Monday, March 05, 2007

2006 Top Fifteen & Awards

Before I take a little bit of a blogging sabbatical, I thought I'd do this first. Rather than drag along a year-end countdown that will invariably end in April like last year, I thought we'd get it over with now. I do intend on writing more reviews for these films and others, whenever this writing block has passed.

2006 Top Fifteen (by Canadian/Toronto Release Dates)
1. Marie Antoinette [Sofia Coppola]
2. Volver [Pedro Almodóvar]
3. INLAND EMPIRE [David Lynch]
4. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu [Cristi Puiu]
5. Monster House [Gil Kenan]
6. The Sun [Aleksandr Sokurov]
7. Inside Man [Spike Lee]
8. Iron Island [Mohammad Rasoulof]
9. L'Enfant [Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne]
10. The Descent [Neil Marshall]
---
11. District B13 [Pierre Morel]
12. Half Nelson [Ryan Fleck]
13. Manderlay [Lars von Trier]
14. The Departed [Martin Scorsese]
15. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts [Spike Lee]

Honourable Mentions: 49 Up, Casino Royale, The Queen

Unfortunate Blind Spots: Old Joy, The Good Shepherd, A Cock and Bull Story; if they make a big impact, I will edit the list accordingly.

EDIT #1 (April 12th): Moved Inside Man into the top ten at #6; everything else shifts one spot down.
EDIT #2 (May 4th): Moved INLAND EMPIRE into the top ten at #3; everything else shifts one spot down. Awards edited accordingly.


Winners indicated with multiple stars:

BEST PICTURE
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
(Mandragora Movies, Tartan)
INLAND EMPIRE (Studio Canal)
***Marie Antoinette (Columbia Pictures)***
Monster House
(Columbia Pictures)
Volver (El Deseo S.A.; Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST DIRECTOR
Pedro Almodóvar, Volver
Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette
Spike Lee, Inside Man
David Lynch, INLAND EMPIRE
***Aleksandr Sokurov, The Sun***

Contenders: Cristi Puiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; Mohammad Rasoulof, Iron Island; Pierre Morel, District B13; Martin Scorsese, The Departed; Neil Marshall, The Descent; Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, L'Enfant

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Penelope Cruz, Volver
***Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE***
Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Gretchen Mol, The Notorious Bettie Page
Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil

Contenders: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Kate Winslet, Little Children; Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson; Helen Mirren, The Queen; Hana Laszlo, Free Zone; Kirsten Dunst, Marie Antoinette; Sook-Yin Lee, Shortbus; Emily Rios, Quinceañera

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
***Hugh Jackman, The Fountain***
Toby Jones, Infamous
Issei Ogata, The Sun

Contenders: Max Minghella, Art School Confidential; James McAvoy & Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland; Ion Fiscuteanu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; Jeremie Renier, L'Enfant; Leonardo DiCaprio & Matt Damon, The Departed; Paul Giamatti, Lady in the Water; Christian Bale, The Prestige

BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
***Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada***
Lola Dueñas, Volver
Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia
Blanca Portillo, Volver
Fiona Shaw, The Black Dahlia

Contenders: Carmen Maura, Volver; Sandra Bullock, Infamous; Vera Farmiga, The Departed; Emily Watson, The Proposition; Adriana Barraza & Rinko Kikuchi, Babel; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

BEST MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jesse Garcia, Quinceañera
***Anthony Mackie, Half Nelson***
Kazunari Ninomiya, Letters from Iwo Jima
Michael Sheen, The Queen
Stanley Tucci, The Devil Wears Prada

Contenders: Daniel Craig, Infamous; Mark Wahlberg & Alec Baldwin, The Departed; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mission Impossible 3

BEST ACTING BY AN ENSEMBLE
The cast of The Departed
The cast of Duck Season
The cast of Monster House
The cast of The Proposition
***The cast of Volver***

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Pedro Almodóvar, Volver
Russell Gewirtz, Inside Man
***Cristi Puiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu***
Mohammad Rasoulof, Iron Island
Lars von Trier, Manderlay

Contenders: Neil Marshall, The Descent; Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab, & Pamela Pettler, Monster House; Peter Morgan, The Queen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Vishal Bharadwaj, Omkara
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Half Nelson
***Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette***
Douglas McGrath, Infamous
William Monahan, The Departed

Contender: Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris et al., Strangers with Candy

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
K.K. Barrett, Pierre Duboisberranger, Anne Seibel, Marie Antoinette
Simon Bowles, Jason Knox-Johnston, The Descent
***Jim Clay, Geoffrey Kirkland et al., Children of Men***
Nathan Crowley & Kevin Kavanaugh, The Prestige
Bijon Das Gupta, Umrao Jaan

Contenders: Pan's Labyrinth; The Painted Veil; Infamous; Monster House; The Fountain; The Black Dahlia

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Lance Accord, Marie Antoinette
Benoit Delhomme, Breaking and Entering
***Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men***
Dick Pope, The Illusionist
Vilmos Zsigmond, The Black Dahlia

Contenders: Reza Jalali, Iron Island; Wally Pfister, The Prestige; Matthieu Libothique, The Fountain; Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth; José Luis Alcaine, Volver

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jenny Beavan, The Black Dahlia
***Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette***
Sharen Davis, Dreamgirls
Patricia Fields, The Devil Wears Prada
Ruth Meyers, Infamous

Contenders: Joan Bergin, The Prestige; Sabine Daigeler, Volver; Ruth Meyers, The Painted Veil

BEST EDITING

Anna Boden, Half Nelson
Marie-Hélène Dozo, L'Enfant
***Sarah Flack, Marie Antoinette***
Stéphanie Gaurier, Frédéric Thoraval, District B13
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed

Contenders: Jay Rabinowitz, The Fountain; David Lynch, INLAND EMPIRE; Lucia Zuchetti, The Queen; Dana Bunescu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; José Salcedo, Volver; Lee Smith, The Prestige

BEST MAKEUP
***The Descent***
Marie Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth

Contenders: Infamous; The Notorious Bettie Page; The Queen; The Black Dahlia; The Proposition; INLAND EMPIRE

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

***Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil***
Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
Alberto Iglesias, Volver
Clint Mansell, The Fountain
Javier Navarette, Pan's Labyrinth

Contenders: Mark Isham, The Black Dahlia; Thomas Newman, Little Children

BEST SOUND MIXING

Children of Men
The Departed
Flags of Our Fathers
***INLAND EMPIRE***
Monster House

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
Monster House
Mission Impossible 3
***World Trade Center***

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Casino Royale
***The Fountain***
Pan's Labyrinth

N/A: Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Film

OVERALL
Marie Antoinette - 4 (Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Editing)
---
Children of Men - 2 (Art Direction/Production Design, Cinematography)
The Fountain - 2 (Male Actor in a Leading Role, Visual Effects)
INLAND EMPIRE - 2 (Female Actor in a Leading Role, Sound Mixing)
---
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu - 1 (Original Screenplay)
The Descent - 1 (Makeup)
The Devil Wears Prada - 1 (Female Actor in a Supporting Role)
Half Nelson - 1 (Male Actor in a Supporting Role)
The Painted Veil - 1 (Original Score)
The Sun - 1 (Direction)
Volver - 1 (Ensemble Cast)
World Trade Center - 1 (Sound Effects Editing)

Comment, discuss, challenge, ignore.

9 comments:

Glenn Dunks said...

Ooh, very interesting! Some very deserving winners there. Was glad to see stuff such as The Descent and Benoit Delhomme make it in.

My awards are still at least 2 months away. ugh.

DL said...

Yeah, these are all great picks. I'm especially surprised and thrilled about Lola Duenas getting in for Best Supporting Actress - she was so wonderful and made my shortlist too.

And I never noticed that Anna Boden was the editor for Half Nelson, in addition to being the screenwriter. Interesting.

DL said...

Oh, and I'm also glad that you included The Queen in your best original score category. I don't think it's anywhere as good as Birth, The Painted Veil, Syriana, The Upside of Anger, etc. but I also didn't like how mad everyone was at it getting nominated.

Just because it's not Desplat's best work doesn't mean it's not one of the best scores of the year - which it is. Everyone should just be happy that he finally has an Oscar nod to his name.

Yaseen Ali said...

Glenn - The Descent really is a must for anyone's list for Art Direction and Makeup citations. The work and overall effect is just stellar in those two departments.

Breaking and Entering's photography is worth the price of admission alone. I hope you get it in Australia soon.

dl - I'm really weirded out by the lack of Lola Dueñas love around these parts. She was hysterical in her deadpan deliveries ("Nonononono") and anchored the film for me in many ways. If not for the Blunt, she would be my pick without a second's hesitation. I like your picks too, although I would argue that Lee is Lead in Shortbus.

I admit to ranting post-nominations regarding Desplat's nom for The Queen; but my beef was that they overlooked The Painted Veil more than anything. I think his score for the Frears film is grand and totally deserving of respect. I wish he had won for it.

Anonymous said...

I love, love, LOVE seeing Marie Antoinette in the top spot--I have a feeling it's going to get prime placement on my eventual list as well.

And are you counting The Namesake as a 2007 film? That better be the case...

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

Yay for Blunt!

Yaseen Ali said...

Jesse - It better. And Volver better be in second place. For once, it's nice that we're on the same page. The last two years have been kind of scary in terms of our divergence (although we *did* both have Before Sunset as #1 in 2004.)

Jose - Did you expect otherwise? ;) I did call Blunt's work the best supporting performance of the year in my capsule. The Oscar snub still pisses me off... especially since most of the roles nominated were totally Lead (particularly Blanchett and Breslin; even a case could have been made for Hudson.)

Yaseen Ali said...

Oh and Jesse, The Namesake is indeed being counted this year, although if I had a "pure" 2006 list, it would probably figure in the top five... not really sure.

I look forward to a second viewing, because it's only improved with time.

Emma said...

I love that you have Emily winning Best Supporting Actress. I loved her!

Not heard Desplat's score to Painted Veil, though I so, so want to.