SIX FOR FIVE AT NORTH CAROLINA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD NOMINATIONS

You know how it goes - actually, no, you probably don't. The SOS Critics' Tally relies upon its (unwittingly) participating groups practising discrimination at no point in their awards-giving process in order to qualify for that particular part of our process. And so, the North Carolina Film Critics Association's Best Narrative Film category doesn't quite cut it as a Best Picture category, due to the apparent disqualification of documentaries. Now you know how it goes, yes? Anyway, that appears to be their top award, and all five of its competitors receive six mentions from the NCFCA in the nominations for their 2016 awards. Also doing well, though absent from that category, are The Handmaiden, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Love & Friendship - all highly deserving. Winners will be announced when I hear about them, k?

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

David MacKenzie (Hell or High Water)

Park Chan Wook (The Handmaiden)

Best Actress

Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship)
Annette Bening (20th Century Women)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Joel Edgerton (Loving)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Greta Gerwig (20th Century Women)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Ben Foster (Hell or High Water)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)

Sam Neill (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Best Original Screenplay

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Mike Mills (20th Century Women)

Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

Jeong Seo Kyeong and Park Chan Wook (The Handmaiden)

Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)

Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Best Cinematography

Chung Chung Hoon (The Handmaiden)

James Laxton (Moonlight)

Giles Nuttgens (Hell or High Water)

Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

Bradford Young (Arrival)

Best Special Effects

Arrival

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange

The Jungle Book

Rogue One

Best Narrative Film

Arrival

Hell or High Water

La La Land

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Best Animated Film

Finding Dory

Kubo and the Two Strings

Moana

Sausage Party

Zootopia

Best Documentary Film

13th

I Am Not Your Negro

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made in America

Weiner

Best Foreign Language Film

Elle

The Handmaiden

A Man Called Ove

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Ken Hanke Memorial Tar Heel Award

Anthony Mackie

Jeff Nichols

Starving the Beast

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2016 LONDON CRITICS CIRCLE FILM AWARDS

The London Critics Circle is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious critics groups, and today they've announced their film nominations for 2016. Love & Friendship and Moonlight boast the most nominations each, with seven and eight respectively. Winners will be announced on the 22nd of January at a ceremony in the British capital.

Film of the Year

American Honey

Fire at Sea

I, Daniel Blake

La La Land

Love & Friendship

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Nocturnal Animals

Son of Saul

Toni Erdmann

Director of the Year

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Nemes Laszlo (Son of Saul)

Actress of the Year

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship)

Sandra Huller (Toni Erdmann)

Isabelle Huppert (Things to Come)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Actor of the Year

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Adam Driver (Paterson)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals)

Peter Simonischek (Toni Erdmann)

Supporting Actress of the Year

Viola Davis (Fences)

Greta Gerwig (20th Century Women)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Riley Keough (American Honey)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Supporting Actor of the Year

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Tom Bennett (Love & Friendship)

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Shia LaBeouf (American Honey)

Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Screenwriter of the Year

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)

Technical Achievement of the Year

Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival) - sound design

Sturla Brandth Grovlen (Victoria) - cinematography

John Carney and Gary Clark (Sing Street) - music

Justin Hurwitz (La La Land) - music

Mica Levi (Jackie) - music

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight) - editing

Gary Powell (Jason Bourne) - stunts

Robbie Ryan (American Honey) - cinematography

Neal Scanlan (Rogue One) - visual effects

Mark Tildesley (High-Rise) - production design

Documentary of the Year

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

Cameraperson

The Eagle Huntress

Fire at Sea

Life, Animated

Foreign-Language Film of the Year

Fire at Sea

Son of Saul

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Victoria

British / Irish Film of the Year

American Honey

High-Rise

I, Daniel Blake

Love & Friendship

Sing Street

British / Irish Actress of the Year

Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship)

Rebecca Hall (Christine)

Naomie Harris (Collateral Beauty / Moonlight / Our Kind of Traitor)

Ruth Negga (Iona / Loving)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

British / Irish Actor of the Year

Tom Bennett (Life on the Road / Love & Friendship)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge / Silence)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

David Oyelowo (Queen of Katwe / A United Kingdom)

Breakthrough British / Irish Filmmaker of the Year

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Mike Carey (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Guy Hibbert (Eye in the Sky / A United Kingdom)

Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

Young British / Irish Performer of the Year

Ruby Barnhill (The BFG)

Lewis MacDougall (A Monster Calls)

Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch)

Ferdia Walsh-Peelio (Sing Street)

British / Irish Short Film of the Year

Isabella (Duncan Cowles and Ross Hogg)

Jacked (Rene Pannevis)

Sweet Maddie Stone (Brady Hood)

Tamara (Sofia Safonova)

Terminal (Natasha Waugh)

REVIEW - LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (WHIT STILLMAN)

A Summer in England, with Jane Austen for company. The stuff of sad Sunday afternoons is granted a renewal in Whit Stillman's lightly barbed adaptation of Lady Susan, Love & Friendship. It's a brisk, witty comedy whose humour works so well because it is so refreshing - rarely (if ever) exploited to this extent in an Austen dramatisation, and equally rarely delivered in this form in the 21st Century. Entirely inoffensive with broad-ranging appeal, it's thus a wonder that Love & Friendship is remarkable at all, though such is the charm of Stillman's film - one never queries the director's intentions nor his methods, never doubts the surety of his hand nor the success of its work, since the whole project has been crafted out of that most elusive, temperamental of qualities: quality itself. It's rather a treat to watch a film so comfortable in its style and tone, yet neither complacent nor excessively conventional. Indeed, the viewer may become so comfortable themselves with the many obvious positive attributes of Love & Friendship as to seek out alternative sources of satisfaction herein: strange how something as simple as two ladies ascending a staircase in tandem can be such a transfixing sight, but that is the integrity of Stillman's conceit. Alas, though the knotty verbosity of the script may result in one classic exchange of dialogue after another, so too does it result in a few bouts of narrative obfuscation; of little consequence, perhaps, but a genuine identifiable crease in the film's fabric. Furthermore, the stylistic value of Stillman's films remains as negligible as ever, even with expectations and obligations as low as they stand. But enough of judging a film for what it is not - what Love & Friendship is is a joyous film, delightfully written, perfectly performed, and willfully devoured!

TRAILER #1 FOR WHIT STILLMAN'S LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

After an excellent response from critics and audiences both at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Roadside Attractions are pursuing a confident release strategy in the US for Love & Friendship, booking it in for a lucrative limited opening on the 13th of May. It's prime film-going season, even for arthouse product, and could result in the kind of performance that sees Whit Stillman's Jane Austen adaptation develop a solid reputation come awards season later in the year. A UK release is scheduled for shortly after, on the 27th of May, and an Irish release on the 2nd of September.