No "I Killed My Mother"? - I Killed My Mother was far and away the most talked about Canadian film of the year - winning prizes around the world in film festivals. It is an absolute embarassment that the Academy DID NOT NOMINATE IT FOR ONE AWARD!!! No picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay, cinematography or editing - all of which should have been assured. Does it make any sense at all that the one award the film will get - the Claude Jutra award for best debut film - went to this film and not Charles Officer's Nurse.Fighter.Boy, another debut, that raked up 10 nominations? This is an absolute embarassment for the Academy. They look like idiots right now.Once Again, no Atom Egoyan. I am a little surprised that Adoration didn't get more nominations - a measly two for Scott Speedman in support actor (where, for my money, they should have nominated Kenneth Walsh instead), and for screenplay for Egoyan. What makes this especially weird is that I thought that Egoyan's direction of the movie was much, much stronger than his writing. It seems like the Genies have shied away from Egoyan in recent years - and while I would admit that his recent output does not come close to his past successes, they are significantly better than some of the films they did nominate.
50 Dead Men Walking - Really? Don't get me wrong, I quite liked 50 Dead Men Walking, the IRA movie with Jim Sturgess and Ben Kingsley (who didn't get nominated, I think, because of the strange rule that foreign born actors can get nominated if the director of the is Canadian, but not if they are not - and I think Kari Skogland is Swedish, although she did get nominated). But seriously, this is one of the best films of the year? Better than Adoration, I Killed My Mother and Pontypool? I think not.
Only 3 Nominations for Pontypool? For Shame! I
thought Bruce McDonald's Pontypool was one of the best zombies movies in recent memory - a brilliantly structured movie about an outbreak of the undead. While the Academy rightfully nominated McDonald for director, Tony Burgess for adapting his own novel and the brilliant Stephan McHattie for Actor, they overlooked the rest of the cast, and shockingly didn't nominate it for ANY technical awards. This should have been right up there with the big boys.Horray for Polytechnique - The Academy at least got one thing correct. In giving Denis Villenueve's Polytechnique the most nominations, they have made it the frontrunner for the win - something I hope happens. This is the only film that I saw this year that can rival I Killed My Mother (again, idiots!) for the best Canadian film. A chilling account of the massacre at Montreal Polytechnique school in 1989, this was a short, but wonderful movie. Bravo for not being scared by the controversry that surronded that movie.
That's it for now. Watch for reviews of many of the films nominated in the coming weeks - I will see as many as possible. For now though, check out my reviews of:
Polytecnique http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/03/movie-review-polytechnique.html
Adortion http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/05/movie-review-adoration.html
50 Dead Men Walking http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/07/movie-review-50-dead-men-walking.html
Pontypool http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/03/movie-review-pontypool.html
And the criminally neglected I Killed My Mother http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2010/02/movie-review-i-killed-my-mother.html
Nominations
Picture
Before Tomorrow
50 Dead Men Walking
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Polytechnique
3 Saisons
Director
Madeline-Helene Cousineau & Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, Before Tomorrow
Bruce McDonald, Pontypool
Charles Officier, Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Kari Skogland, 50 Dead Men Walking
Denis Villenueve, Polytechnique
Actor
Jean-Carl Boucher, 1981
Paul Dylan Ivalu, Before Tomorrow
Joshua Jackson, One Week
Clark Johnson, Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Stephan McHattie, Pontypool
Actress
Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, Before Tomorrow
Karen Leblanc, Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Carinne Leduc, 3 Saisons
Gabriella Rose, Mothers & Daughters
Kariene Vanasse, Polytechnique
Supporting Actor
Patrick Drolet, Fathers & Guns
John Dunsworth, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day
Maxim Gaudette, Polytechnique
Remy Giard, Fathers and Guns
Scott Speedman, Adoration
Supporting Actress
Liane Balaban, One Week
Marie Brassard, Heat Wave
Martha Burns, Love & Savagery
Isabel Richer, Babine
Sonia Vachon, 5150 Elm’s Way
Original Screenplay
Adoration – Atom Egoyan
Fathers and Guns – Emile Gaudreult & Ian Lauzon
Nurse.Fighter.Boy – Charles Officier & Ingrid Veninger
Polytechnique – Jacques Davidts
Victoria Day – David Bezmozgis
Adapted Screenplay
Before Tomorrow – Cousneau & Avingaq & Ivalu
50 Dead Men Walking – Kari Skogland
Pontypool – Tony Burgess
Art Direction
Before Tomorrow
50 Dead Men Walking
The Master Key
1981
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Cinematography
50 Dead Men Walking
The Master Key
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Polytechnique
Sticky Fingers
Costume Design
Before Tomorrow
Cairo Time
The Master Key
1981
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Editing
50 Dead Men Walking
5150 Elm’s Way
The Master Key
Polytechnique
3 Saisons
Make-Up
Love & Savagery
The Master Key
1981
Polytechnique
You Might as Well Live
Original Score
50 Dead Men Walking
5150 Elm’s Way
Love & Savagery
The Master Key
Polytechnique
Original Song
Before Tomorrow – Pamani
Heat Wave – Bon Swa
Nurse.Fighter.Boy – Oh Love
Sound
Before Tomorrow
5150 Elm’s Way
Love & Savagery
The Master Key
Polytechnique
Sound Editing
Babine
5150 Elm’s Way
The Master Key
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
Polytecnhique
Documentary
A Hard Name
Inside Hanna’s Suitcase
Ladies in Blue
Prom Night in Mississippi
RIP: A Remix Manifesto
Documentary Short
The Delian Mode
Passages
Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands
Live Action Short
Danse Macabre
Gilles
Land of Men
Life Begins
Princess Margaret Blvd.
Animated Short
Runaway
The Spine
Vive La Rose
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