Awards season finally comes to an end on Sunday night in Los Angeles. A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis are talking Oscars in the New York Times and, at the Talkhouse Film, Jeff Reichert (Remote Area Medical) considers the Best Documentary Academy Award nominees.
But before turning to the guilds and the hints they’ve been dropping over the past couple of weeks as to who might be taking home those golden statues, a quick change of subject. What were the best Japanese films of 2014? Contributors to Midnight Eye have posted their annotated lists (which aren’t strictly limited to Japanese films) and Wildgrounds has lists from the magazines Kinema Junpo and Eiga Geijutsu. #2 on both of those lists is Momoko Ando’s 0.5mm, which saw its world premiere at the Japan Society in New York last summer.
Anne Thompson reports on the longish evening that the Directors Guild of America spent presenting its awards earlier this month. Among the most notable are, first, of course, Feature: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman. Documentary: Laura Poitras for Citizenfour. And look at all these women: Dramatic series: Leslie Linka Glatter for an episode of Homeland, Jill Soloway for Transparent and Lisa Cholodenko for Olive Kitteridge.
At the AV Club, Sam Barsanti reports on the Writers Guild Awards: “The Grand Budapest Hotel took home Best Original Screenplay, The Imitation Game took Best Adapted Screenplay, and The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz won Best Documentary Screenplay, all of which were probably the right pick. Even if they weren’t, writers said they are, and that makes it true.”
Emmanuel Lubezki has won his fourth Theatrical Release award from the American Society of Cinematographers for his work on Birdman. He won last year for Gravity; before that, it was The Tree of Life and Children of Men.
Birdman and Big Hero 6 have scored with the Cinema Audio Society, which has also presented its CAS Filmmaker Award to Richard Linklater.
“The Motion Picture Sound Editors spread the wealth at its 62nd Golden Reel Awards, giving one trophy each to the sound editing teams on American Sniper, Birdman, Get On Up and Unbroken in the live action feature categories.” Carolyn Giardina has more in the Hollywood Reporter.
The Goyas are Spain’s rough equivalent of the Oscars, and Alberto Rodríguez’s Marshland has won ten, “including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music and Best Lead Actor (Javier Gutiérrez),” reports Alfonso Rivera. “Its archrival, El niño, was awarded four and the box-office smash Spanish Affair three: Best Supporting Actor and Actress (Karra Elejalde and Carmen Machi), and Best Newcomer, which went to the host of the gala, Dani Rovira.”
In Belgium, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have won best director and film Magritte Awards for Two Days, One Night, reports Aurore Engelen, also for Cineuropa.
The 2014 Lists and Awards Index. For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @KeyframeDaily. Get Keyframe Daily in your inbox by signing in at fandor.com/daily.
