Reel Society of Film Critics Awards 2019

[silversurfer19]

Coming thick and fast, another award.

Best Documentary Feature

The nominees are:

Free Solo
Minding The Gap
They Shall Not Grow Old
Three Identical Strangers
Wont You Be My Neighbour?

And the winner is...

[undeadmonkey]

I really need to see Spiderman

[silversurfer19]

They Shall Not Grow Old

A truly groundbreaking documentary which will be shown in schools for decades, I imagine. It takes you completely into the world of the soldiers, and the visuals only make it feel all the more visceral.

[silversurfer19]

Time for another Best Picture nominee featurette, courtesy of six, Cold War.

Cold War
Utter the word “romance” in the context of cinema, and you’re bound to conjure up imagines of Ryan Gosling in a wet t-shirt (I actually haven’t seen The Notebook, but presumably the film is 92% this). But Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest film goes far beyond the limits of mainstream romance. Yes, it’s about a relationship, specifically a jaded music director who comes across a tremendous raw talent. But this isn’t A Star is Born. The political and personal vow to fling hurdles at the duo. The film is set in post-WWII Poland, as broken nationalism makes way for Communism. The star-crossed lovers end up split, meeting briefly around Europe as they yearn for their own country which is slowly becoming the aggressor. The film’s joy is in the direction, utilising image and music to tell us more about the protagonist’s magnetism than words ever could. Like Pawlikowski’s previous film, Ida, the black-and-white cinematography is distinct and stunning (even getting an Oscar nomination). And not a wet t-shirt in sight.

[silversurfer19]

And before you know it, another award!

Best Cinematography

The nominees are:

Annihiliation
If Beale Street Could Talk
Mandy
The Favourite
The Rider

And the winner is...

[transformers2]

And not a wet t-shirt in sight.

Well looks like skipping Cold War was a great decision after all

[silversurfer19]

The Favourite, cinematography by Robbie Ryan

[silversurfer19]

Next up, every action junkies favourite award, Best Visual Effects!

Best Visual Effects

The nominees are:

Annihilation
Ant-Man And The Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
Ready Player One

And the winner is...

[silversurfer19]

Annihilation.

I loved so much about this movie, and the visuals were such a strong part of that.

[silversurfer19]

And on to another Best Picture featurette. Courtesy of Buscemi, this is First Reformed.

First Reformed

Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke), a preacher at a small Dutch Reformation church in upstate New York, is a man in crisis. Between his past heartbreak and current struggles, life will not get any easier for him. In addition, he is dying. When he meets Mary (Amanda Seyfried) and her environmentalist husband, the issues with their marriage and the husband’s quest to save the world from itself, the worlds of religion and nature collide and Ernst has now tasked himself with a personal race against time to save those around them from their ignorance and greed. Or is he fighting a losing cause?

Paul Schrader, one of the masters of the antihero, shows off his influences of Robert Bresson, Carl Theodor Dreyer, and the slow cinema movement, while also incorporating his favorite themes, the protagonist with a checkered past and religious guilt, in this drama which might be the biggest indictment of organized religion in American cinema in recent memory. Schrader, making perhaps the best film he’s ever done as a director, is one who shows anger over the increased amounts of apathy and blind worship towards the almighty dollar but does it in a way where the audience is able to think for themselves over whether or not Ernst is going about it the right way. The film also creates conversation over the role of religion in not just society but how it influences people.

Schrader, through Ernst, asks us this question: has religion lost itself? Or are we just using it the wrong way?

[silversurfer19]

Another technical award, this time for Score.

Best Score

The nominees are:

A Star Is Born
Annihilation
Halloween
Mandy
You Were Never Really Here

And the winner is...

[Screen203]

The best part of Cold War is easily the song "Dwa Serduszka." Cinematography was great but I thought it was somewhat overrated.

Great for Annihilation.Hopefully it wins best score too

[Chienfantome]

I would have loved to see Isle of Dogs win, but Spiderverse was great.
As for the docs, I couldnt see any this year...

[silversurfer19]

Mandy, Score by the late, great Jóhann Jóhannsson.

[silversurfer19]

I really like the score for Annihilation also, but the score for Mandy is iconic, completely took that film to the next level.


Next award, recognising greatness in world cinema:

Best Foreign Language Picture

The nominees are:

Burning
Cold War
Roma
Shoplifters
The Guilty

And the winner is...