Last night, my colleagues and friends of the Chicago Film Critics Association got together to announce the lucky winners and, well, they let me down. Adam Sandler lost Best Actor to some other Adam that most definitely will not be seen in any other movies for the rest of the year – an all-around inferior Adam whose last name just makes me think of driving a car.
Joking aside, this is a fantastic group of winners and I encourage you to check them out below:
BEST PICTURE: Parasite
BEST DIRECTOR: Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
BEST ACTOR: Adam Driver, Marriage Story
BEST ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o, Us
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Florence Pugh, Little Women
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Parasite by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Little Women by Greta Gerwig
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Parasite
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Apollo 11
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 4
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, 1917
BEST EDITING: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Irishman
BEST ART DIRECTION: Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Little Women
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Alexandre Desplat, Little Women
BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS: Ad Astra
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale
MILOS STEHLIK BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER: Lulu Wang, The Farewell
Below are some quick thoughts on the results:
- Parasite deserves this, especially the major awards and one can only hope it continues picking up more accolades full steam ahead en route to the Oscars. The cynic in me fears that the Academy might not even understand it/nominate it and that distributor Neon might not have the funds to push it as hard as some of the other no-brainer contenders from deeper studios
- Favorites aside, Adam Driver is outstanding
- It’s nice to see horror represented when you just know the bigger and televised awards shows are going to ignore Lupita Nyong’o and Us, which is much more of a fright fest than Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out that did garner much-deserved recognition
- Greta Gerwig once again proves to be a Chicago favorite with Little Women racking up awards in categories rather hard to argue against
- Thelma Schoonmaker is the only choice for editing considering she made a 3 1/2 hour movie feel like two hours, which is no easy feat considering some 90-minute movies I sit down to watch feel like they take up an entire day
- Ad Astra is not forgotten and totally deserves the visual effects victory, a category I’m surprised it even won factoring in that Fox just decided not to send many movies in the mail this year for consideration
- All hail Aisling Franciosi! The Nightingale is not only a brutally harrowing and beautifully poetic masterpiece, but she also delivers the best acting all year, period.
Take to the comments to let us know how much we suck for not giving Uncut Gems a single award and not placing Adam Sandler atop his rightful throne. But seriously, it’s an honor to be a part of this organization three years running now and I really do believe these results are not just diverse and progressive, but diverse and progressive choices towards deserving winners. Parasite is not just one of the best movies of the year, of the decade, or one of the best foreign films of all time; it is simply one of the most thrilling, poignant, and original pieces of cinematic art ever created.
Robert Kojder
Originally published December 15, 2019. Updated December 16, 2019.
