Awards Season 2020-21: Critics Groups Salad IV

I’m not quite sure if this is an official poster or fan art, but it’s gorgeous, so I’m using it.

It’s that time again; I’ve got eight more awards groups’ results to go over. You know the drill, let’s get right to it. This time, we’ve got:

• Atlanta Film Critics Circle (AFCC)
• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association (DFWFCA)
• London Film Critics Circle (LFCC)
• IPA Satellite Awards (SAT)
• Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS)
• Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA)
• Utah Film Critics Association (UFCA)
• Washington D.C. Area Film Critics (WAFCA)

Picture:

• AFCC: Nomadland
• DWFCA: Nomadland
• LFCC: Nomadland
• SAT: Nomadland/The Forty-Year-Old Version*
• SFCS: Nomadland
• TFCA: Nomadland
• UFCA: Minari
• WAFCA: Nomadland

*The Satellites have separate awards for Drama and Comedy/Musical in Picture, Actor, and Actress.

A near-sweep for Nomadland, with Minari snagging one award of its own. You start to get the feeling that it’s the film of the year, no? Either it’s just gonna cruise its way to an Oscar win or there’s an “industry” film which will win big at the guilds and take the Oscar instead. And about the only film that feels like it has the traction to at this point is Trial of the Chicago 7, which could get Picture, Original Screenplay, maybe Supporting Actor, and Editing – a pretty respectable tally, especially since we don’t really get true sweeps these days.

Director:

• AFCC: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• DWFCA: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• LFCC: Steve McQueen, Small Axe
• SAT: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• SFCS: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• TFCA: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• UFCA: Regina King, One Night in Miami
• WAFCA: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

The London critics going with McQueen I get. Utah going with King over Zhao…that feels like them wanting to be different. (I’ve seen both films. Nomadland was definitely better directed.) In any case, Zhao is still winning left and right, and deservedly so. You definitely have to consider her the favorite.

Actor:

• AFCC: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• DWFCA: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• LFCC: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
• SAT: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal/Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• SFCS: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• TFCA: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• UFCA: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
• WAFCA: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

This category, on the other hand, seems to be very much a two-horse race. (Delroy Lindo and Anthony Hopkins are still potential contenders, but let’s be honest with ourselves here.) And I’m really not sure who’s gonna take it in the end. I still haven’t seen Ahmed’s performance, but Boseman certainly gives a good one and it’ll be awfully tempting for them to recognize him. A lot is riding on the Globes and guilds at this point.

Actress:

• AFCC: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
• DWFCA: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
• LFCC: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• SAT: Frances McDormand, Nomadland/Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• SFCS: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• TFCA: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• UFCA: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
• WAFCA: Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Likewise, do they give McDormand her third award or Mulligan her first? Nomadland could easily win Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, but lose Actress; if it wins this, it’s definitely winning Picture (well, it didn’t in Utah, but that’s Utah), but I still think Mulligan could and should pull it out in the end.

Supporting Actor:

• AFCC: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
• DWFCA: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
• LFCC: Shaun Parkes, Mangrove
• SAT: Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
• SFCS: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
• TFCA: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
• UFCA: Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami
• WAFCA: Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami

Here, on the other hand, we have four possible winners. Raci has faded somewhat, having missed Globes and SAG, but he’s not out of the running. Boseman feels more likely to win in Actor (it’s not like he even does that much in Bloods), but you never know. Kaluuya and Odom feel much more likely to win, and when you factor in Sacha Baron Cohen, you’ve got what could be a very competitive category indeed.

I just hope they don’t actually nominate Jared Leto.

Supporting Actress:

• AFCC: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• DWFCA: Amanda Seyfried, Mank
• LFCC: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• SAT: Amanda Seyfried, Mank
• SFCS: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
• TFCA: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• UFCA: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• WAFCA: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

And here, you’ve got three contenders. Bakalova is doing so much better than I ever expected (she also won a Satellite as a lead), and if it weren’t for the film being a broad comedy, I’d probably consider her a major threat to win. Youn, who’s quite good in her movie (probably the best I’ve seen in the category to date), is right there as well, even if she missed the Globes (who also pushed Bakalova lead, where she’ll almost certainly win).

It’s possible they split the difference and Seyfried takes the Oscar, which would at least be better than Glenn Close doing it (okay, much better).

Ensemble:

• AFCC: The Trial of the Chicago 7
• SAT: The Trial of the Chicago 7
• SFCS: Da 5 Bloods
• WAFCA: One Night in Miami

All three of these films are up for the SAG Ensemble award, along with Ma Rainey and Minari. I feel like they either go with Trial or Miami, but we’ll see.

Screenplay (Original/Adapted):

• AFCC: Promising Young Woman
• DWFCA: Promising Young Woman
• LFCC: Nomadland
• SAT: Promising Young Woman/The Father
• SFCS: Promising Young Woman
• TFCA: Minari
• UFCA: The Trial of the Chicago 7/I’m Thinking of Ending Things
• WAFCA: Promising Young Woman/Nomadland

Original Screenplay is another category you have to watch out for this year. If Trial wins, it could take Picture. If Promising Young Woman wins, it’ll probably be Nomadland. Of course, we don’t even have the Oscar nominees yet, but I want to get this in writing early and often.

Cinematography:

• AFCC: Nomadland
• DWFCA: Nomadland
• SAT: Mank
• SFCS: Nomadland
• UFCA: Nomadland
• WAFCA: Nomadland

This category is still a two-horse race (and to be fair, they’re the two best-shot films I’ve seen for this year), but Nomadland seems to be inching ahead.

Editing:

• SAT: The Trial of the Chicago 7
• SFCS: Nomadland
• UFCA: The Trial of the Chicago 7
• WAFCA: Tenet

I feel like Trial wins this even if it doesn’t take Picture. You really feel the editing in it, much more so than in Nomadland. I’ll be curious if Tenet even gets on, given that since they expanded Picture, only four films have gotten nominated here without a Picture nomination. But honestly, this feels like a weak year for editing, so it easily could.

Production Design:

• SAT: Mank
• SFCS: Mank
• WAFCA: Mank

Mank should take this pretty easily, whatever else it gets.

Costume Design:

• SAT: The Personal History of David Copperfield
• SFCS: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Odd that neither of these awards went to Emma., but they’re both good choices.

Makeup:

None of the critics’ groups listed here had a Makeup/Hairstyling award. And why? If you aren’t handing out physical awards, and your job is to analyze films, why wouldn’t you recognize every major facet of the process? It baffles me.

Score:

• AFCC: Soul
• DWFCA: Mank
• SAT: The Midnight Sky
• SFCS: Soul
• UFCA: Soul
• WAFCA: Soul

Soul is definitely the frontrunner here, but we get a taste of what the competition might be like.

Song:

• SAT: “Io Si,” The Life Ahead

Very few precursors even have this category, so this is more a piece of trivia than a useful statistic. But sure.

Sound:

• SAT: Sound of Metal

I mean, yeah. It’s right there in the title.

Visual Effects:

• SAT: Tenet
• SFCS: Tenet

As with Production Design, it feels like the consensus in this category has really begun to crystallize. And as with that category, they’re not gravitating towards my own choice, but it’s an understandable one.

Foreign Language Film:

• AFCC: Another Round
• DWFCA: Minari
• LFCC: Another Round
• SAT: La Llorona
• SFCS: Minari
• TFCA: Bacurau
• UFCA: Another Round
• WAFCA: Another Round

If Another Round gets left out of the final five…I’ll laugh. Because right now, it feels like the favorite to win. Everyone’s mad about Mads.

Animated Film:

• AFCC: Soul
• DWFCA: Soul
• SAT: Wolfwalkers
• SFCS: Wolfwalkers
• TFCA: Wolfwalkers
• UFCA: Wolfwalkers
• WAFCA: Soul

Very good showing for Wolfwalkers here – the Satellite win is especially impressive. I still figure Soul wins this, but it could be a closer race than usual.

Documentary Film:

• AFCC: Time
• DWFCA: Time
• LFCC: Collective
• SAT: Collective
• SFCS: The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition
• TFCA: Collective
• UFCA: Dick Johnson is Dead
• WAFCA: Boys State

This continues to be a pretty open category, but my hunch right now is that Time and Collective are your frontrunners with All In being the most likely spoiler.

Also, that Seattle winner isn’t really a movie, it’s more like a 220-minute video timeline of the Mariners’ history – kind of like the videos you might see in a museum, only stitched together into an epic-length whole. If that sounds like your bag, more power to you.