Sunday, December 10, 2006

LAFCA FIGHTS FOR IWO JIMA, LUMINITA

2006 LAFCA Awards Results:

Best Picture: Letters from Iwo Jima d. The Queen
Best Director: Paul Greengrass (United 93) d. Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima)
Best Actor: Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) [tie]
Best Actress: Helen Mirren (The Queen) d. Penelope Cruz (Volver)
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Sheen (The Queen) d. Sergi Lopez (Pan's Labyrinth)
Best Supporting Actress: Luminita Gheorghiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu) d. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan (The Queen) d. Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Animated Film: Happy Feet d. Cars
Best Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others d. Volver
Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth d. Darwin's Nightmare
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men) d. Tom Stern (Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima)
Best Musical Score: Alexandre Desplat (The Queen/The Painted Veil) d. Thomas Newman (The Good German/Little Children)
Best Production Design: Eugenio Caballero (Pan's Labyrinth) d. Jim Clay/Geoffrey Kirkland (Children of Men)
New Generation Award: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, Michael Arndt (team behind Little Miss Sunshine)

Who knows what to make of this---Best Supporting Actress Luminita Gheorghiu??? Co-Best Actor Sacha Baron Cohen? I'm not saying they're wrong... I'm just saying we need to reconsider the landscape a little bit after this... I did suspect The Departed might have a hard time on the West coast, but a shutout? Between the LAFCA and AFI Awards today, Hollywood took a major pass on that film, which is surprising... that is not to say that Dreamgirls did much better---did I mention that Jennifer Hudson lost to Luminita Gheorghiu?!?... After lots of buzz that the LAFCA might pull a Vera Farmiga on us and give an award to the 1969 film Army of Shadows, which was only just recently released in the United States, they decided to honor it with a special citation, and name as their 2006 nutjob pick LUMINITA GHEORGHIU?!?

I'd say the big winners of the day are Forest Whitaker, Children of Men, Sacha Baron Cohen, Paul Greengrass, An Inconvenient Truth, Pan's Labyrinth, and Helen Mirren... oh, and did I mention, LUMINITA GHEORGHIU?!?

Between my first and backup choices, I correctly predicted: Best Actor (Whitaker), Best Actress (Mirren), Best Documentary (An Inconvenient Truth), Best Cinematography (Children of Men), Best Musical Score (The Painted Veil)... not great, but when you consider that LUMINITA GHEORGHIU?!? won Best Supporting Actress, not terrible.

Posted by Editor at 19:04:13 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |
Comments
1 - after all these precursors who do you think is the frontrunner for Foreign language film?

Pan's Labyrinth
Volver
The Lives of Others (Comment this)

Written by: Carlinhos Brown at 2006/12/10 - 20:35:08
2 - Hey Carlinhos, My gut still says Volver, followed closely behind by Pan's Labyrinth, followed by The Lives of Others. I think a few more precursors will help clarify the situation... but people should be careful betting against Almodovar. (Comment this)

Written by: Scott Feinberg at 2006/12/10 - 20:47:29
3 - Did you at least see "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"??? (Comment this)

Written by: Anonymous at 2006/12/10 - 22:27:33
4 - No, I have not yet seen "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu." I'm not knocking the film---I'm just trying to convey how surprised I/everyone was with the choice of Ms. Gheorghiu, with whom most of us were unfamiliar prior to today. (Comment this)

Written by: Scott Feinberg at 2006/12/10 - 22:46:55
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