I’m a little behind on getting my 2020 THE REAL CONTENDER AWARDS out to the public but 2020 was an odd and off beat year since most major releases were held back and instead I focused a lot of my attention to indie films. For those of you not in the know, The Real Contender Awards is something I came up with a few years back to give voice to films from all genres which normally would go unnoticed by the “normal” award shows. The other caveat is that the films all had to have been released in the year of the awards whether theatrical, streaming, or straight to video. I’ve always hated that most awards shows period of eligibility stretched between two years.
And usually I use the month of January to view all the films
that I had missed from the previous year (another reason why it took me until
now to get out my 2020 list. So,
throughout the year I keep track of some of the best films and performances and
technical production in order to come up with my exhaustive list of
Nominees. Now, unfortunately, if I didn’t
see the film, it won’t be included on this list so don’t think I didn’t think
it wasn’t a good film; on the contrary, I probably just hadn’t seen it yet.
I hope that in the end this list has you seeking out some of
the films that you may have missed and I hope it sheds some like on some of the
great films that were released in 2020!
BEST MAKEUP EFFECTS:
*FREAKY
*MANK
*GRETEL AND HANSEL
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
*HILLBILLY ELEGY
*HIS HOUSE
Winner: GRETEL AND
HANSEL – I loved the work on display in HIS HOUSE and MANK but Alice Krige
disappears in that makeup and not just that, but the look of everyone else in
the film adds tremendously to the overall ambience of the film.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
*THE INVISIBLE MAN
*TENET
*MONSTER HUNTER
*HIS HOUSE
*SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA
Winner: TENET –
this one was a close one as I loved what was on display in HIS HOUS and SONIC
THE HEDGEHOG and THE INVISIBLE MAN was a lot of what you “don’t” see. TENET was a visual tour de force of splendor! This and the fact that the visual FX aid in
the story of the film easily put this film ahead of all the rest.
BEST PRODUCTION
DESIGN:
*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE
HARLEY QUINN
*MANK
*TENET
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Winner: BIRDS OF
PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – this was a
visual masterpiece of creative energy from one set to the next. It took you into a highly stylized universe
and never let you go.
BEST ART DIRECTION:
*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE
HARLEY QUINN
*THE INVISIBLE MAN
*GRETEL AND HANSEL
*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA
*HUNTED
*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Winner: MA RAINEY’S
BLACK BOTTOM – another close one as all the films on this list deserve to
be winners. This film does so much with
roughly only two main locations and every is a visual art piece with detail and
authenticity.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
*MANK
*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE
HARLEY QUINN
*MA RAINE’YS BLACK BOTTOM
Winner – MANK – this
authentic era costume design put you right into Old Hollywood and reminded you
of why it was such an amazing time for cinema.
This includes the film-within-a-film elements as well. It was as if it was actually filmed in that
era. Costumes are used to help tell the
story and it doesn’t get better than in this film.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
*MANK
*EXTRACTION
*THE INVISIBLE MAN
*HUNTED
*TENET
*HIS HOUSE
Winner: TENET –
this was a cinematography tour de force!
Enough said!
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
*MANK, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
*UNDERWATER, Marco Beltrami & Brandon Roberts
*HILLBILLY ELEGY, Hans Zimmer & David Fleming
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Daniel Pemberton
*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Benjamin Wallfisch
*TENET, Ludwig Goransson
*HIS HOUSE, Roque Banos
*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Branford Marsalis
Winner: MA RAINEY’S
BLACK BOTTOM – this was the closest race which is why there are so many
nominations!?! It was hard to choose
between Marsalis, Reznor, Zimmer, and Goransson but in the end Marsalis edged
them all out as music also played a tremendous role in the story of the film
itself. This is the closest year yet for
this category while I also wanted to note that I was pleasantly surprised by
Beltrami & Roberts and Banos, whose work I’m not as familiar with but I
will seek out more!
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
*A CREEPSHOW ANIMATED SPECIAL
*SCOOB!
*THE WOLF HOUSE
*OVER THE MOON
Winner – SCOOB! –
this was the hardest category to put together because frankly it was a year of
so few animated films that I was even interested in. CREEPSHOW was more a motion comic than an
actual animated film while THE WOLF HOUSE was to experimental for its own good. I enjoyed OVER THE MOON but thought SCOOB!,
which I had no hopes for was actually a really well done take on an old cast of
characters.
BEST ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY:
*MANK, Jack Fincher
*32 MALASANA STREET, Ramon Campos & Gema R. Neira and
David Orea & Salvador S. Molina
*TENET, Christopher Nolan
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Aaron Sorkin
*FREAKY, Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon
*HUNTED, Vincent Paronnaud
Winner: MANK –
this was a wonderfully nuanced and engaging screenplay with a huge cast of
characters that all come together. I
thought TENET was also excellent but probably too cerebral for its own good
while HUNTED was probably too simple yet metaphorical and relied on visuals
maybe too much.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
*BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE
HARLEY QUINN, Christina Hodson
*HILLBILLY ELEGY, Vanessa Taylor
*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Leigh Whannell
*HIS HOUSE, Remi Weekes
*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Winner: HIS HOUSE
– this was such a creative haunted house/person film that had a strong
screenplay in addition to the performances and direction. The screenplay is great but it is definitely
the perfect example of a screenplay being a “blueprint” for an amazing film.
BEST NON-FICTION FILM:
*ATHLETE A
*CRIP CAMP
*SCREAM, QUEEN: MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
*KISS THE GROUND
*MURDER TO MERCY: THE CYNTOIA BROWN STORY
*THE SOCIAL DILEMMA
Winner: ATHELETE A –
all the films nominated here are amazing and topical and be required viewing as
they all present socially relevant topics.
Although I absolutely loved THE SOCIAL DILEMMA and KISS THE GROUND, I
felt ATHLETE A edged them out…by just a little.
2020 was an amazing year for non-fiction films as these are just a
handful of the films that I watched that could have also been included on this
list.
BEST FOREIGN FEATURE
FILM:
*TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA
*#ALIVE
*LA LLORONA
*HUNTED
*HIS HOUSE
Winner – HIS HOUSE
– this was a close one between HIS HOUSE and LA LLORONA which both presented
new takes on well-treaded material to amazing effect. HIS HOUSE edged out LA LLORONA due to the
visuals, cinematography, and amazing performances but both are still excellent films.
BEST SUPPORTING MALE ACTOR:
*Chiwetel Ejiofor, THE OLD GUARD
*Lamorne Morris, BLOODSHOT
*Robert Pattinson, TENET
*Charles Dance, MANK
*Sacha Baron Cohen, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Winner: Sacha Baron
Cohen, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Cohen steals every scene he’s in and then
some while giving a very nuanced and complex performance. He easily eclipsed everyone else in this
category despite all nominees being fine actors in their own films.
BEST SUPPORTING
FEMALE ACTOR:
*Alice Krige, GRETEL AND HANSEL
*Amanda Seyfried, MANK
*Glen Close, HILLBILLY ELEGY
Winner: Alice Krige,
GRETEL AND HANSEL – Krige gives another amazing performance and practically
disappears into the role! She’s in great
company this year with Close and Seyfried.
It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to include more names in this category
but there were just so many more nominees as Best Actress this year!
BEST MALE ACTOR:
*John David Washington, TENET
*Gary Oldman, MANK
*Vince Vaughn, FREAKY
*Dong-Won Gang, TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS PENINSULA
*Sope Dirisu, HIS HOUSE
*Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Winner: Sope Dirisu,
HIS HOUSE – Dirisi gives an underrated performance in HIS HOUSE which the
entire film hinges on. He’s in great
company with Boseman and Oldman and everyone else but this film is all about
the characters and their trials and tribulations that guide them.
BEST FEMALE ACTOR:
*Lucie DeBay, HUNTED
*Elizabeth Moss, THE INVISBLE MAN
*Begona Vargas, 32 MALASANA STREET
*Sarah Bolger, A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND
*Wunmi Mosaku, HIS HOUSE
*Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Winner: Elizabeth
Moss, THE INVISBLE MAN – Moss gives the most nuanced performance of her
career in this film which is also topical as well as being an excellent sci-fi
film. The same can be said of DeBay,
Vargas, and Mosaku, while Davis gives yet another amazing performance. This was a tough category this year as any
one of these women could have won this award for their performance.
BEST DIRECTION OF FEATURE FILM:
*TENET, Christopher Nolan
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, Aaron Sorkin
*THE INVISIBLE MAN, Leigh Whannell
*MANK, David Fincher
*HIS HOUSE, Remi Weekes
*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, George C. Wolfe
Winner: Christopher
Nolan, TENET – this was just an amazing tour de force of cinema in every
regards but especially in how Nolan was able to craft such a visually stunning
film with all the performances and technical difficulties. This is not a film that will be easily
forgotten.
BEST FEATURE FILM:
*TENET
*TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
*THE INVISIBLE MAN
*MANK
*MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
*HIS HOUSE
Winner: TENET –
but MANK was a very close second and HIS HOUSE came in third. This was a very hard category as each of the
nominees brought something different to audiences while also showcasing some
great cinematic achievements.
There you have it! The 2020 The Real Contender Awards are now over! I’m really looking forward to seeing the films I missed for 2020 that couldn’t have been nominated such as The Eight Hundred, Palm Springs, Possessor, The Photograph, News of the World, The Lodge, Promising Young Woman, and Les Miserables, to name a few.
Please feel free to let me know your own thoughts!
No comments:
Post a Comment