{"id":9749,"date":"2019-01-21T16:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T16:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9749"},"modified":"2020-09-02T14:17:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T14:17:07","slug":"roma-the-favourite-cold-war-top-london-critics-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9749","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Roma\u2019, \u2018The Favourite\u2019, \u2018Cold War\u2019 top London critics awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 There were few surprises at the London Critics\u2019 Circle Film Awards on Sunday as Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s black-and-white Spanish drama \u2018Roma\u2019 won best picture and he was named best director while costume romp \u2018The Favourite\u2019 picked up four prizes including best British\/Irish film and Polish drama \u2018Cold War\u2019 won two including best foreign-language film.\u00a0Pedro Almod\u00f3var (pictured above with Judi Love and Tamsin Greig) accepted the annual Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was a warm and entertaining evening with an effervescent host in the form of comic Judi Love, who noted proudly that she was the first woman to be solo host of the event and the first black person. With no film axes to grind, she made the most of being a stranger in a strange land with an absence of awe, appealing self-deprecation and a willingness to not to take things too seriously.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018The Favourite\u2019 director, Yorgos Lanthimos, was on hand to collect his award as were Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, who won the screenplay award for the picture. Olivia Colman, named best actress, and Rachel Weisz (pictured above with Colman), who won as best supporting actress, both sent thanks via video. Lanthimos noted that \u201cgrowing up in Greece, I never expected to be here making a film about Queen Anne”, and with an eye to current events he said he hoped he would be able to stay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cuaron (pictured above on set with Yalitza Aparicio) sent video messages in response to his two awards in which he thanked his cast especially but also film critics for \u201cthe important role they play in bringing audiences to films that are unfamiliar\u201d. Nicol\u00e1s Celis, one of the film\u2019s producers, was there and he praised the filmmaker along with his fellow producers and said \u201cit would not have been possible without hundreds of people but especially two special actresses (best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pawel Pawlikowski was there to accept both prizes for \u2018Cold War\u2019 including the technical achievement award, which went to cinematographer Lukasz Zal in a field that included several different crafts. The British-based Polish filmmaker noted that \u201cPolish isn\u2019t such a foreign language here any more\u201d and he thanked his producers and his cast, especially best actress nominee Joanna Kulig (pictured above with co-star Tomasz Kot). He dedicated his award to the late British journalist Nick Roddick, \u201ca wonderful man who gave me my first job\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Best actor Ethan Hawke (left) was the one real surprise with his win for \u2018First Reformed\u2019. He sent his thanks by video as did veteran filmmaker Agnes Varda, whose film with French photographer JR, \u2018Faces Places\u2019, was named best documentary somewhat surprisingly over Peter Jackson’s ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’.<\/p>\n

Popular winner as best supporting actor for \u2018Can You Ever Forgive Me?\u2019 Richard E. Grant was there in fine \"\"<\/a>form: \u201cThis almost 62 year-old awards nominee virgin is very willing to be plundered by your plaudits.\u201d When he planted kisses on both of Judi Love\u2019s cheeks, she complained that he\u2019d missed a couple of cheeks and so the ever-willing Grant rushed back to the stage to oblige.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rupert Everett, who won as British\/Irish actor of the year for his Oscar Wilde film \u2018The Happy Prince\u2019, sent a video but also his friend, actress Emily Watson, who read a note from him in which he said \u201cto win this is literally incredible\u201d and he thanked his entire cast and crew as \u201cwithout them I would be dead meat\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jersey-born director Michael Pearce accepted the Philip French Award as breakthrough British\/Irish filmmaker for his crime mystery \u201cBeast\u2019. He noted that first-time feature film directors \u201cget really nervous about what the critics will say\u201d and said he was honoured to be in the company of the other nominees. His Irish star Jessie Buckley (pictured below with co-star Johnny Flynn) sent a video in which she said she was \u201cshocked, honoured, surprised and overwhelmed to be considered among the other nominees\u201d (Emily Blunt, Olivia Colman, Claire Foy and Rachel Weisz).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Molly Wright (right) accepted the award as young British\/Irish performer of the year for her role in the religious drama \u2018Apostasy\u2019 and Canadian-born Lara Zeidan accepted her award for British\/Irish short film for the London Film School multi-award winner \u2018Three Centimetres\u2019.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The climax of the evening came when Tamsin Greig presented the annual Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Filmmaking to\u00a0<\/span>Oscar- and BAFTA-winning Spanish director Pedro Almod\u00f3var (pictured with me below). The actress lamented that she had not appeared in any of his movies \u201cprobably because I don\u2019t speak Spanish\u201d but said she was proud to have appeared in the musical version of his film \u2018Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown\u2019 on the West End stage in 2010. She introduced clips from several Almod\u00f3var films from \u2018Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down\u2019 to \u2018All About My Mother\u2019, \u2018Volver\u2019 and \u2018Broken Embraces\u2019 and told the assembled critics, \u201cAt a time when Europe seems in danger of splintering, you recognise a great international filmmaker, a true champion of cinema\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking spry at 69, the filmmaker took time from post-production of \u2018Pain & Glory\u2019 starring Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas to accept the award. He recalled watching films as a youngster when he and his friends would sneak into the side of a cinema where \u201cthere was pee, jasmine and a summer breeze, that\u2019s what I remember\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He said that his love of \u201cexplosive, exaggerated colour\u201d in his films was in reaction to his discovery that his mother had worn only black for\u00a0 <\/span>30 years of her life as she was in mourning. \u201cIt\u2019s my way of giving her colour,\u201d he explained. He said he was saddened by the disappearance of movie houses especially in rural Spain but also in Madrid. \u201cI cannot conceive of my life without the cinema,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to see ourselves on a screen that is bigger than we are in mirrors and on mobile phones. The screen should be much bigger than you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2019 awards took place at London\u2019s May Fair Hotel with principal sponsor Dover Street. Here is the full list of winners:<\/p>\n

Film of the Year – Roma<\/p>\n

Foreign Language Film of the Year – Cold War<\/p>\n

Documentary of the Year – Faces Places<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Film of the Year – The Favourite<\/p>\n

Director of the Year – Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n, Roma<\/p>\n

Screenwriter of the Year – Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favourite<\/p>\n

Actress of the Year – Olivia Colman, The Favourite<\/p>\n

Actor of the Year – Ethan Hawke, First Reformed<\/p>\n

Supporting Actress of the Year – Rachel Weisz, The Favourite<\/p>\n

Supporting Actor of the Year – Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Actress of the Year – Jessie Buckley, Beast<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Actor of the Year – Rupert Everett, The Happy Prince<\/p>\n

Young British\/Irish Performer of the Year – Molly Wright, Apostasy<\/p>\n

Breakthrough British\/Irish Filmmaker of the Year – Michael Pearce, Beast<\/p>\n

Technical Achievement of the Year – Lukasz Zal (cinematography), Cold War<\/p>\n

British\/Irish Short Film of the Year – Lara Zeidan, Three Centimetres<\/p>\n

Dilys Powell Award – Pedro Almod\u00f3var<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 There were few surprises at the London Critics\u2019 Circle Film Awards on Sunday as Alfonso Cuaron\u2019s black-and-white Spanish drama \u2018Roma\u2019 won best picture and he was named best director while costume romp \u2018The Favourite\u2019 picked … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[4873,4966,4885,1887,4980,962,964],"class_list":["post-9749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-news","tag-cold-war","tag-roma","tag-the-favourite","tag-alfonso-cuaron","tag-london-film-critics-circle-awards-2019","tag-pawel-pawlikowski","tag-pedro-almodovar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9749"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10087,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions\/10087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}