The Florida Film Critics Circle, a critics group we have representation in, has announced the winners of this year’s contest for the best of 2015, and it’s a wild list. Mad Max: Fury Road, a film we loved (Overturning Patriarchy in the Post-apocalyptic World: Mad Max: Fury Road – A Film Review), took the several of the top prizes including Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and Effects. Carol, another excellent movie we were rooting for (Love in times of heterosexism — Carol, a film review) had led the nominations with eight to Max‘s seven, but it ended up winning only one category, that of art direction/production design. Though it’s sad to see Carol come up short in so many categories, it did get runner up for esteemed categories like director, adapted screenplay, cinematography and score.
Speaking of score, I was delighted to see Love & Mercy win for that category. It was also a winner in Best Actor for Paul Dano. The Brian Wilson biopic really came out of nowhere to win this writer over this year, as I initially approached it with skepticism. I watched it twice in theaters before reviewing it (Love & Mercy harnesses the music & madness of Brian Wilson), and had a chance to talk with the film’s director (Director of Beach Boys pic Love & Mercy talks about externalizing Brian Wilson’s musical madness and how to deal with the character of Mike Love). As the months went on, it stuck with me, and I don’t think I played Pet Sounds, Smile and “Surf’s Up” in my life much as I ever had these past few months. I really gained a new appreciation for The Beach Boys due to this movie and its performances. So kudos for that.
Dano’s win was the tip of the iceberg for the acting categories. The winners were amazing in how much they went against predicted/marketed contenders. First of all, we went against the Hollywood Foreign Press’s decision to consider his role a supporting role. Plus, there was no sign at all, during the nomination phase, of the Will Smith or Jennifer Lawrence vehicles, and though it was close, the sentimentality of Sly Stallone did not deter critics from voting for Oscar Isaac for Best Supporting Actor not for his high profile appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits nearly all the right notes with breezy, rich flair — a film review) but for his performance in Ex Machina (Ex Machina looks past AI to examine artificial sexuality — a film review). Then there was Kristen Stewart who won Best Supporting Actress for her work in Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria (Clouds of Sils Maria examines the layers of celebrity identity with powerful performances — a film review), a movie most have undeservedly forgotten — but not us.
This is probably the year where the most films and people I voted for to win actually won. Below you will find the nominees our group voted on. The winner is noted “WINNER” and my choices have an asterisk* by them. And below that you will find my ballot and nominees, which may hint at some of my favorite films of the year, but, as usual take it with a grain of salt. This is a political thing after all, and when participating in these things one should nominate and lobby for films that have a chance for recognition. My choices at least define a certain aesthetic that I feel no shame in celebrating.
Check out this link to see all the winners. In previous years that I have been a member (2012 and 2013) we ranked three choices in each category. Last year we tried something different. There are two rounds of voting. Each of the 30 voting members offers three choices in each category without ranking. Once all ballots were turned in, our chairman and vice chair tabulate the results return a new ballot of five choices (up from three last year) in each category. Everyone would pick one name or film in each category, and then the ones with the majority votes were declared winners. But if it was tight race, we would have a run off, and we had four this year. Plus we had five choices on the original ballot for each category because there were so many tight races to begin with.
OK, congrats to all the winners and here is the list:
BEST PICTURE
Carol*
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
Spotlight
The Big Short
The Martian
BEST ACTOR
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
WINNER: Paul Dano – Love and Mercy*
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Carol*
WINNER: Brie Larson – Room
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: Oscar Isaac – Ex Machina*
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Elizabeth Banks – Love and Mercy
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
WINNER: Kristen Stewart – Clouds of Sils Maria*
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
WINNER: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight*
Ridley Scott – The Martian
BEST ENSEMBLE
The Big Short
Mistress America
WINNER: Spotlight*
Straight Outta Compton
Tangerine
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Mistress America
WINNER: Spotlight*
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WINNER: The Big Short
Brooklyn*
Carol
Room
Steve Jobs
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol*
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
Youth
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Ex Machina
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens*
The Walk
BEST ART DIRECTION/ PRODUCTION DESIGN
Brooklyn
WINNER: Carol
Crimson Peak
Love & Mercy*
Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST SCORE
Carol
The Hateful Eight
WINNER: Love & Mercy*
Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
BEST DOCUMENTARY
WINNER: Amy
Best of Enemies
Cartel Land
Heart of a Dog*
The Look of Silence
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
WINNER: The Assassin*
Mommy
Mustang
Phoenix
Son of Saul
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Anomalisa
WINNER: Inside Out*
The Good Dinosaur
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie
FFCC BREAKOUT AWARD
Bel Powley – Diary of a Teenage Girl*
WINNER: Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez – Tangerine
Jacob Tremblay – Room
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina and The Danish Girl
My initial ballot of nominees is below. We had to nominate three were unranked choices. The ones that got the most mentions out of the group became a list of five choices that we had to pick from. All my choices are listed in no particular order and the picture corresponds with the film that got the most nominations:
BEST PICTURE
- Spotlight
- Clouds of Sils Maria
- Love & Mercy
BEST ACTOR
- Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
- Jason Segel – End of the Tour
- Peter Sarsgaard – Experimenter
BEST ACTRESS
- Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
- Kristen Stewart – Clouds of Sils Maria
- Cate Blanchett – Carol
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Oscar Isaac – Ex Machina
- Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
- Stanley Tucci – Spotlight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Rooney Mara – Carol
- Deanna Dunagan – The Visit
- Kristen Wiig – Diary of a Teenage Girl
BEST ENSEMBLE
- Spotlight
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Mad Max Fury Road
BEST DIRECTOR
- Olivier Assayas – Clouds of Sils Maria
- Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
- Bill Pohlad – Love & Mercy
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner – Love & Mercy
- Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
- Olivier Assayas – Clouds of Sils Maria
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Phyllis Nagy – Carol
- Marielle Heller – Diary of a Teenage Girl
- Nick Hornby – Brooklyn
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Brooklyn
- Mad Max Fury Road
- It Follows
VISUAL EFFECTS
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Ex-Machina
- Mad Max: Fury Road
ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
- Carol
- Love & Mercy
- Brooklyn
BEST SCORE
- Atticus Ross – Love & Mercy
- Cat’s Eyes – The Duke of Burgundy
- Laurie Anderson – Heart of a Dog
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- Heart of a Dog
- The Look of Silence
- Tales of the Grim Sleeper
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
- Theeb
- The Assassin
- Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
ANIMATED FEATURE
- Inside Out
- Shaun of the Sheep
- Anomalisa
BREAKOUT AWARD
- Bel Powley – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
- Lola Kirke – Mistress America
- Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
