Critics Choice Awards Show and Winners

[Big Magilla]

I haven't seen The Long Day Closes in quite a while, but I do remember it as a much deeper film than Belfast.

As to the framing, the DVD/Blu-ray release includes the film's deleted original ending which had Branagh as "Buddy" returning to his now deserted Belfast neighborhood.

As recounted in Sasha's write-up, "Belfast is an echo from the past, of a time already lived through and understood. Like so many other filmmakers, Branagh was stuck inside during lockdown with not much to do but think and remember. He thought of a young Catholic girl he once knew and how he had been told by some that he had to hate her out of tribal loyalty. It was something he didn’t understand. It stayed with him, he’s said, for the next 50 years.

In Belfast, he pays tribute to her, and to his father who not only told him it was okay to love someone of an opposing faith but walked him over to her house to give her flowers just before they left Ireland. He pays tribute to his mother, who was trying to raise her sons right in a place that was going to suck them into violence one way or another – they would either be consumed by it or become part of it. In leaving Belfast, Buddy will eventually learn when he becomes the grown Branagh, she saved him.

Belfast looks back at his life in Ireland with humility and awe. He shows us every corner of his beloved Belfast, every connection he remembers and even some we might feel echo down, like the ghost of the once hopeful Titanic that originated there. He shows us how beautiful it was, how depressed it was, how hard their lives were, but mostly he shows us the delicate human connections between young Buddy and his family."

[dws1982]

Belfast's relationship to How Green Was My Valley is incidental in that both films are seen from the view of a middle-aged man looking back on his childhood but they occur in two different countries and are about two different things - the plight of coal miners vs. the idiocy of war.

Belfast is never framed through that point-of-view though; we only see it as a film about a middle-aged man looking back on childhood because we know it's made by a middle-aged man and it's semi-autobiographical. I really think its much closer point of comparison is Terence Davies' The Long Day Closes, which follows a protagonist around the same age, finds solace from everyday life in the movies, there's not a tightly-structured plot (although Belfast is very plot-heavy compared to the Davies film). The kid's first name is even Buddy. I haven't read any interviews about his inspirations for Belfast, but I would be shocked if Branagh wasn't directly inspired by it on some level at least. (I said it in another thread, but Belfast does not come out well at all in comparison--Davies' film is so much more cinematic, his camera movements are so much more fluid, his use of music is so much more inventive and unexpected. The Long Day Closes is one of the all-time greats in my opinion.)

[Big Magilla]

Did you miss the part where the Academy is diversifying at a very high rate? Just a look at some of the names on the lists they've admitted and they are clearly going for younger and more diverse members. Plus, with many older voters pushed into "emeritus" status where they can't vote anymore, I think you're way overthinking things.

And I will tell you that YOU are in one of those groups and in the other, we have several members who are much older than me. Age is also irrelevant. I know more astute and discerning people over 40 than I do people under 40. Just because people are older doesn't mean they immediately vote for the least challenging title on the list.

Regardless, Magilla, you have a predisposition to the type of film that Belfast is. You are hardcore into How Green Was My Valley, which shares a great deal with Branagh's film, as you've told me before. If BAFTA, the bastion of cronyism that it is, can still go for Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog over Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, I think that's far more indicative of where this race is right now than the below-the-line picks of the CCA.

Sasha Stone wrote a lovely tribute to Belfast on her site today. She seems to be looking for an alternative to both The Power of the Dog, which she doesn't seem to like, and King Richard, which she had been championing all along.

I doubt that Belfast is going to win Best Picture at the Oscars over The Power of the Dog but if for some reason there is an upset I think it has as good a chance as any of the other nominees.

Belfast's relationship to How Green Was My Valley is incidental in that both films are seen from the view of a middle-aged man looking back on his childhood but they occur in two different countries and are about two different things - the plight of coal miners vs. the idiocy of war.

Since when do Oscar voters vote for the most challenging film? If they did that, Drive My Car, not The Power of the Dog, would be the one to beat for Best Picture.

I didn't say anything about the CCA's picks of Belfast in non-Oscar categories being indicative of the race. Quite the opposite. I said that all the other awards were their interpretation of the way things were going but that their hearts were with Belfast. Does anyone really think that the cute kid gave a better performance than the other nominees in his category? I doubt it. They just like him better. My implication was that if that if the case with AMPAS members as well, then what other category in which it is nominated could Belfast beat the presumed front-runner? I was thinking of Original Screenplay.

Oh, and that emeritus thing really hasn't taken too much of a bite out of the voting membership. As of January, this was the AMPAS membership makeup:

Total active members: 9,573 (+178)
Emeritus members: 914 (+33)
Total active and inactive members: 10,487 (+211)

[rolotomasi99]

SPOILERS FOR POWER OF THE DOG HEREON

Now, to address Rolo, I can guarantee you that Tee knows enough about anthrax to know its dangers. The film isn't even subtle about it either. It's even pointed out to Peter that they don't go near the dead cattle because of the dangers they pose. I think Tee's issue is that he didn't pick up the subtleties when he initially watched it. Perhaps he was expecting something a bit more obvious than he got. I don't know the exact reason, but it's not for a lack of knowledge.

As to your reading of the final scene with the rope under the bed, I didn't read it that way at all. I read it more along the lines of Peter holding onto to the only thing left behind a man he killed, but whom he may have ultimately had some feelings for. From my reading of the film, Peter, as much as he hates the way Phil has treated his mother, I think he honestly appreciates how much Phil has opened up to him as the film progresses and I think there may have been genuine affection between them. I don't think it was entirely a ploy to get Phil to let down his guard. Ultimately, I believe that him holding onto the rope is like Phil holding onto nudie mags he got from Bronco Henry. Perhaps there's a little more emotional detachment that Peter possesses than Phil did, but it's still there. No matter if he thought disposing of Phil was the right thing to do, he can still feel emotionally conflicted about that decision.

SPOILERS FOR THE POWER OF THE DOG

I will be interested to hear what Mister Tee has to say, but I guess I just have a different definition of subtle. Campion's close-up of Phil's bloody hand in the water with the infected cowhide does not strike me as ambiguous. It is as visually direct as Kubrick showing HAL reading the crew's lips. I will not belabor the point any more, but I am truly shocked that folks did not immediately understand what was happening. Not saying it is a reflection on anyone's intelligence, but I do object to folks calling Campion incompetent because they missed the verbal and visual clues she left throughout the movie.

Your interpretation of why Peter kept the rope is very interesting. Hopefully Peter does not use Phil's rope the same way Phil used Bronco Henry's scarf!

[OscarGuy]

Did you miss the part where the Academy is diversifying at a very high rate? Just a look at some of the names on the lists they've admitted and they are clearly going for younger and more diverse members. Plus, with many older voters pushed into "emeritus" status where they can't vote anymore, I think you're way overthinking things.

And I will tell you that YOU are in one of those groups and in the other, we have several members who are much older than me. Age is also irrelevant. I know more astute and discerning people over 40 than I do people under 40. Just because people are older doesn't mean they immediately vote for the least challenging title on the list.

Regardless, Magilla, you have a predisposition to the type of film that Belfast is. You are hardcore into How Green Was My Valley, which shares a great deal with Branagh's film, as you've told me before. If BAFTA, the bastion of cronyism that it is, can still go for Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog over Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, I think that's far more indicative of where this race is right now than the below-the-line picks of the CCA.

SPOILERS FOR POWER OF THE DOG HEREON

Now, to address Rolo, I can guarantee you that Tee knows enough about anthrax to know its dangers. The film isn't even subtle about it either. It's even pointed out to Peter that they don't go near the dead cattle because of the dangers they pose. I think Tee's issue is that he didn't pick up the subtleties when he initially watched it. Perhaps he was expecting something a bit more obvious than he got. I don't know the exact reason, but it's not for a lack of knowledge.

As to your reading of the final scene with the rope under the bed, I didn't read it that way at all. I read it more along the lines of Peter holding onto to the only thing left behind a man he killed, but whom he may have ultimately had some feelings for. From my reading of the film, Peter, as much as he hates the way Phil has treated his mother, I think he honestly appreciates how much Phil has opened up to him as the film progresses and I think there may have been genuine affection between them. I don't think it was entirely a ploy to get Phil to let down his guard. Ultimately, I believe that him holding onto the rope is like Phil holding onto nudie mags he got from Bronco Henry. Perhaps there's a little more emotional detachment that Peter possesses than Phil did, but it's still there. No matter if he thought disposing of Phil was the right thing to do, he can still feel emotionally conflicted about that decision.

[Big Magilla]

Magilla, I think you're reading too deeply into the Belfast wins. I've tabulated the votes of TWO different groups, neither of which is trying to "influence" or "forecast" the Oscars and both of them give out a ranked list of their ten Best Picture winners. Both of those groups saw Belfast ranked 10th. And in defense of the Critics Choice Association (they have formally adopted that as their organization name and are no longer the Broadcast Film Critics Association), they could have gone with Oscar frontrunner Dune in Cinematography or switched their vote to CODA in Adapted Screenplay, but they stuck with their guns and gave them both to The Power of the Dog. That speaks more loudly than what they picked in those other two categories.

And the average age of the voters in those two groups was what?

AMPAS voters skewer older where Belfast could still win Original Screenplay. Anything else is unlikely at this point but not impossible.

[rolotomasi99]

Having seen THE POWER OF THE DOG twice, I believe Campion deserves accolades for both her writing and directing. The dialogue is sparse, but what is said cuts like a scalpel. Much like DRIVE MY CAR, it tells us so much without ever being obvious (unlike some of the other scripts nominated this year). Reportedly this left some audiences confused, but they are the same folks who loved GREEN BOOK and DON'T LOOK UP so that seems more like a problem with them than Campion's screenplay.

Hold the phone, here. As I indicated when I wrote about the film, I reached the end of Power of the Dog and had no idea what happened. I had to do an Internet search to have it explained to me: a search that turned up a multitude of links, because a whole lot of people are having the same issue. It's rather condescending of you to lump all of us as Green Book lovers. (Feel free to search my response to THAT movie.) I've found that there's basically no rhyme or reason to those who grasp the ending of Dog and those who don't -- two friends I'd describe as not spectacularly literary (one watches a ton of Marvel movies; another loved CODA and Belfast) had no issues with it; on the other hand, an actor friend-since-college/one of the smartest guys I know had the same "I didn't get it reaction" I did. And one more: Kodu Smit-McPhee said he reached the end of the script, thought he'd missed something, went back and read it again, still didn't get it, and had to have Jane Campion explain it to him. (Which might have given her a clue some people were going to have a problem with it, but apparently she didn't much care.)

Now, I suppose it makes sense that, for those who picked up on it without trouble, those who didn't might appear simply dense. But, hey: I thought the "surprise" ending of The Sting was obvious from the get-go, and I've always found it curious more people didn't pick up on it. I didn't, however, dismiss them as low-perception dolts whose opinions don't matter.

As it happens (if you read what I wrote in The Power of the Do thread), though I think this (for me) lack of clarity was a flaw in the film, I think it's otherwise an impressive piece of writing as well as directing. I'd easily vote for Drive My Car in the category, but Power of the Dog without question over any of the remaining 3.

Thank you Mister Tee for your thoughtful reply to my bomb-throwing post. I knew I was being provocative by lumping in haters of THE POWER OF THE DOG with lovers of DON'T LOOK UP and GREEN BOOK. I assumed accusing someone of liking GREEN BOOK was "fighting words" around these parts, but Big Magilla has set me straight on that.

As for your objections to Campion's writing, I will say I took the time to read all the posts in the thread devoted to the film and wanted to share my thoughts here. [Spoilers for THE POWER OF THE DOG going forward]

I do not think I am any smarter than the average movie lover. For example, I still do not understand what the hell Tommy Lee Jones' final speech in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN means, or what the symbolism of the giant spider in ENEMY meant. However, I feel like those two examples involve the creators being purposefully obtuse and specifically denying audiences any context for their endings. Campion, on the other hand, was being masterfully subtle but still gave us all the clues we needed. After all, the characters explicitly mention anthrax within the first ten minutes of the film. The moment I heard that dialogue I knew Campion was giving us our Chekhov's gun, but I was unsure how exactly it would go off. Once we saw Peter reading about anthrax in his medical text book and then riding out to find a dead cow to extract a sample, it was clear we had our trigger man. The moment Peter noticed Phil's bleeding hand, we knew he had his target in sight.

I promise I am not impugning your intelligence when I ask how you thought there could be any ambiguity there. Campion gives us a close up of Phil's bloody hand soaking in the water with the infected cow hide. The next day his hand is grossly inflamed and oozing with puss beyond anything you would expect from a simple scratch, and his pale and clammy face shows he is clearly poisoned. Finally, the doctor confirms without any doubt that anthrax killed him, which we knew was Peter's intention.

Again, I do not mean this as an insult, but were you confused because you were unclear on what anthrax was, where it came from, or how it was spread? I have no medical background, but I learned all about anthrax during that period after 9/11 when it kept being sent by mail in powdered form. Knowing that anthrax often comes from dead cows and is transmissible through spores is the only info I needed outside of the what the movie provided. If you had never heard of anthrax before, I can completely understand why Phil's death would be inexplicable. Do you feel that is what Campion should have provided audiences so they better understood what happened?

To me, the true ambiguity of the ending is whether Peter plans to kill George. I agree with the interpretation that Peter and Rose are way too close, though I doubt it is a sexual interest he has in his mother. I think it is more he just does not like the men in her life because of how abusive his father was. The final scene of him looking down at a happy Rose and George could be an indication he is glad his mother is with a good man. However, the final shot of the rope under the bed makes me think he might be planning to get rid of George. After all, the rope is still very dangerous, and you would think he would want to get rid of any evidence of his crime. With Phil gone, Rose would inherit all of George's property, and he probably figured he and his mother could be happy together.

The ambiguity of THE POWER OF THE DOG is why I love it so much. I appreciate movies that provide you the information you need without spoon feeding it to you. Campion followed the basic rule of cinema: show your audience what they need to know rather than explicitly telling them everything. For that, she should be praised not pilloried.

[OscarGuy]

Magilla, I think you're reading too deeply into the Belfast wins. I've tabulated the votes of TWO different groups, neither of which is trying to "influence" or "forecast" the Oscars and both of them give out a ranked list of their ten Best Picture winners. Both of those groups saw Belfast ranked 10th. And in defense of the Critics Choice Association (they have formally adopted that as their organization name and are no longer the Broadcast Film Critics Association), they could have gone with Oscar frontrunner Dune in Cinematography or switched their vote to CODA in Adapted Screenplay, but they stuck with their guns and gave them both to The Power of the Dog. That speaks more loudly than what they picked in those other two categories.

[Big Magilla]

First of all, this is a non-controversial controversy. You guys need to take a break from social media.

If you're going to follow anything on Facebook and Twitter, follow the updates on Ukraine, not this nonsense.

As Campion said on the Critics' Awards, she has been a feminist for so long that she is now the grandmother of the movement. Her remark that the Williams sisters only had women to compete against, she has the opposite sex, was taken in the same spirit as Ann Richards' famous comment that Ginger Rogers did the same thing Fred Astaire did except that she had to do it backwards in high heels. Everyone laughed, none harder than Venus and Serena.

One other thing about the Broadcast Critics. While their awards are oriented toward guessing, if not influencing, the Oscar choices, there are two awards that they are free to vote their real choices on as they are not covered by Oscar - Best Ensemble and Best Young Performer. Both those went to Belfast. Ponder that.

[Okri]

What exactly did she get from Serena and Venus Williams and/or the King Richard team?

I'm with Sabin on this one. It was a stupid and thoughtless thing to say. She apologized for it quickly and with conviction. It's not worth crucifying her for, but minimizing it does her and the conversation itself a disservice.

[Big Magilla]

Misspoke, my ass. She gave as good as she got and good for her. If anything, she won more fans.

[Sabin]

OscarGuy wrote
Then the cuts of the show were deceptive. Regardless, it became a big thing whether or not it should have been. She clearly misspoke, but like a classy person, she accepted responsibility and apologized. Hopefully, that will be the end of it. Of course, I can imagine quite a few publicists trying to make a bigger deal out of it so as to undercut the film's chances for Best Picture.

I mean, I don't think that it's that big of a deal either, but her statements were her statements. We live in a world where if people step in it, it becomes a minor shit-storm, and we're happy to live in that world when it's people that we don't like. This time it happens to be someone we do like. That's the buy-in. Also, I don't think the cuts of the show were that deceptive we just live in an era where someone can take a single frame out of context and make it look weirder than it is. But either way, it was a stupid thing to say. Maybe it's revealing of larger issues that she has, maybe it isn't. We should consider that Jane Campion might be a second wave feminist who might have a blind spot or two when it comes to intersectionalism.

[OscarGuy]

Then the cuts of the show were deceptive. Regardless, it became a big thing whether or not it should have been. She clearly misspoke, but like a classy person, she accepted responsibility and apologized. Hopefully, that will be the end of it. Of course, I can imagine quite a few publicists trying to make a bigger deal out of it so as to undercut the film's chances for Best Picture.

[Big Magilla]

Well, I liked both Green Book (my second favorite film of 2018) and Little Miss Sunshine (my seventh favorite of 2006), but I didn't like either Avatar or CODA.

Without First Man in the running, Green Book was my choice to win 2018. The 2006 nominee I absolutely hated was Babel. Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth were robbed. The Departed was the best of the nominees with Letters from Iwo Jima next in line as far I was concerned, so I was glad to see it win.

I think CODA winning adapted screenplay over The Power of the Dog at BAFTA was a fluke.

I was one who didn't fully get the ending of The Power of the Dog at first either. I thought it could be what it turned out to be or one of two other possible scenarios. I thought it was one of those endings where you have to put your own spin on it. You don't, but you really have to pay attention to detail, you can't nod off like I did and think you've got it.

It's possible that The Power of the Dog doesn't win Best Picture, but if it doesn't, what does? I don't think any of the other nominees has nearly as big a fanbase.

Drive My Car may be big with critics, but it is not the phenomenon that Parasite was. International Film will be its only award. Belfast is not as popular as it was initially expected to be. Its best chance now is in original screenplay, but it could well lose that to Licorice Pizza. Dune will clean up with technical awards with Nightmare Alley possibly taking one away from it. King Richard, CODA, and West Side Story will win three of the four acting awards and that should be it. Don't Look Up won't have to. It's not winning anything.

[Sabin]

OscarGuy wrote
Sabin, I wouldn't say Campion really stepped in it with her Venus/Serena comment. The cut to that table saw them ecstatic with the statement. Strong women don't have to tear others down to boost themselves up and are often significantly more supportive of one another even when something is misconstrued. That said, I find it interesting that she trended for the BITCH comment about Sam Elliott. I remember her pre-DGA statement saying he hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia was a great line. I thought the BITCH comment might be a bit too snotty and might hurt her chances with Oscar voters. If it was widely applauded, then it just goes to show that we don't know how something's going to be taken without hearing out it's taken first.

Well, the public perception is that she did. Campion issued a pretty forceful apology. And a series of photos of Venus and Serena are going viral making faces where they looked uncomfortable at her remarks. That seems to be the open and shut of it.

I haven't really spoken much on the Sam Elliott/Jane Campion back and forth. On the one hand, I think it's perfectly fine to criticize The Power of the Dog as how it operates as a western, whether it's genre-satisfying, or even that courageous, etc. But there's an undeniable tone to Sam Elliott's comments. I'm willing to give him 10% of the benefit of the doubt because when people are taking off the cuff in a 1-2-3 hour podcast, it can get a bit casual, and people don't choose their language carefully, but it was far too dismissive so he deserves whatever backlash he gets. On the other hand, I didn't love what Jane Campion said on the red carpet. I think her best comment was "The West is a mythic space and there's a lot of room on the range." Because that's the point she should want to make, that there's room for all kinds of Westerns, and Sam Elliott doesn't get to decide which ones are acceptable and which ones aren't.

At any rate, I won't lie: I'm a little interested in seeing what happens next. Jane Campion has been heralded as a feminist icon this entire awards season and it's felt a bit more sanitary than her complicated, interesting films. I was too young to experience its release but it's my understanding that there was a slight backlash to the ideas presented in The Piano upon its release.