
9. Gangs of New York
14. Shutter Island
19. Hugo
Did not place: Bringing Out the Dead; The Aviator; Shine a Light; Public Speaking; Living in the Material World; Conjuring the Rolling Thunder Re-vue
Ineligible: Everything prior to Kundun; My Voyage to Italy; The Concert for New York City [segment]; Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty; A Letter to Elia; The 50 Year Argument
04. Richard Linklater (8)
3. Before Sunset
3. Boyhood
4. Before Midnight
7. Everybody Wants Some!!
9. The School of Rock
12. A Scanner Darkly
15. Waking Life
18. Bernie
Did not place: subUrbia; The Newton Boys; Tape; Bad News Bears; Fast Food Nation; Me and Orson Welles; Last Flag Flying; Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Ineligible: Everything prior to subUrbia; Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach
05. Lars von Trier (8)
1. Breaking the Waves
1. Dogville
7. Melancholia
10. Dancer in the Dark
13. The House That Jack Built
17. Nymph()maniac Vol. I
19. The Five Obstructions
20. Manderlay
Did not place: The Kingdom; The Idiots; The Kingdom II; The Boss of It All; Antichrist; Nymph()maniac Vol. II
Ineligible: Everything prior to Breaking the Waves; D-dag
New-ish category! Actors who've had at least two appearances in the top 20, but haven't made the cut in the past ten years. We used to like them. What happened? (Actors who die will be removed a year following their last eligible performance.)
Note: The two-nod minimum, which is meant to keep this list manageable (as there are many, many actors who've shown up only once, most of them in no way notable), also eliminates some big names that one might expect to be here: Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, etc.
Each actor's most recent Skandie appearance is in [brackets]. New additions are in bold. Removed because they finally placed again this year: Don Cheadle, Penélope Cruz and Jeffrey Wright. Not added this year because he's passed away: Christopher Plummer (who'd last placed for Beginners). Added even though we all know exactly where he is now: Kevin Spacey.
• Mathieu Amalric [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Catherine Deneuve [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Emmanuelle Devos [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Robert Downey, Jr. [2008: Iron Man + Tropic Thunder]
• Aaron Eckhart [2008: The Dark Knight]
• Anna Faris [2008: The House Bunny]
• Vera Farmiga [2009: Up in the Air]
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt [2009: (500) Days of Summer]
• Jackie Earle Haley [2009: Watchmen]
• Vlad Ivanov [2009: Police, Adjective]
• Rinko Kikuchi [2009: The Brothers Bloom]
• Frank Langella [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• Alison Lohman [2009: Drag Me to Hell]
• Anthony Mackie [2009: The Hurt Locker]
• John Malkovich [2008: Burn After Reading]
• Samantha Morton [2008: Synecdoche, New York]
• Timothy Olyphant [2009: A Perfect Getaway]
• Clive Owen [2009: Duplicity]
• Gwyneth Paltrow [2009: Two Lovers]
• Jérémie Renier [2009: Lorna's Silence]
• Julia Roberts [2009: Duplicity]
• Mickey Rourke [2008: The Wrestler]
• Ludivine Sagnier [2008: A Girl Cut in Two]
• Jason Schwartzman [2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox]
• Kristin Scott Thomas [2008: I've Loved You So Long]
• Michael Sheen [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• David Strathairn [2008: My Blueberry Nights]
• Stanley Tucci [2009: Julie & Julia]
• Naomi Watts [2008: Funny Games]
And finally. Back when I started the survey, I remember looking forward to the time, a decade or so later (i.e. now), when there'd be tons of accumulated data to wade through. In particular, I was excited about the prospect of being able to compare how various films from major directors had been received over the years. Granted, that process isn't exactly definitive—the AVB has mutated over the years and even the diehards tend to be stingier with their star ratings than they were back in the mid-'90s. But perhaps my favorite task after receiving the averages is updating my Directors' Gallery, plugging this year's films into various post-'94 oeuvres. Here are the entries that saw additions this year—every filmmaker who's ever placed in the Director top 20. 2021 films are in bold. Numbers in parentheses indicate how the film placed in Best Picture that year, if applicable; if the film title is in parentheses that means it received fewer than 10 votes and hence the result is a bit less meaningful. N/A (not applicable) means it was eligible but didn't even get five votes and so didn't make the main list.
Pedro Almodóvar
Talk to Her (12) 3.21
All About My Mother 3.11
Volver (14) 3.00
Pain and Glory (19) 2.96
Julieta 2.90
Live Flesh 2.88
Bad Education 2.87
The Flower of My Secret 2.75
Parallel Mothers 2.72
Broken Embraces 2.65
The Skin I Live In 2.62
I'm So Excited! 2.21
Paul Thomas Anderson
Phantom Thread (2) 3.46
There Will Be Blood (1) 3.46
Licorice Pizza (3) 3.23
Boogie Nights (8) 3.18
Magnolia (7) 3.17
The Master (4) 3.17
Punch-Drunk Love (8) 2.93
Hard Eight 2.87
Inherent Vice (7) 2.81
Wes Anderson
Rushmore (2) 3.45
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2) 3.38
Moonrise Kingdom (2) 3.32
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2) 3.21
The Royal Tenenbaums (8) 3.03
The French Dispatch (9) 2.89
Isle of Dogs 2.89
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (17) 2.89
Bottle Rocket 2.63
The Darjeeling Limited 2.40
Roy Andersson
Songs From the Second Floor (9) 3.23
You, the Living 2.96
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting… 2.92
About Endlessness 2.84
Sean Baker
Red Rocket (6) 3.15
The Florida Project (8) 3.06
Tangerine 2.75
Starlet 2.71
Kenneth Branagh
Hamlet (9) 3.29
(A Midwinter’s Tale) 2.83
(Cinderella) 2.75
(All Is True) 2.42
Thor 2.39
Belfast 2.27
(Murder on the Orient Express) 2.11
Love’s Labours Lost 2.10
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2.05
(Sleuth) 1.40
Jane Campion
The Power of the Dog (10) 3.02
Bright Star 2.94
The Portrait of a Lady 2.46
Holy Smoke 2.22
In the Cut 2.10
Leos Carax
Holy Motors (1) 3.41
Annette (2) 3.11
Pola X 2.63
Tokyo! 2.37
Joel Coen
No Country for Old Men (2) 3.45
Fargo (6) 3.31
The Man Who Wasn’t There (5) 3.28
Inside Llewyn Davis (1) 3.26
The Big Lebowski (12) 3.03
Burn After Reading (11) 3.01
True Grit (12) 2.98
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (10) 2.97
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (4) 2.94
Hail, Caesar! 2.88
A Serious Man (7) 2.83
The Tragedy of Macbeth 2.73
Intolerable Cruelty 2.72
The Ladykillers 2.24
Paris je t'aime 2.24
Guillermo del Toro
Pan's Labyrinth (8) 2.95
Crimson Peak 2.76
The Devil’s Backbone 2.66
Blade II 2.63
Nightmare Alley 2.61
Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2.53
The Shape of Water 2.48
Hellboy 2.33
Pacific Rim 2.18
Mimic 2.06
Arnaud Desplechin
My Golden Days (16) 3.11
Kings & Queen (15) 3.03
A Christmas Tale (10) 3.00
Esther Kahn 2.98
Ismael's Ghosts 2.64
(Oh Mercy) 2.63
(My Sex Life) 2.60
Jimmy P. 2.47
Bruno Dumont
Jeannette: Childhood of Joan of Arc (15) 3.07
Hadewijch 3.00
Flanders 2.96
France (15) 2.89
Slack Bay 2.86
(Joan of Arc) 2.83
Camille Claudel 1915 2.79
Humanité (13) 2.79
Li'l Quinquin 2.79
Outside Satan 2.60
Twentynine Palms 2.42
(Life of Jesus) 2.19
Clint Eastwood
Million Dollar Baby (9) 3.06
Letters From Iwo Jima 2.82
Mystic River 2.81
Sully 2.74
Changeling 2.70
Richard Jewell 2.64
Space Cowboys 2.63
American Sniper 2.58
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 2.57
The Mule 2.54
Invictus 2.53
Flags of Our Fathers 2.52
Gran Torino 2.46
Blood Work 2.35
Absolute Power 2.32
Cry Macho 2.31
True Crime 2.31
Jersey Boys 2.21
The 15:17 to Paris 2.07
Hereafter 2.05
J. Edgar 2.04
Asghar Farhadi
A Separation (2) 3.61
A Hero (7) 3.08
The Past 3.00
The Salesman (19) 2.95
Everybody Knows 2.54
Philippe Garrel
Regular Lovers (9) 3.07
Frontier of Dawn 2.91
Jealousy 2.88
(Lover for a Day) 2.83
In the Shadow of Women 2.72
The Salt of Tears 2.63
A Burning Hot Summer 2.58
David Gordon Green
George Washington 3.05
All the Real Girls (15) 2.93
Stronger 2.88
Pineapple Express 2.71
Joe 2.69
(Manglehorn) 2.58
Undertow 2.56
Snow Angels 2.56
Prince Avalanche 2.50
Halloween 2.43
(Our Brand Is Crisis) 2.19
(The Sitter) 2.00
Your Highness 1.89
(Halloween Kills) 1.75
Robert Greene
Bisbee '17 (20) 3.15
Kate Plays Christine 3.03
Actress (16) 2.89
(Fake It So Real) 2.80
Procession 2.60
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (8) 3.18
Drive My Car (5) 3.12
Asako I & II 2.94
(Happy Hour) 2.93
Todd Haynes
Far From Heaven (4) 3.37
Carol (2) 3.35
The Velvet Underground 3.00
I'm Not There (10) 2.92
Dark Waters 2.71
Wonderstruck 2.47
Velvet Goldmine 2.43
Joanna Hogg
The Souvenir Part II (11) 2.94
Exhibition 2.92
The Souvenir (17) 2.90
Hong Sang-soo
Right Now, Wrong Then (11) 3.24
Woman on the Beach (13) 3.10
Night and Day 3.07
The Day He Arrives 3.05
On the Beach at Night Alone (16) 3.03
Oki's Movie 2.88
Grass 2.85
The Woman Who Ran 2.85
Hotel by the River 2.83
In Another Country 2.82
The Day After 2.80
Woman Is the Future of Man 2.79
Claire's Camera 2.66
Jia Zhang-ke
A Touch of Sin 3.00
Ash Is Purest White (15) 2.92
The World 2.89
Still Life (18) 2.88
Mountains May Depart 2.59
(Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue) 2.56
24 City 2.50
Unknown Pleasures 2.45
Radu Jude
("I Do Not Care if We Go Down…") 3.10
Aferim! 3.08
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (13) 3.03
(Uppercase Print) 2.80
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Tokyo Sonata 2.81
Creepy 2.77
Before We Vanish 2.71
Wife of a Spy 2.67
To the Ends of the Earth 2.58
Bright Future 2.37
(I'm always surprised to be reminded how few of his films have gotten a U.S. release.)
David Lowery
A Ghost Story (4) 2.98
The Old Man & the Gun 2.87
Pete's Dragon 2.81
The Green Knight 2.66
(The Year of the Everlasting Storm) 2.43
Ain't Them Bodies Saints 2.33
Mike Mills
20th Century Women (9) 3.12
Beginners (15) 2.79
C’mon C’mon 2.40
Thumbsucker 2.33
Gaspar Noé
Irreversible (1) 3.12
I Stand Alone 2.94
(Lvx Æterna) 2.94
Climax (13) 2.81
Enter the Void (11) 2.78
Love 2.41
Jafar Panahi
Offside (11) 3.25
Crimson Gold (11) 3.20
(The Mirror) 3.20
The White Balloon 3.14
This Is Not a Film 3.00
Jafar Panahi's Taxi 2.84
The Circle 2.70
3 Faces 2.67
Closed Curtain 2.63
(The Year of the Everlasting Storm) 2.43
Christian Petzold
Phoenix (6) 3.24
Transit (6) 3.17
Barbara 3.00
Jerichow 2.82
Undine 2.82
(Yella) 2.29
Cristi Puiu
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (11) 3.06
Malmkrog 2.91
Aurora 2.29
Paul Schrader
First Reformed (3) 3.17
Affliction (17) 2.94
The Card Counter 2.79
Auto Focus 2.32
Dog Eat Dog 2.20
(The Walker) 2.19
(Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist) 1.86
The Canyons 1.36
Céline Sciamma
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (10) 3.14
Girlhood 2.92
Petite Maman (17) 2.92
Tomboy 2.73
(Water Lilies) 2.67
Ridley Scott
Gladiator (20) 3.04
The Counselor 2.91
The Martian 2.89
The Last Duel 2.81
Black Hawk Down (20) 2.78
Matchstick Men 2.78
American Gangster 2.50
Body of Lies 2.50
All the Money in the World 2.46
G.I. Jane 2.42
Alien: Covenant 2.39
Kingdom of Heaven 2.33
Prometheus 2.26
(White Squall) 2.22
House of Gucci 2.06
(Exodus: Gods and Kings) 2.00
Hannibal 1.94
(A Good Year) 1.93
Robin Hood 1.91
Steven Soderbergh
Out of Sight (1) 3.37
Traffic (5) 3.24
Erin Brockovich 3.14
The Limey 2.99
Contagion 2.96
(Gray’s Anatomy) 2.94
Ocean’s Eleven 2.93
The Informant! 2.92
Solaris 2.86
Haywire 2.85
Let Them All Talk 2.83
No Sudden Move 2.79
Logan Lucky 2.77
High Flying Bird 2.76
And Everything Is Going Fine 2.75
The Girlfriend Experience 2.72
Magic Mike 2.70
Schizopolis 2.70
Bubble 2.66
The Good German 2.66
Full Frontal 2.63
Side Effects 2.59
Ocean's Twelve 2.52
Ocean's Thirteen 2.52
Unsane 2.40
Che 2.35
Eros 2.16
The Laundromat 1.83
Paolo Sorrentino
The Great Beauty (15) 3.00
(Loro) 2.94
This Must Be the Place 2.91
Il Divo 2.74
The Hand of God 2.71
Youth 2.46
Steven Spielberg
Saving Private Ryan (8) 3.27
West Side Story (14) 3.00
Minority Report 2.92
AI (7) 2.91
Munich (14) 2.88
Lincoln (19) 2.86
Bridge of Spies 2.85
Amistad 2.83
War of the Worlds 2.82
Catch Me if You Can 2.79
War Horse 2.79
The Adventures of Tintin 2.78
The Post 2.57
The BFG 2.44
Ready Player One 2.43
Indiana Jones…Kingdom of Crystal Skull 2.39
The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2.33
The Terminal 2.10
Joachim Trier
The Worst Person in the World (18) 2.93
Oslo, August 31st 2.88
Reprise 2.87
Louder Than Bombs 2.70
Thelma 2.40
Tsai Ming-liang
What Time Is It There? (11) 3.21
Stray Dogs (10) 3.17
The Wayward Cloud (8) 3.08
(Vive L’Amour) 2.92
Days 2.76
Good Bye Dragon Inn 2.69
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone 2.53
(Afternoon) 2.42
Paul Verhoeven
Black Book (16) 3.22
Elle (14) 3.07
Benedetta 2.77
Starship Troopers 2.30
Hollow Man 2.17
Denis Villeneuve
Sicario (12) 3.09
Arrival 2.88
Dune: Part One 2.77
Blade Runner 2049 2.75
(Polytechnique) 2.71
Incendies 2.67
Enemy 2.43
Maelström 2.29
Prisoners 2.08
Lana Wachowski
Bound (16) 3.29
The Matrix 2.96
Speed Racer 2.57
The Matrix Resurrections 2.47
Cloud Atlas 2.45
The Matrix Reloaded 2.29
The Matrix Revolutions 2.21
Jupiter Ascending 1.88
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Memoria (1) 3.48
Uncle Boonmee…Can Recall Past Lives (9) 3.22
Cemetery of Splendour (17) 3.07
Syndromes and a Century (5) 3.07
Blissfully Yours (13) 3.00
Tropical Malady (4) 2.90
(The Year of the Everlasting Storm) 2.43
(Mysterious Object at Noon) 2.36
Edgar Wright
The World's End (20) 3.00
Grindhouse (4) 2.93
Shaun of the Dead 2.90
Hot Fuzz 2.89
Baby Driver 2.72
The Sparks Brothers 2.72
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 2.71
Last Night in Soho 2.55
Joe Wright
Pride & Prejudice 3.02
Atonement (20) 3.00
Hanna 2.57
Anna Karenina 2.56
Darkest Hour 2.29
(The Soloist) 2.14
(The Woman in the Window) 1.88
Zhang Yimou
Hero (5) 3.15
Shadow 3.11
Not One Less 3.03
House of Flying Daggers (20) 3.00
Cliff Walkers 2.75
Curse of the Golden Flower 2.65
(Coming Home) 2.56
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles 2.50
The Great Wall 2.46
(Happy Times) 2.44
(The Flowers of War) 2.42
(A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop) 2.19
The Road Home 1.88
Chloé Zhao
The Rider 3.02
(Songs My Brothers Taught Me) 2.75
Nomadland (18) 2.72
(Eternals) 1.81
4 comments:
Minor clarification: SAINT MAUD was my #2 film for the year; ANNETTE was #1.
Great read as always. But one thing - shouldn't PTA be second behind the Coens now that he's landed 8 films all in top 10?
You are correct—I updated my master file and then forgot to add him to the top five list. Fixed.
Thanks for the insightful and informative articles
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