It’s the start of a new year, and for most movie fans, this means the start of awards season. The Golden Globes has already passed us by, but there’s still more than a month left till the end of the road—the Oscars. Over the next few weeks, social media will be buzzing with predictions and rumors about where the different awards bodies might swing on categories as established and absolute as Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
But those categories aren’t what we’re here to talk about.
While the Academy Awards categories are easy to market, they don’t really capture the entirety of the film experience. These awards are for the corners of cinema awards bodies rarely recognize, but are more often than not, the most memorable parts of the movies: Epic set pieces, memorable characters, underground stories. All of them are integral parts of the movie experience, and are infinitely more fun to discuss than sound mixing.
Best use of music in a film
Nominees
“Diamonds”, Girlhood
“I Want It That Way”, Magic Mike XXL
“Plainsong”, Ant-Man
“Starman”, The Martian
“We Belong”, Pitch Perfect 2
Our first category has a lot of great options. The Cure’s “Plainsong” paces the best scene of the surprisingly satisfying Ant-Man, while Fat Amy deploys Pat Benetar’s “We Belong” with wonderfully cheesy aplomb in Pitch Perfect 2. David Bowie’s recent passing makes it tempting to reward “Starman”, and Girlhood’s appropriating of a relatively recent pop hit and making the song its own is certainly an accomplishment.
But let’s be real. Joe Manganiello’s impromptu strip dance to “I Want It That Way” is iconic, and a high point in an otherwise messy feature. It’s our winner here.
Winner: “I Want It That Way”, Magic Mike XXL
Best action sequence
Nominees
Briefcase fight, Ant-Man
Parachuting cars, Furious 7
Sandstorm car chase, Mad Max: Fury Road
Opera house fight, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Kitchen fight, Spy
Remember the aforementioned “best scene” in Ant-Man? It’s nominated here. The briefcase fight scene is one of the most inventive set pieces Marvel has ever done, and in any other year, it’d easily win my vote for the best action sequence. The same goes for Furious 7’s ludicrously over-the-top parachuting cars scene, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation’s intricate opera house set piece, and Spy’s surprisingly brutal kitchen battle.
However, this is the year of Mad Max: Fury Road, and while it was tempting to nominate the entire film in this category, special mention goes to its centerpiece: The sandstorm car chase. Almost balletic in its choreographed brutality, it’s a scene that emblazons itself in viewers’ memories from the first beat, and never lets up.
Winner: Sandstorm car chase, Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Local Film
Nominees
Heneral Luna
Honor Thy Father
That Thing Called Tadhana
Because there’s no local equivalent to the Oscars here in the Philippines, local films rarely get any form of acknowledgment when released outside of festivals or the like. Thus, there’s usually no clear-cut “best” local film in any given year, but rather, you could make a case for any of a number of standouts.
This year, however, is an exception. Heneral Luna has steamrolled the local movie scene, and has become less of a film and more of an event, though it is also an excellent feature. While its fellow nominees—the gritty Honor Thy Father and the insightful That Thing Called Tadhana—are great in their own ways, Jerrold Tarog’s breakthrough feature is just too much of a cultural watershed to deny.
Winner: Heneral Luna
Best Genre Film
Nominees
Crimson Peak (Horror)
Ex Machina (Sci-Fi)
The Gift (Thriller)
The Hateful Eight (Western)
It Follows (Horror)
“Genre cinema” is a polite term for films that, while undeniably excellent, don’t get recognized by awards bodies because their subject matter is perceived as more popcorn than prestige: Horror movies, thrillers, Westerns, noirs, and the like. They’re usually indie endeavors, and while a few of our nominees—Ex Machina and The Hateful Eight, to be exact—have gotten some love from the Academy, most of these kinds of movies go unnoticed during awards season.
While the last three categories all had clear-cut winners, this one is much harder to call. A case could be made for any of these features, and all should most certainly be on your to-watch list if you haven’t got to them. Ultimately, the honor has to go to It Follows, the most lo-fi film on the list. Destined to be a cult classic, the film is horror at its finest: Foreboding, well-paced, and eminently suspenseful.
Winner: It Follows
Best Hero
Nominees
Adonis Creed, Creed
Eilis, Brooklyn
Finn, The Force Awakens
Joy, Inside Out
Rey, The Force Awakens
First, a caveat: This category isn’t meant to reward the best character that happens to be a protagonist, but rather, the best protagonist. A good protagonist has to keep the audience in his or her corner, even when their character imperfections come to light. That eliminates several of our more complex anti-heroes, but that’s not to say our nominees here aren’t engaging in their own ways.
Ultimately, the choice has to come down to one of the two The Force Awakens protagonists. They’re both refreshingly likeable characters, written with wit, heart, and an ear for good dialogue, and both get defining hero moments in the franchise that’s given us some of the greatest hero moments in cinema. Still, Rey edges Finn out, because it’s clear she’s going to be the fulcrum of the new trilogy going forward, and because she’s incredibly badass to boot.
Winner: Rey, The Force Awakens
Best Ending
Nominees
Brooklyn
Creed
Inside Out
The Martian
Pitch Perfect 2
Some spoilers ahead, because of course there are.
Inside Out has one of the best closing gags in any Pixar feature, and Creed’s tear-jerking climb up the iconic Philadelphia steps is incredibly moving cinema. Both these films would have decent cases for having the best ending in most other years, as would Pitch Perfect 2’s—an otherwise passable sequel of a great film—raise-your-fists musical climax.
However, this award has to go to either of two of this year’s prestige pictures, because sometimes, you have to give Oscar-bait movies their due. First off, The Martian’s ending is the most glorious thing you’ll see all year: A crescendo to an epic tale of human fortitude. Still, Brooklyn’s ending just edges it, mostly on the strength of Saoirse Ronan’s incredibly moving narration. Few films earn their happy ending better than this film, and when it comes, you can’t help but shed a few tears. Sounds like a winner to me.
Winner: Brooklyn
Best Villain
Nominees
The Entity, It Follows
Joy, Inside Out
Kylo Ren, The Force Awakens
Mars, The Martian
Rayna Boyanov, Spy
We all love Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. As far as straightforward villains go, he’s as well-written as they come. He’s a Darth Vader for the millennial generation, constantly looking back as well as building his own legacy, in the shadow of someone else’s. Driver infuses a sense of desperation and uncertainty in the character, and the audience feels as if it isn’t watching a fully formed villain, but rather, a work-in-progress. It is utterly compelling cinema.
Still, he’s not our winner here.
Most viewers probably don’t think of Joy as the villain of Inside Out, and that’s why it works. They’re introduced to the movie’s world through her eyes, and they see nearly the entire film through her perspective. It’s only when they reach the final act when they realize Joy has always been the spanner in the works. That’s not just a potent twist; it turns the entire film on its head. Inside Out doesn’t work with Joy pulling both protagonist and antagonist duty, and Amy Poehler does a masterful job balancing these two personas. The result is one of the best films of the year, or of any year, really.
Winner: Joy, Inside Out
Breakout Performer of the Year
Nominees
John Boyega
Domhall Gleeson
Oscar Isaac
Daisy Ridley
Alicia Vikander
Sorry, Oscar Isaac fans.
As much as I love all three of the Star Wars leads, only two of them have just that one film in their résumés. The other one (Isaac) can hardly be considered a breakout, given he’s been on an absolute tear in the indie scene; there will always be a loud contingent of hipsters who’ll know him first and foremost as Llewyn from Inside Llewyn Davis. Breaking into the mainstream consciousness is a great achievement, but hardly worthy of this prestigious award.
That leaves us with Domhall Gleeson, who has supporting roles in three of the year’s biggest films, and Alicia Vikander. Vikander is having the kind of year Jessica Chastain had in 2011. She’s in around seven different features, and two of them in particular—Ex Machina and The Danish Girl—have gotten her some decent Oscar buzz. Only time will tell if she has Chastain’s staying power, but as of now, she’s pretty much owned 2015, as well as this award.
Winner: Alicia Vikander
Best Character
Nominees
Imperator Furiosa, Mad Max: Fury Road
Joy, Inside Out
Kylo Ren, The Force Awakens
Sadness, Inside Out
Susan Cooper, Spy
We’ve reached our penultimate category, and these last two were the hardest to judge. If there were any justice in the world, all of the nominees could be winners. Unfortunately, there’s only one imaginary statuette up for grabs for each category.
Joy and Kylo Ren have gotten enough love in the “Best Villain” section, so let’s focus on the other three. Melissa McCarthy’s Susan Cooper is a whirlwind of bombast and action, and is the singular force that drives Spy from being just another genre parody into being a comedic jewel. Sadness, meanwhile, is the beating heart of Inside Out, her melancholy tempering the innate joyousness of the film’s animation. They’re both nuanced characters, with wit and soul to spare.
Imperator Furiosa is winning, though. She’s equally as engrossing as these characters, but with an added mystique that comes with being as broken as she is in Mad Max: Fury Road. She’s more than capable of being the strong, independent archetype, but when she collapses into the sand after realizing the Green Place she’d been looking for was no more, Furiosa displays a genuine vulnerability that’s the most real thing the movies have shown all year. Charlize Theron does a transcendent job with Furiosa, giving us a character for the ages.
Winner: Imperator Furiosa, Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Scene
Nominees
The Sporino fight, Creed
Jakku fighter chase, The Force Awakens
Intro, Inside Out
Sandstorm car chase, Mad Max: Fury Road
“I Want It That Way”, Magic Mike XXL
These five are all pantheon-level movie scenes, which makes it difficult to pick just one winner. We’ve covered two of them—both winners—in previous categories, so I’ll focus on the other three.
From a strictly technical standpoint, none of these scenes hold a candle to the Sporino fight in Creed. Shot in one take with no cuts, the scene encapsulates the claustrophobia of the boxing ring better than any set piece since Raging Bull, and Michael B. Jordan does a spectacular job with the choreography. From a storytelling perspective, however, Inside Out’s opening scene expertly introduces one of the richest movie worlds in recent memory, all in the first ten or so minutes. It is a master class in exposition, drenched in some of the most beautiful animation of the new millennium.
It seems indefensible, then, for this award to go to a glorified special effects bonanza, but that’s what about to happen. The Jakku fighter chase scene, for all narrative purposes, is gravy. It doesn’t really add anything to the story, nor does it enrich any of the character’s development in any way. Still, it’s a glorious spectacle, and at times, it reaches some of the most exhilarating highs cinema has ever reached. People go to the movies, first and foremost, to experience a sense of wonderment—to become immersed in a world altogether different from theirs. In that regard, this scene—and The Force Awakens as a whole—succeeds brilliantly.
Winner: Jakku fighter chase, The Force Awakens