LAFCA has given its Best Picture award to Michael Haneke‘s Amour.
Earlier: I have to go for a hike now, but the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has given Paul Thomas Anderson their Best Director prize for The Master. Which means they’ll be giving The Master their Best Picture award…right? I’m off for Runyon Canyon. I’ve earned a semblance of a life.
Earlier: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has split its Best Actress vote between Silver Linings Playbook‘s Jennifer Lawrence and Amour‘s Emmanuelle Riva — a tie.
Earlier: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has defied conventional wisdom by giving its Best Actor prize to Joaquin Phoenix for acting as an alcoholic alien reptile in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master.
I wrote the following on 9.27: “I suspect that one of the things that Paul Thomas Anderson whispered into Joaquin Phoenix’s ear when they began working on The Master was ‘don’t be overly literal or derivative but think of Dwight Frye‘s Fritz character in the 1931 Frankenstein…think of his grovelling manner, those gleeful little giggles, the little serpent with the tongue flicking in and out.”
LAFCA also gave their Best Screenplay award to Chris Terrio for Argo. (The runner-up was David O. Russell for his adaptation of Silver Linings Playbook. Hey, doesn’t LAFCA realize that Silver Linings has too many problems to be given any awards to? The LAFCA members who voted for SLP need to check with Glenn Kenny and Kris Tapley and all the other Silver Linings sourpusses and get their heads straightened out, for fuck’s sake.)
Earlier: With all due respect I strongly disagree with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s decision to give their Best Supporting Actor award to Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Dwight Henry. His character is called Wink, and all he does is drink, rant at Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), lecture, admonish, drink and rant some more.
Here’s how I put it 11 months ago after seeing Beasts at Sundance: “Henry’s dad, who cares for Hushpuppy in his own callous and bullying way, is a brute and a drunk and mostly a drag to be around, and after the fifth or sixth scene in which he’s raging and yelling and guzzling booze, there’s a voice inside that starts saying ‘I don’t know how much more of this asshole I can take.'”
1:25 pm Update: Today I turned in my Broadcast Film Critics vote just before the noon deadline, and top three selections were (in this order) Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) and Nate Parker (Arbitrage).
I’m down with LACFA giving Amy Adams their Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in The Masters. (Les Miserables‘ Anne Hathaway was the runner-up.) And good on Tim Burton‘s Frankenweenie for winning LAFCA’s Best Animation. Skyfall‘s Roger Deakins took the Best Cinematography award.
Dror Moreh‘s The Gatekeepers won for Best Cinematography. (Runner-up: Searching for Sugar Man.
