In Hollywood, awards season is in full swing. One ceremony chases the other. But the charts are starting to stabilize and look the same. On Sunday, the Critics Choice Awards were held in Los Angeles, bringing together 600 members of America's largest film critics' organizations. Voters, like their Golden Globes counterparts (and former rivals), lined up behind Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan's biopic of the father of the atomic bomb continued its international awards haul on Sunday by winning eight awards at the Critics Choice Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., in addition to Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects and Cast. In collecting his award, Christopher Nolan thanked the critics for "helping to convince the general public that a film about quantum physics and the apocalypse could be worth watching."
Duels of actors in sight
Paul Giamatti emerged as Cillian Murphy's rival. MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS
The only statuette of choice that escaped Oppenheimer? Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, the Irish actor had to bow out to Paul Giamatti, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Actor for his performance as a grumpy and elitist teacher in Alexander Payne's Winter Break. This augurs well for a very close duel at the Oscars and the actors' union awards.
The same scenario was repeated among the actresses between Emma Stone, who won the Golden Globes for comedy for Poor Creatures, and Lily Gladstone, who won the award for Killers Of The Flower Moon. The head-to-head turned in favor of Emma Stone. That doesn't leave much room for Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) and Carey Mulligan (Maestro) to break through.
Emma Stone was named Best Actress ahead of Lily Gladstone and Margot Robbie. MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS
But Justine Triet's Palme d'Or did not leave empty-handed. The film won the award for Best Foreign Language Film. This trophy joins the one awarded the day before in the same category by the Los Angeles Critics' Circle. This shower of awards continues to increase the pressure on the members of the CNC selection committee who preferred to send to the Oscars to represent FranceDodin Bouffant's passion. All they have to do is pray hard that the culinary fresco, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel, will be nominated for an Oscar on January 23. Anatomy of a Fall can hope to shine in the overall categories where nominations seem to be taken for granted in the Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay sections. The latter is the category that appears to be the most winnable, although you will have to be wary of Winter Break. Her revelation Da'Vine Joy Randolph is consistently a winner in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Barbie Lagging Behind
The commercial phenomenon Barbie walked away with the awards for Best Comedy, Best Original Screenplay, Best Song and Best Production Design, Costumes, Hair and Makeup. But just like at the Golden Globes, Barbie is trailing behind Oppenheimer. The movie about the Mattel doll doesn't manage to sneak into the queen sections even though it does well in the technical categories. Despite a critical acclaim, Bradley Cooper's Maestro and Past Lives – Our Lives Before continue to be the unfortunate and recurring losers of this awards season. Soup with the same grimace for Scorsese's American epic Killers Of The Flower Moon.
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie accept the trophy for Best Comedy awarded to Barbie. MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS
On the animation side, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse won the day. In television, the Golden Globes' trifecta of Succession, The Bear and Relentless was also repeated.
With the Critics Choice Awards, the first phase of the awards season comes to a close. The one dominated by the American associations of film and series critics. It is now the talents of the seventh art who are taking the lead and will perhaps make a different sound of the bell heard. The actors', producers' and directors' guilds have already announced their nominations. The Oscars will follow on Tuesday 23rd. The winners of the unions, many of whose members vote at the Oscars, will be closely followed as they announce two times out of three the lucky winner who will walk away with an Oscar, the 2024 edition of which will take place on March 10.