Whilst I am not going to cover every film circle in detail with reactions, I do want to highlight the critics groups that I am a part of. The first of my critics groups to reveal their nominations and start the voting process is the Pandora International Film Critics Awards, hosted by Robin of Filmotomy. The full list for the 2020 nominations can be found here.
Instead of analysing this in an awards season sense, I just want to point out some nominations that surprised me and the ones that I loved.
English-Language Motion Picture
Unlike most shows, the big award of the night goes to the International Motion Picture. There is still a category though for the English-Language Motion Picture and the nominations surprised me. Despite being the most nominated film, Mank missed out here. This category really appreciated bold storytelling, with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Promising Young Woman, and Sound of Metal all making it in. These are some wonderful films and whilst I have yet to see Sound of Metal or Nomadland, I am happy with the choices that my group made here.
Directing
Firstly, three of the five nominees in Directing are female and three of the five nominees are people of colour. This is huge and a wonderful collection of diverse storytelling within it. I have a feeling this may be a tougher call than people initially expect it to be.
Acting Breakthrough
I love that all of the Acting Breakthrough nominees are women, but I do have an issue with one particular nominee. I am not sure if I would consider Zendaya a breakthrough for Malcolm & Marie, considering the TV work she has done over the past few years and the fact that she is in a billion-dollar franchise in Spider-Man. Regardless, I am glad she is getting recognition for her role and do adore every other nominee here. This is one of the toughest categories of the show.
Actor Lead
There has recently been consensus made about who the predicted top five would be: Ahmed, Boseman, Hopkins, Lindo, and Oldman. I was never certain that Oldman was as safe as people presume, and that hunch is starting to come through as he missed this award. Who replaced him though? Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round. Considering that film is one of my top films of the year and I have been trying to push for a larger campaign for Mads, this made me extremely happy.
Actor Support
What a category this turned out to be. Not only did two actors from One Night in Miami make the line-up, but love was also given to two actors that deserve more praise right now. Bo Burnham makes it in for a fantastic performance in Promising Young Woman, whilst Alan S. Kim gets a nomination for Minari. Whilst I consider his role a leading one (and I voted him in Actor Lead as such), I am so glad he still got that nomination.
Screenwriting Original
This is one that must be close with the voting, as six nominees were announced for this category. Whilst some were predictable such as Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7, I was incredibly surprised to see that Another Round made it onto this list. Once again, this made me extremely happy and now will make it tough for me to pick a winner.
I am incredibly proud of the nominees for this show, and there are some categories that I will struggle to pick a winner. When the winners are revealed on Saturday, I am going to release my own post the next day saying who I voted for and my reactions to the event.
A
The post Awards Season: Pandora International Film Critics Nominations 2020 – My Reactions appeared first on Film For Thought.
0 Comments