Ah, awards season. You know, those three weeks where you grumble about that film getting nominated when that one was blatantly so much better and these things are all a fix and why do they even bother? Yeah, that awards season. Well, last year, we shared our alternative Oscar nominations (in all the categories we feel well-versed enough in to comment), and hey, it wouldn’t be Academy Awards-bait without sharing our favourite overlooked gems from the previous year. To the nominations!
Best Picture
Motherless Brooklyn
Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory)
Knives Out
The Sisters Brothers
Us
Winner: This was a hotly debated category (between all two of us), but we both have to admit that Motherless Brooklyn is just a piece of lush cinematic gorgeousness, an ode to the noir genre and the medium at large, and also a one-man Edward Norton hype machine. What’s not to love?
Rian Johnson – Knives Out
Pedro Almodovar – Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory)
Jordan Peele – Us
Winner: Look, we’re film geeks. We wouldn’t run this site if we didn’t love cinema. And no director in this list wants to gush about his adoration for the movies more than Pedro Almodovar, so there’s no-one else we love more.
Best Actor in a Lead Role
Edward Norton – Motherless Brooklyn
George Mackay – 1917
John C Reilly – The Sisters Brothers
Winner: Why is nobody talking about The Day Shall Pass? And specifically, why is nobody talking about Marchant Davis in what has to be one of the best performances of the year? Tender, tragic, witty, and utterly enthralling, Davis is the clear go-to from this category.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Lupita Nyong’o – Us
Anna Darmas – Knives Out
Winner: There’s only one person who played two people in this category, and so, the obvious choice is the inimitable Lupita. A raw, gory, and totally captivating lead carried Jordan Peele’s magnificent Us into the horror classic that it has already become.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Jake Gyllenhaal – The Sisters Brothers
Daniel Craig – Knives Out
Adam Brody – Ready or Not
Asier Etxeandia – Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory)
Winner: Daniel Craig is the man who, without a shadow of a doubt, had the most damn fun at his job this year, with his joyful, acerbic, brilliant Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s chaotic mystery-comedy Knives Out. If only for that accent alone!
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Lopez – Hustlers
Anna Kendrick – The Day Shall Pass
Winner: Of all the names on this list, none gave a more singular and totally strange performance than Fatma Mohamed in the bizarre and nightmarish In Fabric. I’m not sure whether I’m terrified of her or in love with her or both, but by gum, it’s one hell of a show!
So those are our picks – what are yours? What did you think got badly snubbed this year, and what do you think doesn’t deserve to be there? Let us know in the comments below!
By Kevin Boyle and Louise MacGregor
(header image via GQ)
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No But Listen 
Reblogged this on The Cutprice Guignol and commented:
If only for that accent alone!
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I’m glad George Mackay is getting some recognition for 1917, because he was just fantastic in it.
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