I was going to title this post “Dunkirk‘s Last Stand” because in my heart of hearts, I believe that Chris Nolan‘s WWII epic is far superior to either Three Billboards or The Shape of Water, and that God would almost certainly step in and deliver a BAFTA win if he/she/it existed. And that’s not a dismissal of the grand visions of Martin McDonagh or Guillermo del Toro — just a statement of what I regard to be obvious artistic fact.

1:28 Pacific Update: Three Billboards has kicked gill-man’s ass to the ground by taking the BAFTA Best Film Award. What this means, I suspect, is that Martin McDonagh‘s hinterland drama will ride the BAFTA momentum into the Oscar voting, and will wind up winning the Academy Award for, at the very least, Best Original Screenplay. Which will leave the wildly overpraised Get Out high and dry. Three Billboards also won for Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell), Outstanding British Film and Best Original Screenplay.

We all know that Shape of Water is locked for the Best Picture and Best Director Oscar, and that’s fine. God is content with that outcome.

BAFTA WINNERS SO FAR: Best Film / THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh; Best Director / GUILLERMO DEL TORO, The Shape of Water; Best Leading Actress. FRANCES MCDORMAND, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Best Leading Actor / GARY OLDMAN, Darkest Hour; Best Supporting Actress / ALLISON JANNEY, I, Tonya; Best Supporting Actor / SAM ROCKWELL, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Outstanding British Film / THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin; Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer / I AM NOT A WITCH, Rungano Nyoni (Writer/Director), Emily Morgan (Producer); Best Film Not in The English Language / THE HANDMAIDEN, Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim; Best Documentary / I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Raoul Peck; Best Animated Film / COCO, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson; Best Original Screenplay / THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Martin McDonagh; Best Adapted Screenplay, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, James Ivory; Best Original Music / THE SHAPE OF WATER, Alexandre Desplat; Best Cinematography / BLADE RUNNER 2049, Roger Deakins; Best Editing / BABY DRIVER, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss.