Congratulations to this year's National Society of Film Critics honorees!
Best Film
Lady Bird
Best Director
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Best Actor
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Best Screenplay
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Remember that glorious, gut-wrenching scene in James Ivory's The Remains of the Day in which the lonely butler Mr. Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) is caught by housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), the woman he secretly adores, reading a book of sweet love stories?
I will never forget it and it's that sense of overwhelming longing and desire that I figured would play so prominently in Call Me by Your Name, a picture not directed by Ivory but written by the filmmaker - a rare screenwriting credit. Yet the film, pretty as it may be, ultimately left me more restless than anything, one of the great disappointments of the 2017 film season.
The picture opens on young Elio (Timothee Chalamet) who, over the summer of 1983, spends his days relaxing in the Italian countryside with his family. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor of archaeology, invites Oliver (Armie Hammer), a twentysomething doctoral student, to spend much of the season with them. Initially, the introverted Elio and high-spirited Oliver seem to have little in common but, over time, they do grow close and, despite Elio's courting of Marzia (Esther Garrel), a sexual relationship soon blossoms.
Call Me by Your Name is sumptuously photographed by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom - it's a picture that looks just as splendid as Ivory's best. Alas, director Luca Guadagnino, who has impressed me in the past (I love I Am Love), shows far more sensual feeling for the countryside scenery than his characters. Elio and Oliver are just not as captivating or absorbing a pair as say, Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton or Maurice and Clive of Ivory's Maurice.
Chalamet is dead-on convincing as Elio. Too bad he's stuck playing against Hammer who, his matinee idols looks aside, continues to exude the acting prowess of a block of wood. At the film's 11-'o-clock hour, Stuhlbarg has a monologue on young love that, while exquisitely delivered by the actor, rings of something manufactured that you'd only hear in the movies.
Call Me by Your Name dazzled my eyes but, to my surprise, barely tugged at the heartstrings.
B
Congratulations to this year's Producers Guild of America Award nominees!
Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Big Sick
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
Molly’s Game
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Wonder Woman
Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Boss Baby
Coco
Despicable Me 3
Ferdinand
The Lego Batman Movie
Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures:
Chasing Coral
City of Ghosts
Cries from Syria
Earth: One Amazing Day
Jane
Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee
Congratulations to this year's Writers Guild of America Awards nominees!
Best Original Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Steven Rogers, I, Tonya
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Best Adapted Screenplay
James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank, Michael Green and James Mangold, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
Dee Rees and Virgil Williams, Mudbound
Best Documentary Screenplay
Theodore Braun, Betting on Zero
Brett Morgan, Jane
Alex Gibney, No Stone Unturned
Barak Goodman, Oklahoma City
Here we go! Truth be told, I don't feel terribly confident about most of these - the exceptions being Best Director, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, with the only true shoo-in of the evening landing in that middle category, for the unstoppable Coco.
My hunch is next Sunday will prove a strong evening for both The Shape of Water and Lady Bird, knocking the likes of The Post, Three Billboards and Get Out down a few rungs. It is hardly inconceivable, however, to think the Hollywood Foreign Press Association could fall for The Post and/or even go with Get Out in Musical/Comedy Picture, despite that one missing in both Director and Screenplay.
Will Oscar front-runner Gary Oldman's past jabs at the Globes damage his chances here? I suspect so but then again, the HFPA sure does like to try predicting the Oscar winners (and Oldman will remain the Oscar front-runner, albeit a softer one, even if he does lose here).
Both Lead Actress categories are legit jump balls here, ditto Supporting Actress, where Allison Janney hopes to put a dent in Laurie Metcalf's front-runner status. And speaking of tough categories to forecast, there's Best Screenplay, where Globe favorite Aaron Sorkin could totally score another Steve Jobs-level upset with Molly's Game.
Oh, and don't you dare underestimate that dark horse Christopher Plummer down in Supporting Actor, especially with Oscar front-runner Willem Dafoe's film evidently not much resonating with the HFPA.
All that said, check out my predictions below, ranked from most to least likely to prevail. And of course, feel free to chime in with your own two cents as well!
Best Motion Picture – Drama:
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama:
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:
Best Director – Motion Picture:
Best Screenplay:
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language:
Best Motion Picture – Animated:
Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
Best Original Score – Motion Picture: