In Hollywood, awards season is in full swing. One ceremony chases the other. But the charts are starting to stabilize and look similar. The Critics Choice Awards took place in Los Angeles on Sunday, which brings together 600 members of the largest American film critic organizations. The voters lined up, like their counterparts (and ex-rivals) at the Golden Globes, behind Oppenheimer
The biopic that Christopher Nolan devotes to the father of the atomic bomb continued its harvest of international awards on Sunday by winning eight awards at the Critics Choice Awards: best film, best director for Nolan, best supporting role for Robert Downey Jr. , in addition to Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Cast. In collecting his award, Christopher Nolan thanked the critics for having “helped convince the general public that a film about quantum physics and the apocalypse could be worth seeing”.
The only statuette of choice that escaped Oppenheimer? Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. Winner of the Golden Globe for best dramatic actor, the Irish actor had to bow to Paul Giamatti, winner of the Golden Globe for best comic actor for his performance as a grumpy and elitist teacher in Alexander Payne’s Winter Break. What augurs a very close duel at the Oscars and the actors’ union awards.
The same scenario was repeated among the actresses between Emma Stone, crowned by the Golden Globes on the comedy side for Poor Creatures, and Lily Gladstone, crowned for Killers Of The Flower Moon. The face-to-face turned in favor of Emma Stone. This no longer leaves much room for Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) and Carey Mulligan (Maestro) to break through.
But Justine Triet’s palme d’or did not leave empty-handed. The film won the award for best foreign language film. This trophy joins that awarded the day before in the same category by the Los Angeles critics’ circle. This shower of awards continues to increase the pressure on the members of the CNC selection committee who preferred to send Dodin Bouffant’s Passion to the Oscars to represent France. All they have to do is pray hard that the culinary fresco, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel, gets an Oscar nomination on January 23. Anatomy of a Fall can hope to shine in the general categories where nominations seem certain in the best film, actress and screenplay sections. The latter is the category that appears the most winnable, although you will have to be wary of Winter Break. Her revelation Da’Vine Joy Randolph systematically stands out among the best supporting actresses.
The commercial phenomenon Barbie leaves with the awards for best comedy, best original screenplay, best song and best sets, costumes, hair and makeup. But as at the Golden Globes, Barbie is lagging behind Oppenheimer. The film about the Mattel doll cannot slip into the queen sections even if it does well in the technical categories. Despite a good critical reception Bradley Cooper’s Maestro and Past Lives – Our Lives Before continue to be the unfortunate and recurring losers of this awards season. Identical grimace soup for Scorsese’s American epic Killers Of The Flower Moon.
On the animation side, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse won the day. In television, the trifecta of Golden Globes Succession, The Bear and Acharnés also repeated.
With the Critics Choice Awards, the first phase of the awards season ends. That dominated by the American associations of film and series critics. It is now the talents of the seventh art who are taking control and will perhaps make a different story heard. The actors, producers and directors guilds have already announced their nominations. The Oscars will follow on Tuesday 23. The winners of the unions, many of whose members vote at the Oscars, will be followed closely because they announce two times out of three the lucky one who will walk away with an Oscar, the 2024 edition of which will take place on March 10 .
