The 2013 Fanatic Awards!

So here are the winners of my own personal awards, I won´t include the nominees in this article, but you can look at them here http://fanatic-films.blogspot.no/2013/02/nominations-for-2013-fanatic-awards.html.  

Best Film

Winner: Argo

This may be a boring choice considering it has won all the major awards this season, however it really does deserve it. I knew the second I left the theatre that this would be my number one film of 2012, and no other film has managed to dethrone it since. It is hard to say what really was so great about, but everything just worked so well. It did everything it tried to do perfectly, getting me invested emotionally while at the edge of my seat throughout the film. You can read my review of it here http://fanatic-films.blogspot.no/2012/11/argo-2012-review.html. 

Best Director

Winner: Ben Affleck for Argo

Best Picture and Best Director often go hand in hand, which is often because people think they are basically the same thing, which they are not. A prime example of this is Prometheus, where the script was very flawed, but the directing was nothing short of amazing, saving the film and almost getting a nomination here. Ben Affleck on the other hand had a great script and did an even better job directing. It really takes a great director to pull this movie, considering how many genres this film mixes yet Affleck paced it perfectly and got the tone just right.

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master

Writing a good character study is hard, writing a character study of two very different characters, as well as exploring the madness of certain group mentalities, now that is hard. Paul Thomas Anderson however, does it with brilliance, like he has done before, without it feeling a whole lot like anything he has done before. The two main characters are well fleshed-out however I was very impressed at how he managed to also use these characters to portray a cult.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Tony Kushner for Lincoln

Very tough category to choose, I originally kept thinking David O. Russell should win, but in the end I couldn’t deny how impressive the humanizing of one the greatest legends in American history was. I was constantly impressed of how well written the movie was when Lincoln started going on rants that where both and pretty thought provoking and always building the character.

Best Actor

Winner: Lincoln as himself… played by Daniel Day-Lewis

I don’t really feel I have to say anything here… I mean the guy won pretty much everything there is to win and he is a really boring choice, but I don’t think anyone would deny he deserves it… so yeah moving on.

Best Actress

Winner: Emmanuelle Riva for Amour

Very close category once again, but no performance impressed me as this performance by 86-year old Emmanuelle Riva. It is an incredibly tough performance to pull off, but she did it incredibly well even though she was very hard to watch at times.

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master

There were so many good male supporting roles this year that just picking the nominees was hard, let alone picking a winner. After thinking about it a lot I have to give it to Hoffman, simply because of how complete of a performance it was. He was so charismatic, yet as the layers were peeling off we got so much range in his performance and so many complexions that perfectly complimented the brilliant script. His pal Joaquin Phoenix was also undeniably great and probably even better then Hoffman, but he was going up against Daniel Day-Lewis… so yeah I just wanted to give him a mention as well.    

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables

Another pretty self-explanatory win, however also very deserving. Not just because she lost weight and cut her hair, which I mean, it is impressive, but lets face it, it doesn’t make a good actor. However the level of emotion she hits without leaving me feeling that she is being melodramatic. She wasn’t in the film for long, but she was just so damn impressive and brought every scene she was in to a whole new level.

Best Composer

Winner: Jonny Greenwood for The Master

In a year filled with beautiful scores, the one that really stood out was the noe from Radiohead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood. Yet again he creates a wholly original score where each note perfectly blends with what is happening on a screen, complementing the moments rather then making a big deal out of itself. It is beautiful, yet weird, but so different and refreshing.

Best Cinematography

Winner: Mihai Milaimare Jr. for the Master

Paul Thomas Anderson always get something great out his cinematographers and this is no different. What truly sets this apart are the wonderful framing, as well as the amazing use of focus. Filmed in 65mm, the film is truly beautiful looking thanks the cinematography and lighting.

Best Special Effects

Winner: Life Of Pi

It almost went to Prometheus, but then I remembered how incredibly real the animals in the film looked. While I am kind of reluctant to the idea of so much CGI, it did make sense for the story and though I was never fully immersed in the movie considering wholly CGIed shots do take you out of it, however like I said it is logical for the film so you accept it. The fact that the images are so beautiful makes you forgive a lot of things. I would like to mention that despite common belief, the cinematographer is not responsible for how beautiful it looks, that is all thanks to the visual effects guys. 

Best Art Direction

Winner: Les Misérables

When I say art direction I mean it as a sort of collective term for everything within the film like setdesign, costume design etc. Les Misérables was an easy choice for this category, not only did it feel historically accurate (no idea if it is), but it had such an interesting look overall. I can´t really point my finger to what it was, but I thought it was great to look at, kind of different and perfect for the film, and overall just very impressive.

Best Animated Film

Winner: Frankenweenie

This is a film that in my eyes did everything it is supposed to as an animated film. It had a very particular style that separates visually, it was very funny and most of all it had great characters that I could care about and relate to. There isn’t a whole lot I can complain about with this film, it really hit me in all the right places.

Best Film Not In The English Language

Winner: Amour (Austria)

Was there ever any doubt? Yes in fact there was, I have been going back and forth in whether I thought this or The Hunt was better however in the end this is the film that stayed with me the most. It may not have been an enjoyable film to watch, but it stayed with me, since I saw it early in January I have been thinking about the film almost every day and very few films can stay with me that long.

 

Final Awards Count:

The Master: 4

Argo: 2

Lincoln: 2

Amour: 2

Les Misérables: 2

Frankenweenie: 1

Life Of Pi: 1

Click here to see al the nominees: http://fanatic-films.blogspot.no/2013/02/nominations-for-2013-fanatic-awards.html.