TeaThe Power of the Dog is a film about a troubled family in 1920s Montana, in the business of embracing social and ordinary norms. It’s a highly satisfying, interesting, evocative drama with a whiplash ending that took us from the realm of alt-western to all-body horror. It was the mythical quality of this film, its dreamlike knights away from the world typically represented in Western countries, that no doubt resonated with BAFTA voters, who awarded it Best Picture and increasingly celebrated. Best Director for Jane Campion.
On an evening that celebrated disgruntled, revisionist westerns, the Outstanding Debut award was given to the ultraviolent Gonzo Revenge film as hard as they fall, starring Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz and Idris Elba. It’s a headbanged, meat-trimmed awkward debut from James Samuel that reclaims the African American side of the genre. Brutal Drums became a bit too uniform for me, but it’s made in a stylish way.
Denis Villeneuve’s giant science fiction adventure Dune, taken from Frank Herbert’s classic novel, is a huge film in every way and appropriately it was a huge winner at the BAFTAs, which also featured Hans Zimmer’s musical score. It was a film that benefited from the reopening of cinemas, a film about a doomed colonial tyranny on a mineral-rich planet, a film whose unforgivable enormity is to be experienced on the big screen. These rewards feel like justice, though they may reinforce the notion that Dune was a clouded impressionist experience: a massive visual effect whose true description is fading into memory. But it is a largely audacious film and part of the vibrant tradition of epic films.
I was very pleased with Kenneth Branagh’s insanely hot – subversively hot – movie Belfast Pick the best British film, and it’s probably a measure of how weak the film is that labeling a film about troubles as “British” isn’t as controversial as it could be. It’s a film whose streak of sentimentality has alienated some: some Belfast-residents have written it off as unprofessional, others in Belfast have found it downright genuine. I personally responded to its richness and heartfelt humanity.
As far as acting awards go, Joanna Scanlan’s BAFTA for Best Actress in Charming after Love There was a prize for work of the highest quality: a complex, painfully real and honest study of a woman who makes terrifying discoveries about her husband after his death. It’s career best for Scanlan, and very well deserved.
Will Smith for Best Actor BAFTA King Richard (an early favourite, beating Benedict Cumberbatch for The Power of the Dog) was a testament to his old-fashioned movie-star ability and an emotional connection to film audiences. It’s impossible to overstate how much warmth Smith could have created in the right role—and it was the most juicy.
rush-heart-gold play coda (remake from French film) Aries Family) had a really good night, with a win for Best Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor. It is a film about a young hearing girl with a hearing impaired parent: a “CODA” or “Child of Deaf Adults”. It’s a film that feels widely well-intentioned if a little micro-engineered — perhaps it plays well on streaming video with BAFTA voters at home. Ariana DeBos was a fully-deserved winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for her tremendous engagement and dramatically prolific performance in Spielberg’s film. story of the west,
Elsewhere, it was nice to see Paul Thomas Anderson win Best Original Screenplay for his satirical and gorgeously atmospheric age-gap comedy. Licorice Pizza, set in the 70s. It deserved more, but this unclassically brilliant film was always in danger of slipping through the cracks entirely. And glad to see Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s wonderfully intelligent Murakami adaptation drive my car Nominated as Best Foreign Language Film.
I was sad to see nothing for Guillermo del Toro’s noir thriller nightmare alley (A better film than his many prize-winners water size) and nothing for Joel Coen’s classic version of Shakespeare macbeth, But it was a well judged and satisfying BAFTA list of winners.