Thursday, December 18, 2008
Film They're lovin' it
Posted by J.R. Jones on Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 9:37 AM
I dropped out of the Chicago Film Critics Association last year, partly because I was so frustrated by the bovine timidity of its year-end awards. Announced this morning, the 2008 awards are more of the same:
Best picture: WALL-E.
Best director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best original screenplay: Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, WALL-E.
Best adapted screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire.
Best foreign film: Let the Right One In.
Best documentary: Man on Wire.
Best actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.
Best actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married.
Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight.
Best supporting actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader.
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Speaking as a recent CFCA dropout (with different reasons from Jim's), I don't view these results as any different from other awards organizations, except Chicago is probably the only one to nominate Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (he's the best thing about that film, local affiliation aside) and DEAR ZACHARY in the doc category (critics around here campaigned hard for it and it ended up being a minor hit, something no other city can claim). CFCA members seem to keep up pretty well with mainstream Hollywood releases, but their lack of curiosity with regards to "foreign-language" and documentary films shows when it comes to voting time. There are much worse Hollywood films than WALL-E, but there are much better films to represent a "foreign" category than, say, Soderbergh's CHE. Sadly Jim, neither you nor I will be able to change that. I was proud to be part of a small group of critics that rallied up enough interest to get all seven of WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES' cinematographers nominated in 2000. What a fluke that was. Last year my Best Picture nomination to Stan Brakhage's 23RD PSALM BRANCH -- which was made 1968 but remained for me the best "picture" screened in Chicago all year -- brought no consensus. One can dream, or better yet, one can discuss. Chicago critics need more discussion.
For me the last straw was in 2006 when the assocation gave best foreign-language film to Clint Eastwood's LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. What an embarrassment.
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