As I do every year and a lot of others do, I track awards-season nominees throughout the whole year. As we approach the half-way point, this article will highlight my favourites in the awards-season categories, if I were to vote right now. Film is subjective and its always intriguing seeing others’ opinions on what you deem awards worthy.
So below I have carefully crafted what my awards ballot would be if I were to be voting for each and every category right now. This list excludes some of my favourites including: Never Look Away and At Eternity’s Gate, as they were released and garnered nominations last year. I’ve also included SUNSET (Napszállta) on this list, as it OFFICIALLY released in 2019, whilst it was on last year’s list as I saw it at a film festival!)
It has been a very good year of film so far, I look forward to six months more of awards-season films!
Best Motion Picture
Sunset (László Nemes)
Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler)
Booksmart (Olivia Wilde)
Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent)
The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
WINNER – The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent)
Best Director
László Nemes (Sunset)
Pedro Almodóvar (Pain and Glory)
S. Craig Zahler (Dragged Across Concrete)
Jennifer Kent (The Nightingale)
WINNER – Jennifer Kent (The Nightingale)
Best Film Actor
Mel Gibson (Dragged Across Concrete)
Robert Pattinson (High Life)
Antonio Bandares (Pain and Glory)
Ethan Hawke (The Captor/Stockholm)
WINNER – Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)
Best Film Actress
Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart)
Lupita Nyong’o (Us)
Juli Jakab (Sunset)
Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale)
WINNER – Juli Jakab (Sunset)
Best Supporting Actress
Riley Keough (Under the Silver Lake)
Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell)
Penélope Cruz (Pain and Glory)
Noomi Rapace (The Captor/Stockholm)
WINNER – Penélope Cruz (Pain and Glory)
Best Supporting Actor
Sam Claflin (The Nightingale)
Tzi Ma (The Farewell)
Vince Vaughn (Dragged Across Concrete)
Leonardo Sbaraglia (Pain and Glory)
WINNER – Sam Claflin (The Nightingale)
Best Cinematography
José Luis Alcaine (Pain and Glory)
Benji Bakshi (Dragged Across Concrete)
Anna Franquesa Solano (The Farewell)
Radosław Ładczuk (The Nightingale)
WINNER – José Luis Alcaine (Pain and Glory)
Best Screenplay (Adapted or Not)
Booksmart (Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins)
High Life (Claire Denis & Jean-Pol Fargeau)
Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler)
Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
WINNER – Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler)
Best Original Score
The Farewell (Alex Weston)
Aladdin (Alan Menken)
Us (Michael Abels)
Pain and Glory (Alberto Iglesias)
WINNER – Us (Michael Abels)
Best Foreign Film
Sunset (László Nemes)
Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
Everybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi)
WINNER – Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
FINAL NOMINATION COUNT:
Pain and Glory – 9 picks
Dragged Across Concrete – 6 picks
The Nightingale – 5 picks
The Farewell – 5 picks
Booksmart – 3 picks
Sunset – 4 picks
Us – 2 picks
High Life – 2 picks
The Captor/Stockholm – 2 picks
Under the Silver Lake – 1 pick
Everybody Knows – 1 pick
Aladdin – 1 pick
FINAL WIN COUNT:
Pain and Glory – 4 wins
The Nightingale – 3 wins
Sunset – 2 wins
Dragged Across Concrete – 1 win
Us – 1 win
What would be on your personal ballot for the best in each category, so far this year?
