Late, because the year didn't seem over till seeing Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
2019 was an odd year. The year before was SO great, and this year, I just didn't see as much that I really loved. In part because I didn't see as much in total (it was often a hard year personally), and many things I heard wonderful things about weren't available to me (Mouthpiece). I have high hopes for 2020, though.
Best Film:
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Parasite
A Hidden Life
The Souvenir
Peterloo
Aquarela
Anthropocene
The Farewell
The Nightingale
The Irishman
Best Popcorn Flick:
Ford v Ferrari
Climax
Knives Out
Booksmart
Ready or Not
Captain Marvel
Late Night
Film I'm Most Looking Forward To That I Missed:
Charlie Says
Fast Color
Fighting with My Family
Transit
High Flying Bird
Mouthpiece
The Body Remembers when the World Broke Open
Atlantics
Rocketman
Ad Astra
Us
I Lost My Body
Sunset
Best Debut Film:
Booksmart
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Les Miserables
Notable omissions: The Mustang, Native Son, Little Woods, Aniara, Atlantics, The Chambermaid, Honeyland, I Lost my Body, Arctic, Extra Ordinary
Best Actress
Aisling Franciosi - The Nightingale
Honor Swinton Byrne - The Souvenir
Karen Allen - Colewell
Zhao Tao - Ash is Purest White
Adele Haenel - Portrait
Noemie Merlant - Portrait
Awkwafina - The Farewell
Jessie Buckley - Wild Rose
Valerie Pachner - A Hidden Life
Notable Omissions: Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell, Lupita Nyong'o - Us, Masahiro Higashide - Asako I & II, Julianne Moore - Gloria Bell, Renee Zeelwegger - Judy, Cynthia Erivo - Harriet, Alfre Woodard - Clemency, Holliday Granger - Animals, Elizabeth Debicki - Vita & Virginia, Maev Beaty - Mouthpiece, Molly Shannon - Wild Nights with Emily, Mame Sane - Atlantics, Taylor Russell - Waves, Elizabeth Debicki - Vita & Virginia, Mary Kay Place - Diane
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Sandler - Uncut Gems
August Diehl - A Hidden Life
Christian Bale - Ford v Ferrari
George Mackay - 1917
Jimmy Fails - Last Black Man
Matt Damon - Ford v Ferrari
Robert de Niro - The Irishman
Tom Burke - The Souvenir
Notable Omissions: Antonio Banderas - Pain & Glory, Jonathan Pryce - Two Popes, Andre Holland - High Flying Bird, Matthew McConaghey - Beach Bum, Aldis Hodge - Clemency, Taron Egerton - Rocketman, Brad Pitt - Ad Astra, Josh O'Connor - Only You, Franz Rogowski - Transit, Matthias Schoenaerts - The Mustang, Tom Mercier - Synonyms
Best Supporting Actress
Kaitlyn Dever - Booksmart
Emma Thompson - Late Night
Cho Yeo-Jeong - Parasite
Hannah Gross - Colewell
Jennifer Lopez - Hustlers
Julia Butters - Once Upon a Time
Juliette Binoche - High Life
Julianne Nicholson - Monos
Park So-dam - Paradise
Idina Menzel - Uncut Gems
Luana Bajrami - Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Notable Omissions: Tessa - Little Woods, Laura Dern - Marriage Story, Octavia Spencer - Luce, Agness Deyn - Her Smell, Zazie Beetz - High Flying Bird
Best Supporting Actor
Jonathan Majors - Last Black Man in SF
Song Kang-Ho - Parasite
Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse
Joe Pesci - The Irishman
Andrew Scott - 1917
Rory Kinnear - Peterloo
Tracy Letts - Ford v Ferrari
Al Pacino - The Irishman
Notable Omissions: Keanu - Always be my maybe, Tom Hanks - Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Jack Lowden - Fighting with My Family, Jamie Bell - Rocketman, Kelvin Harrison Jr - Waves/Luce, Sam Rockwell - Richard Jewell, Jamie Bell - Rocketman
Best Ensemble
Parasite
Booksmart
Knives Out
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Parasite
The Irishman
Peterloo
Notable Omissions: Marriage Story, Dolemite, Rocketman, Birds of Passage, Wild Pear Tree, Diane
Best Documentary
Aquarela
Midnight Family
Anthropocene
Hail Satan?
Minute Bodies: Intimate World of F. Percy Smith
The Hidden City
The Seer and the Unseen
Notable Omissions: American Factory, Honeyland, Apollo 11, Biggest Little Farm, Knock Down the House, Elephant Queen, Midnight Traveler, Sea of Shadows, Tell Me Who I Am, Black Mother, The Cave, For Sama
Best Animated Film:
... I literally didn't see anything animated last year. Not sure how that happened.
Best Foreign Film:
Parasite
Les Miserables
Monos
Lapu
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Ash is Purest White
Climax
Notable Omissions: Pain and Glory, Atlantics, The Chambermaid, Transit, Asako I & II, Birds of Passage, Aniara, Sunset
Best Director:
Celine Sciamma - Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Bong Joon Ho - Parasite
Lulu Wang - The Farewell
Joanna Hogg - The Souvenir
James Mangold - Ford v Ferrari
Terrence Malick - A Hidden Life
Claire Denis - High Life
Lorene Scafaria - Hustlers
Sam Mendes - 1917
Notable Omissions: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre - The Mustang, Pedro Almodovar - Pain & Glory, Christian Petzold - Transit, Jordan Peele - Us, Mati Diop - Atlantics, Melina Matsoukas - Queen & Slim, Marielle Hellwe - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Fernando Meirelles - Two Popes
Best Screenplay (I think I literally liked one adapted, so I'm combining this year):
1917
Knives Out
Parasite
Ford v Ferrari
Booksmart
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Irishman
The Souvenir
Les Miserables
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Notable Omissions: Pain & Glory, Transit, Us, Transit, High Flying Bird, Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Atlantics, Diane, Aniara,
Best Editing:
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Parasite
A Hidden Life
The Souvenir
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Notable Omissions: Rocketman, Sword of Truth, Dolemite, For Sama,
Best Cinematography:
Last Black Man in San Francisco
The Lighthouse
1917
A Hidden Life
Monos
High Life
The Souvenir
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Ash is Purest White
Peterloo
Lapu
Notable Omissions: In Fabric, Atlantics
Best Costumes:
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Notable Omissions: Rocketman, In Fabric, Dolemite, Queen & Slim, Sunset,
Best Makeup:
Hustlers
Peterloo
Once Upon a Time
Parasite
Ash is Purest White
Notable Omissions: Bombshell, Maleficent, Judy, Rocketman, Downton Abbey, Dolemite, Us, In Fabric, It
Best Production Design:
Knives Out
Parasite
1917
Jojo Rabbit
The Man who Killed Don Quixote
The Souvenir
White Crow
Ford v Ferrari
Peterloo
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Notable Omissions: Ad Astra, Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, John Wick, Aladdin
Best Visual Effects:
The Irishman
1917
Captain Marvel
Ford v Ferrari
Notable Omissions: Ad Astra, Gemini Man, Terminator, Star Wars, Lion King, Aeronauts, Spiderman, Alita
Best Score:
Notable Omissions: Joker, I Lost My Body, Us, In Fabric, The King, Transit, mid90s, Ad Astra, Pain & Glory, Us, Arctic, Under the Silver Lake, Atlantics, Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Best Song/Musical Moment:
Wild Rose - Glasgow
Wild Rose - Peace in this House
Parasite - Jessica from Chicago
Portrait of a Lady on Fire - Bonfire scene
Spoiler: Portrait of a Lady on Fire - Summer (Presto). I almost linked to this on youtube, but just 5 seconds of watching and I was bawling again. So.
Booksmart - You Oughta Know
Captain Marvel - Only Happy When it Rains (obviously.)
Ready or Not - Hide and Seek
Ash is Purest White - YMCA
Hustlers - Criminal
Little Women - the Piano
The Nightingale - each of Clare's songs (not online)
1917 - Wayfaring Stranger (Here. Have my favorite version again)
There were definitely some amazing dances in White Crow, but I don't see any online (there's one where he leaps and spins a ton that stands out in my mind - but I don't recall what it was to)
Last Black Man in San Francisco - San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear)
Climax - the first dance
Notable Omissions: Rocketman, Frozen II, Her Smell
Best Sound - both Editing & Mixing
Ford v Ferrari
1917
Parasite
Wild Rose
The Lighthouse
Monos
Best Short - Live Action/Doc:
Ad Astra (a different one)
(Hon mention: This was an older film shown at the fest, but I LOVE Black Mary.)
Best Short - Animated:
Best poster:
(Hon mention for 2020: WW 1984)
Best Trailer:
Best Quote:
"You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. No plan. You know why? If you make a plan, life never works out that way." - Parasite
"Fucking Rich People" - Ready or Not
"I'll just chew on these grapes" - Jojo Rabbit
"This is so metaphorical" - Parasite
"And cut right there" - The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
"I lost my virginity in what I thought was a park but it turned out to be a graveyard and now the ghost spirits live inside my eggs waiting to be reborn" - Booksmart
"You don't get to hate it unless you love it" - Last Black Man in San Francisco
"In-laws" - Ready or Not
Unforgettable Moment (Non-musical or otherwise superlative) (Arr. There be spoilers here:)
The massacre - Peterloo
The couple reunited - Ash is Purest White
Goose & the Tesseract - Captain Marvel
The black hole - High Life
The soccer match - Diamantino
The rape - The Nightingale
The dinner party - The Souvenir
The basement - Parasite
The nice death - The Irishman
The injection - Knives Out
The run through the bombed out night city - 1917
The perfect lap - Ford v Ferrari (Or Ford Jr.'s test drive, or the fist fight, or the wrench...)
The shoes - JoJo Rabbit
The decision - A Hidden Life
The book - Little Women
The final bet - Uncut Gems
The Stairway - Les Miserables
Other superlatives:
Best trailer for a 2020 film: Emma. I seriously cannot wait. (hello second Vivaldi Presto mention.)) (In the Heights, Promising Young Woman, and WW 1984 are close runner ups)
2020 Film I'm Most Looking Forward to: Ooh - tough. 2020 looks exciting! I'm currently counting down the minutes to Emma., Babyteeth [Ed: Seen now! It was brilliant], and Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, and I'm very excited for Proxima, Minari, Nomadland, Ammonite, David Copperfield, The Souvenir part 2, the new PTA, Passing, Bergman Island, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and In the Heights, but it has to be First Cow. FIRST COW!!!
FIRST COW!
Movie You Wanted to Love but Just Couldn't: Wild Rose
Most Wasted Potential of an Idea: Either the Death of Dick Long for being so bonkers and just not quite pulling it off, or Once Upon a Time, which is a really intriguing concept, but - and I don't think I've ever said this before - needed some studio notes on the script
Best Villain: the German machines in Anthropocene
Best Female Action Star: Brie Larson - Captain Marvel
Biggest Waste of a Cast: Midsommar
Best Action Scene: You know? None of the Marvel scenes this year stand out to me. And this movie was TERRIBLE, but the naked shootout from Polar was certainly memorable.
Best Music Cue: Captain Marvel - Just a Girl. Is it on the nose and did we know it was coming? Sure. Did I grin like an idiot at the drop? Absolutely
Most WTF: The Death of Dick Long (Runner Up: The Velocipastor)
Best scene in an otherwise okay film: Spahn Ranch - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Actor Having the Most Fun While Earning a Paycheck: Ben Mendelsohn - Captain Marvel. He was delightful.
Best Kiss: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Cat: Goose - Captain Marvel
Worst Cat: Rebel Wilson
Best Dog: The pekingese - Diamantino
Best Seagull: No eyes - The Lighthouse
Best Tea: Ford v Ferrari
Best Beans: The Lighthouse
Best Peach: Parasite. Stealing the crown from CMBYN.
Best prop: I mean - the knives in Knives Out are pretty great. I also enjoyed the cross-bow in Ready or Not. Speaking of:
Best use of Face-Time: Ready or Not
Weirdest post-film realization: that it was Hugh Dancy and not Tom Everett Scott in Late Night. (Hannibal is LITERALLY my favorite show. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
Best Hat: Rory Kinnear - Peterloo
Best Jacket: Richard Ayoade - The Souvenir
Best Ode to Civil Servants: Colewell
Best Cameo: Usher - Hustlers (Runner up: The Weeknd - Uncut Gems)
Best Breakthrough: Fat Thor
Best Ending (the McKayla Maroney award): Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best opening: Tie: Climax and Last Black Man in San Francisco
Best credits: Climax
Most overrated: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best TV Show: STILL HANNIBAL. BUT MAYBE TIED WITH FLEABAG NOW.
