#jae is very excited for fontaine

[aphroditesswan]

@jaedoesthings @stareyedlunatic having to deal with my insanity 24/7

i sang the backpack song from dora for 5 minutes straight on call

pov your archon is annoying

[aliveandfullofjoy]

2016 Golden Elliott Awards

Damn, y’all. It’s taken long enough.

My apologies for taking so much longer than usual to post these (I mean, last year these were up the Monday after the Oscars, and this year...does anyone even remember who won? Other than that miraculous Best Picture fiasco?). It was my first awards season out of school, and that proved to be a new, exciting challenge. That said, 2016 was a pretty fun year for my personal awards. Not only could I barely decide on a solid ranking of all of the films throughout the year, but I also found myself with the strange issue of liking many, many films, but truly loving few. All that aside, however, I believe these awards to represent my viewing experiences of 2016 very well. 

Of course, there are always films I don’t get around to, even if this year the list stings a bit more than usual. I expect many of these to make quite a dent in my ballot once I get around to them, but I waited long enough to post this. A mostly complete list of those I didn’t get to are:

Aquarius

The Fits

I Am Not Your Negro

Lemonade

My Life as a Zucchini

Nocturnal Animals

O.J.: Made in America

The Salesman

13th

Toni Erdmann

20th Century Women

But let’s not detract too much from the 34 films from 2016 that I did see! I didn’t have the time/energy to go through and make pretty graphics for all of the categories like last year--just the top ten films. Again, my bad. 

So! Without any further procrastination!

2016 GOLDEN ELLIOTT AWARDS

TOP TEN FILMS:

01. Moonlight / dir. Barry Jenkins / USA The one film of the year that won my heart. Jenkins’ visual symphony on a young man’s life is an ingenious deconstruction of masculinity and a much overdue spotlight on a narrative that all too often falls outside of the visibility of the mainstream. With as many excellent films 2016 gave us, there was no contest for the best. 

02. The Handmaiden / dir. Park Chan-wook / South Korea Park Chan-wook’s labyrinthine Handmaiden may be the closest anyone has come to Hitchcock’s level of intrigue in decades. With sumptuous production values (seriously, there’s no more beautiful movie from this year), a tightly-wound suspenseful plot, a remarkable cast, and a genuinely moving romance, The Handmaiden is one of the most impressive cinematic achievements in years.

03. Silence / dir. Martin Scorsese / USA A longtime passion project for Scorsese, Silence is as harrowing a look at faith as possible. Wisely sidestepping anything resembling a white savior trope, the audience ventures deep into 17th century Japan and into the crumbling psyche of a man desperately clinging onto his relationship with God. It’s difficult, stunning, deeply rewarding work. 

04. Arrival / dir. Denis Villeneuve / USA That Arrival, a film about aliens and a linguistics professor, manages to feel like it reaffirms the bond that connects all of us is a testament to the vision of director Villeneuve and writer behind the source material Ted Chiang. As the film comes to a close, the mind spins, and the heart soars.

05. I, Daniel Blake / dir. Ken Loach / UK Between Brexit and the already infamous presidential election, 2016 was mired with a heavy political cloud for much of the western world. Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, which won last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, was the angriest cinematic voice in the rabble of 2016 politics, making an impassioned case for the downtrodden man and making an unforgiving condemnation of the government. Brutally powerful stuff. 

06. Love & Friendship / dir. Whit Stillman / Ireland/France/Netherlands Love & Friendship isn’t just the funniest Jane Austen has ever been onscreen, it is also the funniest film of 2016 by a wide margin. With a gleefully snide central performance from Kate Beckinsale and a cast of wonderful character actors, this film sets a new bar for how enjoyable a sitting room period piece can be. 

07. Julieta / dir. Pedro Almodóvar / Spain With the great director’s brand of theatricality and a staggering leading performance from Emma Suárez, Julieta is an ocean-soaked, color-bursting melodrama and is also one of the year’s more underseen gems. That’s a shame, because Julieta is primed to join the director’s greatest works in the pantheon of Spanish cinema. 

08. Manchester by the Sea / dir. Kenneth Lonergan / USA Lonergan’s latest is the slightest bit of a mixed bag. While certain parts feel overcooked and a bit false, most of the film lives in an extraordinarily painful emotional state, but one that feels devastatingly honest. The beautiful New England scenery acts as the backdrop for this painfully sad, but rewardingly affective film.

09. Hell or High Water / dir. David Mackenzie / USA About twenty minutes into Hell or High Water, the thought occurs to me that most of these characters probably voted for Trump. That’s not a slight against them, however much I may hypothetically disagree with these fictional characters--if anything, it makes the film an extraordinarily powerful portrait of Americans in the middle of the country who feel like the government has abandoned them. Now, several months in, it feels like this new administration is poised to do the same. This is a thrilling neo-western with a clear political mindset that feels like a future American classic. 

10. The Red Turtle / dir. Michaël Dudok de Wit / France/Belgium/Japan With not a single line of dialogue over its 80 minute runtime, The Red Turtle is a powerful fable of human resilience and our relationship with nature. Gorgeous animation and a powerful score, and an Adam and Eve story to match the best of them makes The Red Turtle the finest animated films in a very, very good year. 

BEST DIRECTOR

01. Barry Jenkins, Moonlight 02. Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden  03. Martin Scorsese, Silence 04. Denis Villeneuve, Arrival  05. Ken Loach, I, Daniel Blake

BEST ACTOR 

01. Ashton Sanders, as “Teenage Chiron,” in Moonlight 02. Trevante Rhodes, as “Adult Chiron/Black,” in Moonlight 03. Casey Affleck, as “Lee Chandler,” in Manchester by the Sea 04. John Goodman, as “Howard,” in 10 Cloverfield Lane  05. Adam Driver, as “Paterson,” in Paterson 

BEST ACTRESS

01. Viola Davis, as “Rose Maxson,” in Fences 02. Isabelle Huppert, as “Michèle LeBlanc” in Elle 03. Amy Adams, as “Dr. Louise Banks,” in Arrival 04. Emma Suárez, as “Julieta Arcos,” in Julieta 05. Kate Beckinsale, as “Lady Susan Vernon,” in Love & Friendship 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

01. André Holland, as “Kevin,” in Moonlight 02. Mahershala Ali, as “Juan,” in Moonlight 03. Tom Bennett, as “Sir James Martin,” in Love & Friendship 04. Lucas Hedges, as “Patrick Chandler,” in Manchester by the Sea 05. Issey Ogata, as “Inoue Masashige,” in Silence

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

01. Hayley Squires, as “Katie Morgan,” in I, Daniel Blake 02. Lily Gladstone, as “The Rancher,” in Certain Women 03. Naomie Harris, as “Paula,” in Moonlight 04. Kate McKinnon, as “Jillian Holtzmann,” in Ghostbusters 05. Rachel Weisz, as “The Short-Sighted Woman,” in The Lobster

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

01. Paul Laverty, for I, Daniel Blake 02. Kenneth Lonergan, for Manchester by the Sea 03. Taylor Sheridan, for Hell or High Water 04. Jim Jarmusch, for Paterson 05. Mia Hansen-Løve, for Things to Come

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

01. Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, for Moonlight; based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney 02. Whit Stillman, for Love & Friendship; based on the epistolary novella Lady Susan 03. Eric Heisserer, for Arrival; based on the short story “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang 04. Park Chan-wook and Chung Seo-kyung, for The Handmaiden; based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters 05. Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese, for Silence; based on the novel Silence by Shosaku Endo

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

01. The Red Turtle / dir. Michaël Dudok de Wit / Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli 02. Zootopia / dir. Byron Howard and Rich Moore / Walt Disney Animation Studios 03. Kubo and the Two Strings / dir. Travis Knight / Laika Entertainment 04. Moana / dir. Ron Clements and John Musker / Walt Disney Animation Studios

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

01. The Head Vanishes / dir. Franck Dion 02. Piper / dir. Alan Barillo 03. Borrowed Time / dir. Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj 04. Blind Vaysha / dir. Theodore Ushev 05. Inner Workings / dir. Leo Matsuda

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE

01. The Handmaiden / dir. Park Chan-wook / South Korea 02. Julieta / dir. Pedro Almodóvar / Spain 03. Things to Come / dir. Mia Hansen-Løve / France 04. Elle / dir. Paul Verhoeven / France

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

01. The Handmaiden - Seong-hie Ryu (Production Designer) 02. La La Land - David Wasco (Production Designer); Austin Gorg (Art Director); Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (Set Decorator) 03. The Witch - Craig Lathrop (Production Designer); Andrea Kristof (Art Director); Mary Kirkland (Set Decorator) 04. Love & Friendship - Anna Rackard (Production Designer); Louise Mathews and Bryan Tormey (Art Director) 05. Silence - Dante Ferretti (Production Designer); Wen-Ying Huang, Ding-Yang Weng, Michael Tsung-Ying Yang, Wang Zhi-Cheng (Art Directors); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decorator)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

01. Moonlight - James Laxton 02. The Handmaiden - Chung Chung-hoon 03. La La Land - Linus Sandgren 04. Silence - Rodrigo Prieto 05. Arrival - Bradford Young

BEST COSTUME DESIGNER

01. The Handmaiden - Sang-gyeong Joo 02. Jackie - Madeline Fontaine 03. Love & Friendship - Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh 04. Sing Street - Tiziana Corvisieri 05. Florence Foster Jenkins - Consolata Boyle

BEST FILM EDITING

01. Moonlight - Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon 02. La La Land - Tom Cross 03. Arrival - Joe Walker 04. The Handmaiden - Kim Jae-bum and Kim Sang-bum 05. Silence - Thelma Schoonmaker

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE OR USE OF MUSIC

01. The Handmaiden - Cho Young-wuk 02. Moonlight - Nicholas Britell 03. The Red Turtle - Laurent Perez del Mar 04. La La Land - Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul 05. Swiss Army Man - Andy Hull and Robert McDowell

BEST USE OF SONG

01. “Hello Stranger,” used in Moonlight, performed by Barbara Lewis 02. “We Know the Way,” used in Moana, performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa’i 03. “Drive It Like You Stole It,” used in Sing Street, performed by Sing Street 04. “How Far I’ll Go,” used in Moana, performed by Auli’i Cravalho 05. “Another Day of Sun,” used in La La Land, performed by the Company

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

01. Kubo and the Two Strings 02. The Jungle Book 03. Arrival 04. 10 Cloverfield Lane 05. The Witch 

BEST ENSEMBLE

01. Moonlight (with Mahershala Ali, Patrick Decile, Naomie Harris, Alex Hibbert, Jharrel Jerome, Janelle Monáe, Jaden Piner, Trevante Rhodes, and Ashton Sanders)

02. Love & Friendship (with Kate Beckinsale, Tom Bennett, Kelly Campbell, Morfydd Clark, Justin Edwards, James Fleet, Stephen Fry, Emma Greenwell, Conor MacNeill, Jenn Murray, Lochlann O’Mearáin, Sophie Radermacher, Jemma Redgrave, Xavier Samuel, and Chloë Sevigny) 

03. Manchester by the Sea (with Casey Affleck, Anna Baryshnikov, Matthew Broderick, Heather Burns, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan, Kara Hayward, Lucas Hedges, Stephen Henderson, Erica McDermott, Gretchen Mol, Ben O’Brien, Oscar Wahlberg, and Michelle Williams)

04. Julieta (with Mariam Bachir, Pilar Castro, Inma Cuesta, Rossy de Palma, Priscilla Delgado, Darío Grandinetti, Daniel Grao, Michelle Jenner, Sara Jim��nez, Joaquín Notario, Blanca Parés, Nathalie Poza, Susi Sánchez, Emma Suárez, and Agata Ugarte)

05. Hell or High Water (with Gil Birmingham, Margaret Bowman, Jeff Bridges, Dale Dickey, Ben Foster, Christopher W. Garcia, John Paul Howard, Marin Ireland, Katy Mixon, Melanie Papalia, Chris Pine, and Kevin Rankin)

NOMINATION AND WIN TALLY

Total nominations: 13: Moonlight 9: The Handmaiden 8: Arrival 7: Love & Friendship; Silence  5: Julieta; La La Land; Manchester by the Sea 4: I, Daniel Blake; Paterson  3: Hell or High Water; Moana; The Red Turtle 2: Elle; Kubo and the Two Strings; 10 Cloverfield Lane; Things to Come; The Witch 1: Blind Vaysha; Borrowed Time; Fences; Florence Foster Jenkins; The Head Vanishes; Inner Workings; Jackie; The Jungle Book; Piper; Sing Street; Swiss Army Man; Zootopia 

Total wins: 9: Moonlight 4: The Handmaiden 2: I, Daniel Blake 1: Fences; The Head Vanishes; The Red Turtle

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And that more or less concludes another year of the Golden Elliott Awards! It honestly hurts my heart that I couldn’t make these more detailed, with graphics or blurbs about my choices or whatnot, but if you’ve got questions, feel free to fire away!