25th "An Irish Person" FILM Awards RECAP!!

In what is likely to be the oddest year for cinema in many of our lifetimes we come to an end. To the many who say what films came out this year I encourage you to read through the list of films I saw this year because there were so many great films to see. This year I managed to recognise 56 films with at least one nomination, this is easily the most films I've ever highlighted with a nom. The fact that I managed to list such a large amount of films for me goes to show how varied the year was. Only three films (Da 5 Bloods, First Cow, Minari) received above 5 nominations for me and given how the academy which are awarding their prizes today also managed to nominate many films this weird year where we watched everything at home is one of the best in recent memory.

1. First Cow

2. Minari

3. Time

4. And Then We Danced

5. Da 5 Bloods

6. Nomadland

7. Wolfwalkers

8. Shirley

9. Driveways

10. Disclosure

To all of you who even took time to read any of these posts I appreciate it because as a fan of film this year has been hard as like you all the experience of sitting in a cinema has been not offered to me. Goodbye to you all and I'll see you again next year to celebrate the best in film and hopefully we all get to physically visit a cinema fully safe and experience a film together again.

P.S. Check out the list of the all the 2020 releases.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. First Cow (Produced by Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino & Anish Savjani)

2. Minari (Produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner & Christina Oh)

3. Time (Produced by Garrett Bradley, Kellen Quinn & Lauren Domino)

4. And Then We Danced (Produced by Mathilde Dedye & Ketie Danelia)

5. Da 5 Bloods (Produced by Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Beatriz Levin & Lloyd Levin)

6. Nomadland

7. Wolfwalkers

8. Shirley

9. Driveways

10. Disclosure

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Garrett Bradley for Time

Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X in “ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI”

Anthony Hopkins as Anthony in "THE FATHER"

Orion Lee as King-Lu in “FIRST COW”

Delroy Lindo as Paul in “DA 5 BLOODS”

Steven Yeun as Jacob Yi in "MINARI"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Nicole Beharie as Turquoise Jones in “MISS JUNETEENTH”

Radha Blank as Radha in "THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION"

Hong Chau as Kathy in "DRIVEWAYS"

Carrie Coon as Allison O’Hara in “THE NEST”

Han Ye-ri as Monica Yi in "MINARI"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Brian Dennehy as Del in "DRIVEWAYS"

Colman Domingo as Cutler in "MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM"

Jonathan Majors as David in "DA 5 BLOODS"

Paul Raci as Joe in "SOUND OF METAL"

Dan Stevens as Alexander Lemtov in "EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Dominique Fishback as Deborah Johnson in “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH”

Miranda Hart as Miss Bates in “EMMA.”

Swankie as Swankie in “NOMADLAND”

Dianne Wiest as Susan in “LET THEM ALL TALK”

Yuh-jung Youn as Soonja in “MINARI”

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Radha Blank for The 40-Year-Old Version

Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Andy Siara for Palm Springs

Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Florian Zeller & Christopher Hampton; Based on Le Père by Florian Zeller, The Father

Screenplay by Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt; Based on The Half Life by Jonathan Raymond, First Cow

Screenplay by Chloé Zhao; Based on Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland

Screenplay by Kemp Powers; Based on One Night in Miami by Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami

Screenplay by Sarah Gubbins; Based on Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell, Shirley

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

Marona’s Fantastic Tale (Directed by Anca Damian)

Ride Your Wave (Directed by Masaaki Yuasa)

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Directed by Will Becher & Richard Phelan)

The Wolf House (Directed by Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña)

Wolfwalkers (Directed by Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart)

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Radha Blank (The Forty-Year-Old Version)

Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Orion Lee (First Cow)

Helena Zengel (System Crasher)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Lisabi Fridell for And Then We Danced

Christopher Blauvelt for First Cow

Joshua James Richards for Nomadland

Leonardo Simões for Vitalina Varela

Dong Jinsong for The Wild Goose Lake

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Trayce Gigi Field for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Alexandra Byrne for Emma.

Ann Roth for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Charlotte Walter for Misbehaviour

Nancy Steiner for Promising Young Woman

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:

Dick Johnson Is Dead (Directed by Kirsten Johnson)

Disclosure (Directed by Sam Feder)

Miss Americana (Directed by Lana Wilson)

Rewind (Directed by (Sasha Neulinger)

Time (Directed by Garrett Bradley)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE:

Another Round (Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Magnus Millang, Maria Bonnevie, Susse Wold)

Babyteeth (Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis, Ben Mendelsohn, Emily Barclay, Eugene Gilfedder)

Minari (Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Yuh-jung Youn, Will Patton)

One Night in Miami (Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., Lance Reddick)

True History of the Kelly Gang (George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Orlando Schwerdt, Thomasin McKenzie, Sean Keenan, Charlie Hunnam, Russell Crowe)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Levan Akin & Simon Carlgren for And Then We Danced

Yorgos Lamprinos for The Father

Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Gabriel Rhodes for Time

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FILM:

And Then We Danced (Directed by Levan Akin)

Beanpole (Directed by Kantemir Balagov)

A Sun (Directed by Chung Mong-Hong)

System Crasher (Directed by Nora Fingscheidt)

Vitalina Varela (Directed by Pedro Costa)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

Katy Fray, Lisa Layman, Thomas Kolarek, Kimberly Boyenger & Tyler Ely for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Marese Langan for Emma.

Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney & Matthew W. Mungle for Hillbilly Elegy

Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal & Jamika Wilson for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Angie Wells & Daniel Curet for Promising Young Woman

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Terence Blanchard for Da 5 Bloods

William Tyler for First Cow

Emile Mosseri for Minari

James Newton Howard for News of the World

Bruno Coulais for Wolfwalkers

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

"Poverty Porn", The 40-Year-Old Version (Music by Khrysis; Lyrics by Radha Blank)

"Husavik", Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Music and Lyrics by Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson & Fat Max Gsus)

"Make It Work", Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Music and Lyrics by John Legend)

"Ultraluminary", Over the Moon (Music and Lyrics by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield & Helen Park)

"Your Name Engraved Herein", Your Name Engraved Herein (Music and Lyrics by Keon Chia, Boon Wah Tan & Yuan Teng Hooi)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Casey Affleck (Black Bear, Possessor, The World to Come)

Sharon Horgan (Dating Amber, How to Build a Girl, Military Wives)

Lesley Manville (Let Him Go, Misbehaviour, Ordinary Love)

Chris Messina (Birds of Prey, I Care a Lot, She Dies Tomorrow)

Andrea Risenborough (Burden, Luxor, Possessor)

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Production Design by Sergey Ivanov for Beanpole

Production Design by Kave Quinn; Set Decoration by Stella Fox for Emma.

Production Design by Donald Graham; Set Decoration by Jan Pascale for Mank

Production Design by Cristina Casali; Set Decoration by Charlotte Dirickx for The Personal History of David Copperfield

Production Design by Sue Chan; Set Decoration by Alexander Linde & Roland Trafton for Shirley

OUTSTANDING SOUND:

José Antonio García, Paul Hsu & Philip Stockton for Da 5 Bloods

P.K. Hooker, Will Files & Paul 'Salty' Brincat for The Invisible Man

Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance & Drew Kunin for Mank

Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés Navarrete & Michelle Couttolenc for Sound of Metal

Erik Duemig, Johnny Marshall & David Rosenblad for The Vast of Night

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:

Kevin Souls & Thrain Shadbolt for Birds of Prey

Jonathan Dearing, Marcus Bolton, Matt Ebb & Aevar Bjarnason for The Invisible Man

Alexis Angelidis, Mattie Brehm, Michael Fong & Matthew Kiyoshi Wong for Soul

Justin Cornish, Clwyd Edwards, Ryan Laney & Brooke Lyndon-Stanford for Welcome to Chechnya

Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León for The Wolf House

MOST NOMINATIONS:

8 nominations: Minari

7 nominations: First Cow

6 nominations: Da 5 Bloods

5 nominations: Nomadland

4 nominations: And Then We Danced, Emma., Time

3 nominations: The 40-Year-Old Version, The Father, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, One Night in Miami, Promising Young Woman

2 nominations: Beanpole, Driveways, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, The Father, The Invisible Man, Mank, Shirley, Sound of Metal, Vitalina Varela, The Wolf House, Wolfwalkers

1 nomination: Another Round, Babyteeth, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del MarBirds of Prey, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Dick Johnson is Dead, Disclosure, Hillbilly Elegt, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Judas and the Black Messiah, Let Them All Talk, Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Misbehaviour, Miss Americana, Miss Juneteenth, The Nest, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, News of the World, Over the Moon, Palm Springs, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Rewind, Ride Your Wave, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Soul, A Sun, System Crasher, Tigertail, True History of the Kelly Gang, The Vast of Night, Welcome to Chechnya, The Wild Goose Lake, Your Name Engraved Herein

MOST WINS:

3 wins: Minari

2 wins: First Cow, Sound of Metal, Time

1 win: The 40-Year-Old Version, And Then We Danced, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Da 5 Bloods, Emma., Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Mank, Miss Juneteenth, Nomadland, Vitalina Varela, The Wolf House, Wolfwalkers

OUTSTANDING PICTURE

And Then We Danced (Produced by Mathilde Dedye & Ketie Danelia)

Da 5 Bloods (Produced by Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Beatriz Levin & Lloyd Levin)

First Cow (Produced by Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino & Anish Savjani)

Minari (Produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner & Christina Oh)

Time (Produced by Garrett Bradley, Kellen Quinn & Lauren Domino)

AND THE WINNER:

FIRST COW (PRODUCED BY NEIL KOPP, VINCENT SAVINO & ANISH SAVIANI)

These are the first wins and nominations for Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino & Anish Savjani. With this win First Cow wins a total of two prizes and seven total nominations. The film won for picture & director as well as being nominated for leading actor (Lee), adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing & original score.

While this year has stretched over into the first two months of 2021 the official date I saw the years best film was July 16th of 2020. Since then I have seen some great films but nothing has been better First Cow. A film about cows and the milk they produce, I never would've thought this story would make for what I considered the greatest film of the year. It's just such an excellent film full of love and affection that is common of basically every film Reichardt has ever made.

OUTSTANDING FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Nicole Beharie as Turquoise Jones in “MISS JUNETEENTH”

Radha Blank as Radha in "THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION"

Hong Chau as Kathy in "DRIVEWAYS"

Carrie Coon as Allison O’Hara in “THE NEST”

Han Ye-ri as Monica Yi in "MINARI"

AND THE WINNER:

NICOLE BEHARIE AS TURQUOISE JONES IN "MISS JUNETEETH"

This is the first win and nomination for Nicole Beharie. She has won for her performance as Turquoise Jones.

Nicole Beharie is an actor of great talent that when given the opportunity to soar flies higher then many of her contemporaries. Miss Juneteenth was just the right film for her to be so excellent. The performance is it's most excellent in how solid a characterisation that Beharie creates making her Turquoise almost documentarian in it's realism. The performance is quite understated and full of strength as we all see her strive for better while the world is constantly working against her.

I hope that based on the clear love many have for Beharie in this film that it isn't a very long time until we get to experience her in a role like this because if the world was the just Nicole would be yearly delivering like she does in Miss Juneteenth.

OUTSTANDING MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X in “ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI”

Anthony Hopkins as Anthony in "THE FATHER"

Orion Lee as King-Lu in “FIRST COW”

Delroy Lindo as Paul in “DA 5 BLOODS”

Steven Yeun as Jacob Yi in "MINARI"

AND THE WINNER:

DELROY LINDO AS PAUL IN "DA 5 BLOODS"

This is the first win and nomination for Delroy Lindo. He wins for his performance as Paul in Da 5 Bloods.

Delroy Lindo is new to my film awards but for the past 5 years he has been often nominated and win for his excellent performance as Adrian Boseman on the great CBS All Access show The Good Fight. Anyway now that I've said that his work in Da 5 Blood since I first saw it in the summer of 2020 has clearly been one of the years best. He is explosive, confident and harrowing in his role. The above clip is the moment in the film where I was fully sold on his excellence. A monologue is obviously an easy moment to spotlight as an actors greatest acting moment but this one was so much more incredible then your usual written speech.

The words feel so real, they are brilliantly delivered and most of all they are completely from the mind of the actor Lindo. The fact these words came from him is an added note to his brilliance. It shows how lived in this role he was and why he is so great. When it comes to overlooked performances it's Delroy's that has me most upset. What didn't people see in his performance. It's so wonderful that I am shocked honestly how many choose not to spotlight him. I guess I can be hopeful that maybe he'll get more opportunities like this because now that Lindo has left TGF I no longer have a weekly Lindo experience to look forward to.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR

Garrett Bradley for Time

Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

AND THE WINNER:

KELLY REICHARDT FOR FIRST COW

This is the first win and fifth nomination for Kelly Reichardt. She was previously nominated for directing and writing Wendy and Lucy (2008) and before that editing Old Joy (2006). She was nominated for editing and writing First Cow.

First Cow is the Kelly Reichardt I unknowingly have been waiting my whole life to see. I have loved all her previous films but First Cow might just be the best she's ever made. The film acts like basically all her previous films as a way to recapture the western a genre which for decades has felt stale and never willing to change. It's admittedly a slow film and as I've seen not for everyone. I just adored it mostly for how comfortable I felt watching it. It was also a beautiful film to watch as well as take in when it came to the male friendship featured throughout.

While the film has gone overlooked at the end of this year I am happy to have the film and look forward to whatever she does next and am hopeful more people will realise how Reichardt is one of the best directors working and has been for the past 15 years.

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG

"Poverty Porn", The 40-Year-Old Version (Music by Khrysis; Lyrics by Radha Blank)

"Husavik", Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Music and Lyrics by Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson & Fat Max Gsus)

"Make It Work", Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Music and Lyrics by John Legend)

"Ultraluminary", Over the Moon (Music and Lyrics by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield & Helen Park)

"Your Name Engraved Herein", Your Name Engraved Herein (Music and Lyrics by Keon Chia, Boon Wah Tan & Yuan Teng Hooi)

AND THE WINNER:

"HUSAVIK", EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA (MUSIC AND LYRICS BY SAVAN KOTECHA, RICKARD GÖRANSSON & FAT MAX GSUS)

This is the first win and nomination for Rickard Göransson & Fat Max Gsus. This is also Savan Kotecha's first win but second nomination having been previously nominated for co-writing "Love Me Like You Do" for the film Fifty Shades of Grey (2015).

While I might have some problems with Eurovision Song Contest as a film (primarily Will Ferrell) none of my problems come from the truly incredible music featured in the film. The highlight obviously being the finale ballad "Husavik". I knew when watching the film this past summer the song would likely win my song award. It's just such a dramatic song and perfectly fitting in the narrative of the film (take note awards voters original songs should be integeral to the film rather than another end credits tune.) While the film's star McAdams did not sing the song and it was instead sung by swedish born Molly Sandén I didn't really care because I still believed this song was coming from the main characters throat.

The mix of English and Icelandic in the lyrics is especially great and showcases the song as a perfect movie song fitting of the struggle that contestants in the film are having whether to sing in any language other than English. I've watched the above sequence countless times since first hearing it in May and I can confidently say I never grow bored of the song.

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE

Terence Blanchard for Da 5 Bloods

William Tyler for First Cow

Emile Mosseri for Minari

James Newton Howard for News of the World

Bruno Coulais for Wolfwalkers

AND THE WINNER:

EMILE MOSSERI FOR MINARI

This is the first win and nomination for Emile Mosseri.

When watching film one of my most favourite things about the experience is how integrated music can be into the medium of film. Some of my favourite scores in film aren't trying to standout from the film and instead lifting up the film by fitting thematically in with the universe the collective artists are creating for the film. Mosseri's score for Minari is a prime example of how excellent a score can help to create a feeling for your reaction to a film. The sound of the score showcases the Americana theme of the film and the wide scale landscapes the film is set in on this newly built American farm.

The score doesn't try overly hard to dramatise the more dark moments later in the film but instead keeps the familiar theme playing throughout and results in a gentle intimate feeling which had me falling in love with the entire film.

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FILM

And Then We Danced (Directed by Levan Akin)

Beanpole (Directed by Kantemir Balagov)

A Sun (Directed by Chung Mong-Hong)

System Crasher (Directed by Nora Fingscheidt)

Vitalina Varela (Directed by Pedro Costa)

AND THE WINNER:

AND THEN WE DANCED (DIRECTED BY LEVAN AKIN)

This is the first win and nomination for Levan Akin.

When And Then We Danced was possibly in contention for outstanding international film at last year's academy award's I was exited by the possibility of seeing the film in the near future. Having seen the film at the start of 2020 I knew I was in love instantly. Myself being a person who loves the art of dance seeing a style of dance I wasn't that familiar with being shown in such an excellent way was so thrilling. The dance sequences and non dance sequences are so well captured under the lead of Akin that it's a smooth ride of a film to experience.

I do find many aren't discussing the film enough come the end of the year and maybe that's due to the odd way the international film category works. Films are submitted based off their home countries release date and to compete in non film categories they need a US release date that could could come a year later (i.e. City of God and Day for Night are major examples of films which played out this way.)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Katy Fray, Lisa Layman, Thomas Kolarek, Kimberly Boyenger & Tyler Ely for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Marese Langan for Emma.

Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney & Matthew W. Mungle for Hillbilly Elegy

Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal & Jamika Wilson for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Angie Wells & Daniel Curet for Promising Young Woman

AND THE WINNER:

KATY FRAY, LISA LAYMAN, THOMAS KOLAREK, KIMBERLY BOYENGER & TYLER ELY FOR BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM

These are the first wins and nominations for Katy Fray, Lisa Layman, Thomas Kolarek, Kimberly Boyenger & Tyler Ely.

The Borat cinematic universe is something I both like and despise at the exact same time. This year's sequel to the highly successful predecessor 14 years ago was quite the wild ride and very fun to watch. When it comes to discussing the films makeup and hairstyling it's funny how all the disguises for Borat had to be created due to how well known the image of Borat was following the first film. When Sacha showed up in a new look in the film my first impression was always to find joy at both the comedy of the get up as well as the success it had for those featured in the film not fully knowledgable of what was happening.

The makeup/hair work not being considered on the academy shortlist was a major oversight as the team who worked on this film easily did the best work of the year. The fact that they had to create many looks to hide Sacha because of how well known Borat is should be reason alone for the impressiveness of this creative team.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS

Kevin Souls & Thrain Shadbolt for Birds of Prey

Jonathan Dearing, Marcus Bolton, Matt Ebb & Aevar Bjarnason for The Invisible Man

Alexis Angelidis, Mattie Brehm, Michael Fong & Matthew Kiyoshi Wong for Soul

Justin Cornish, Clwyd Edwards, Ryan Laney & Brooke Lyndon-Stanford for Welcome to Chechnya

Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León for The Wolf House

AND THE WINNER:

JOAQUÍN COCIÑ & CRISTÓL LEÓN FOR THE WOLF HOUSE

These are the first wins and nominations for Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León.

The Wolf House was a film I'd been waiting to see pre-COVID and it took me far too long to finally see the film. Thankfully the film I'd seen was everything I had been led to believe it would be. The art of visual effects in stop motion animation (animation in general) is so underewarded as most who notice great effects only seem to praise CGI effects creating realistic looking space worlds but the smooth animated story telling due to the effects in this film is easily my favourite of the year. Without many blockbuster films this year I feel there is a chance for different types of visual effects to be appreciated because people like myself have had the time to see a lot of different films.

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING

Levan Akin & Simon Carlgren for And Then We Danced

Yorgos Lamprinos for The Father

Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Gabriel Rhodes for Time

AND THE WINNER:

GABRIEL RHODES FOR TIME

This is the first win and nomination for Gabriel Rhodes.

Time (2020) is a documentary which features a lot of archival footage and the craft of editing has to be one of the most difficult aspects to nail due to the hours of footage. Rhodes in collaboration with everyone else on the film made such an excellent film that I struggle for the words to praise it. The editing is especially excellent in the film as it manages to feel full even at a small runtime of 80 minutes. Having seen a couple of docs Rhodes has edited it's clear he's one of the best and Time has turned out to be his best production to this date.

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY

Lisabi Fridell for And Then We Danced

Christopher Blauvelt for First Cow

Joshua James Richards for Nomadland

Leonardo Simões for Vitalina Varela

Dong Jinsong for The Wild Goose Lake

AND THE WINNER:

LEONARDO SIMÕES FOR VITALINA VARELA

This is the first win and nomination for Leonardo Simões.

Vitalina Varela is if anything a stunningly beautiful film. I admit the film is slow and may not be for everyone but if you are looking to experience and appreciate the beauty of cinema you must make an effort in checking out this film. The films lighting is such an integurial part of its storytelling as it helps to emphasis the darkness and light central to the story being told. The film is mostly silent and while there is a story to be told it comes across in an almost dreamlike sense as it's the visuals which stay with you most of all post experiencing the film.

OUTSTANDING SOUND

José Antonio García, Paul Hsu & Philip Stockton for Da 5 Bloods

P.K. Hooker, Will Files & Paul 'Salty' Brincat for The Invisible Man

Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance & Drew Kunin for Mank

Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés Navarrete & Michelle Couttolenc for Sound of Metal

Erik Duemig, Johnny Marshall & David Rosenblad for The Vast of Night

AND THE WINNER:

JAMIE BAKSHT, NICOLAS BECKER, PHILLIP BLADH, CARLOS CORTÉS NAVARRETE & MICHELLE COUTTOLENC FOR SOUND OF METAL

These are the first wins and nominations for Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés Navarrete & Michelle Couttolenc. Jaime Basksht also wins his first after being previously nominated for Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

Similar to how the academy has combined the sound categories back into one singular award I too have chosen to and honestly speaking even if the awards were still divided I think mostly likely I might've awarded both prizes to Sound of Metal. When a film includes sound in its title it's likely that the craft will play an integral part in the film and that is absolutely true of the film Sound of Metal. The film is about a man who is experiencing a late in life deaf diagnosis and the films sound only helps to highlight the main character's journey by mostly putting you in the place of someone going through such challenging times to adapt.

From the very beginning of the film sound and how it's used plays just as important a role as any other member of the film that the work by those mentioned above is rather impressive.

OUTSTANDING FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Dominique Fishback as Deborah Johnson in “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH”

Miranda Hart as Miss Bates in “EMMA.”

Swankie as Swankie in “NOMADLAND”

Dianne Wiest as Susan in “LET THEM ALL TALK”

Yuh-jung Youn as Soonja in “MINARI”

AND THE WINNER:

YUH-JUNG YOUN AS SOONJA IN "MINARI"

This is the first win and nomination for Yuh-jung Youn. She has won for her performance as Soonja in Minari.

I am comfortable in admitting that prior to Minari I'd not seen many of Youn's previous films and in looking at many of her projects she's worked on before this film I'm excited to trace back what has made her such a well known star in her home country. When it comes to Minari many of it's cast were spectacular but Yuh-jung from her entrance was excellent. She brings the much needed humour to the film playing some elements of the wild grandmother stereotype apart of many films.

She brings so many shadings to the role becoming the heart of the film that when she suffers later on in the film whether it's suffering illness of causing a fatal mistake your heart breaks. Youn becoming such a big deal this awards season (oscar nomination) is so thrilling to see especially after last year many equally great female asian performances were ignored (i.e. Zhao Shuzhen). I hope this isn't just a moment and continues to occur. There have been so many brilliant performances delivered by Asian women that have been wrongfully overlooked.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Christopher Abbott (Black Bear, Possessor, The World to Come)

Sharon Horgan (Dating Amber, How to Build a Girl, Military Wives)

Lesley Manville (Let Him Go, Misbehaviour, Ordinary Love)

Chris Messina (Birds of Prey, I Care a Lot, She Dies Tomorrow)

Andrea Risenborough (Burden, Luxor, Possessor)

AND THE WINNER:

LESLEY MANVILLE (LET HIM GO, MISBEHAVIOUR, ORDINARY LOVE)

I usually feel like I have plenty of performers to nominate in this category but I happen to believe that due to the pandemic there just wasn't a lot of performers starring in multiple projects. However I managed to compile a list of five actors who starred in at least three films released stateside this past year. Manville has been a fave for years now and with all three of her films released this year the only thing similar between her roles is Manville the performer.

Misbehaviour was the first of her films I saw this year and it is her smallest role. She's fine playing a suffering wife role and there's not much more to say than that as she gets overshadow by many of her brilliant co-stars. 

Next it was Ordinary Love which contains her most impactful role as she's a lead opposite Liam Neeson. Playing a recently diagnosed cancer patient Manville is brilliant playing just about every beat effectively quiet. All she is displaying is coming through her expression as she goes through the trying time of her diagnoses.

Last and most recent of her films I watched was Let Him Go which contains her biggest performance in terms of theatrics. Honestly this performance is basically Manville in full drag playing a wild southern lady like you would expect an actor like Melissa Leo to play. She's fun for the limited amount she's used and when comparing each of these performances it's impressive the range of roles Manville is capable of playing.

Ultimately I'm happy to award Manville this prize as she was watchable in all three of her features this year. When it comes to the future for Lesley next thing we can all look forward too is seeing her play Princess Margaret on the final two seasons of Netflix's The Crown. I am personally excited for this casting because while Manville is beloved for her Oscar nominated turn (Phantom Thread) and previous Oscar snub (Another Year) this series is bound to bring her more deserved attention as it has for previous actors who've played the princess (Vanessa Kirby & Helena Bonham Carter.)