Awards
Page
Index *
OSCAR coverage here
'08 FiLM BiTCH Awards
by Nathaniel
R
Traditional
Oscar-style categories:
Majors
/
Acting /
Technicals /
Technicals 2
(Tally of Noms)
Special
Categories: Extras
/ Extras 2 / Scenes
1 / Scenes 2
(Tally of Noms) / Polls (Readers and Oscars)
FAQ for New (or Forgetful) Readers : Frequently Asked Questions about the Film Bitch
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Best
Picture
the nominees are...
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The
Class d. Laurent Cantet (Dec 19th, Sony Pictures Classics) |
Rachel
Getting Married d. Jonathan Demme (Oct 3rd, Sony Pictures Classics) |
Reprise d. Joachim Trier (May 16th, Miramax Films) |
WALL•E Andrew Stanton (June 27th, Pixar/Disney) |
The
Wrestler Darren Aronofsky (Dec 17th, Fox Searchlight) |
2008's
Cannes winner is a strikingly intuitive fly on the wall take on the
French educational system. Smartly conceived, thought provoking and
deftly executed. |
The
characters are walking wounds but the movie provides sweet balm. Demme's
richly felt wedding throbs with feeling and compassion. It's a vital
American original. |
Two
best friends crash into literary success in this debut (!) film. It's
a cinematic dazzler that understands how we process both imagined futures
and shared pasts. |
Pixar's
directive: make another classic. It's a whimsical silent, a smart message
movie and a romantic sci-fi yarn. Directive accomplished thrice over. |
A
moving character study that also doubles as a sports drama and maybe
even a trenchant political parable. Deeper than it first appears and
not a "one
trick pony" at all. Superb. |
* |
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details
on the top ten list ~year in review |
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Best Director
the
chosen auteurs are...
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| Darren
Aronofsky The Wrestler |
Laurent
Cantet The Class |
Jonathan
Demme Rachel Getting Married |
Joachim
Trier Reprise |
Andrew
Stanton WALL•E |
| Trusts
(but deepens) the straightforward narrative and pushes his actor to
greatness. Bravo |
Turns
what could have been a dry exercize into something stuffed with humanity
and dramatic tension |
The
most Demme-esque of all Demme films? Risky, music loving, committed,
generous... a major artistic comeback |
The
most exciting debut director of the year... style and substance. Film
#2 can't come soon enough. |
Storytelling
decisions that are really out of this world. It's a thing of true
and (probably) enduring beauty. |
Finalists:
Gus Van Sant for the sensitivity of Milk (and
the heady mood of Paranoid Park) * Mike Leigh's
trademark collaborative/rehearsal process yields more great results
in Happy-Go-Lucky * Semi-Finalists: Tomas Alfredson for Let the Right One In * Arnaud Desplechin for A Christmas Tale * The Coen Bros for Burn After Reading * Chris Nolan for The Dark Knight * Martin McDonagh for In Bruges * |
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Oscar's
Best Director
Race |
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Best Original Screenplay
new
visions
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|
|
|
Burn
After Reading The Coen Bros |
In
Bruges Martin McDonaugh |
Milk Dustin Lance Black |
Rachel
Getting Married Jenny Lumet |
WALL•E Andrew Stanton |
Clever
plot construction and memorable characters. Misanthropic but hilarious.
|
His
playwright's gift transfers well to the screen. Pleasing setup, memorable
first act gut punch and great jokes. |
Smart
repetitions, wisely streamlined history (both personal and political)
and zeroes in on just the right moments. |
Messy,
ambiguous, specific and personal in the best ways. Keen insights, full
characterizations and tough love. |
Brilliant
in its economy and simplistic all ages messaging elevated greatly with
true wit. |
| Finalists:
Happy-Go-Lucky
* Reprise * Semi-Finalists: The Wrestler * Vicky Cristina Barcelona * A Christmas Tale * Frozen River * The Visitor |
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Oscar's
Best Screenplay
Races |
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Best
Adapted Screenplay
borrowed
glories
|
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|
The
Class François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo and Laurent Cantet |
Doubt John Patrick Shanley |
Elegy Nicholas Meyer |
Let
the Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist |
The
Reader David Hare |
Bégaudeau
not only adapts his own classroom story "Entre
Les Murs" but he stars in it, too. Intelligent, complex
and riveting. |
It underlines themes and doesn't quite "open up" for the screen
but Shanley's greatish play still has killer pop instincts to dress
up the dramaturgy. |
I
can't say whether Phillip Roth's"The
Dying Animal" is represented well here, but the film
sure works as a mortality drama with intimacy issues |
If
Lindqvist's own coming of age vampire novel "Låt
den rätte komma in" didn't already read like a
movie (who knows) it sure works as one. |
Bernard
Schlink's acclaimed novel gets a cinematic rethinking by the versatile
Hare. |
Finalists:
Frost/Nixon * Revolutionary
Road * The Dark Knight * Note: What an empty year this was for adapted screenplays! My customary number of nominees / finalists and semi-finalists goes to 12 but in order to do that I'd had to include Iron Man and Slumdog Millionaire neither of which I think are the strengths of their movies. I don't count Gomorra as a 2008 release but if I did it would slide into the semi-finalists here to make it to 12 |
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Oscar's
Best Screenplay
Races |
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page
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