Today is the first of three days' worth of the 2024 Hollmann Awards; the full list of nominees can be seen here. Six categories we'll discuss today, beginning with:
Best Supporting Actor
A dynamite lineup, if I do say so myself.
Ben Chaplin serves as the closest thing September 5 has to a conscience, sometimes, and he aces it: he's a human with all the anger and suspicion and sorrow that would come from watching these events unfold (especially as the resident Jew on staff) but he's also a journalist who must make clear-eyed, unbiased editorial decisions; the tension between these instincts is all in Chaplin's eyes. Jack Haven is the haunted heart of I Saw the TV Glow, their introductory pretentious obsession with The Pink Opaque giving way to assured knowledge, a change that is disturbing whether you believe them or not; certainly their monologue is compelling enough...and Haven knows just how to ride the line between convincing and concerning. Alessandro Nivola is only in The Brutalist for less than 1/10 of the runtime, but his impact on the film, not just the plot, is immeasurable: his bitterness and desperate ambition, conveyed subtly not long after his first dutiful embrace of Adrien Brody, sets the tone for Brody's own journey, and it's all posture, intonation (that muddy accent work is mind-blowing), too-loud laughter. Guy Pearce is the marquee supporting player of The Brutalist, not just because of name recognition but because this layered performance of a genuine eccentric, sometimes purring, sometimes hissing, always casually patrician in its velvet tones even when he's hungover or committing brutal acts, gets under the skin and follows you home after the lights have come up. Denzel Washington's having the time of his life in Gladiator II, a performance so charismatic you're rotting for him to take over the Empire, villainy so delicious you're in thrall of his every move, from the way he grabs his robes to the way he wields a severed head: it is, in other words, a movie star performance from one of the greatest we've ever produced.
The winner is:
Denzel Washington as Macrinus
Gladiator II
2. Alessandro Nivola in The Brutalist; 3. Guy Pearce in The Brutalist; 4. Jack Haven in I Saw the TV Glow; 5. Ben Chaplin in September 5
Best Adapted Screenplay
The first thing I go by is the flow of the story, the structure, whether anything makes me sit up and go, "I don't know about that" while watching, and, finally, whether something happens that makes me gasp in shock and "oh of course". Well, too, I consider the inevitable feeling, "God, I wish I could write like that." It's easier with an original screenplay because much of what you're responding to really is the work of the writer(s) involved in the screenwriting process; more difficult here because now one also has to consider that these writers are interpreting and re-structuring someone else's work, so there's another thing I have to consider: whether I have to say, "I bet that makes more sense/feels more full in the book."
So we have these five nominees. Conclave is a drama paced like a thriller in its final form, yes, but the writing itself is more straightforward: still, the elements are: sharp dialogue, character beats that are unsaid but fully considered, opportunity for the director/editor/performers to interpret and adjust. Nosferatu is one of many adaptations of the classic Dracula novel but even on paper, it underlines both the pervasive lust and rotting horror of the titular vampire - and, I'm happy to say, is just as grimly hysterical in tone and humor as the final film. Queer comes at the gay scene with the knowledge of an insider, even as it comes from the POV of someone on the sidelines, endowing its side characters with full lives and friendships through their smirks and flitting in and out of the main story, a remarkable study of loneliness. Soundtrack to a Coup d'État incorporates multiple published texts in addition to the footnoted journalistic and official records to contextualize Cold War history not just in its moment but in ours, too, documenting a history of imperial conspiracy whose tentacles encompass the United Nations, American jazz, and various world governments; and while it may not be a classic screenplay qua screenplay, they still had to have a plan in putting it all together. The Wild Robot is an imaginative work that calls to mind...well, any amount of films about nature and technology, but the adoptive parent element is new and wonderfully developed, as is the ensemble of critters, as is the world-building that takes place organically and with minimal yet clear exposition.
The winner is:
Soundtrack to a Coup d'État
Johan Grimonprez with Daan Milius
partially adapting My Country, Africa by Andrée Blouin, Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofane, To Katanga and Back by Conor Cruise O'Brien, and the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev
2. Conclave; 3. The Wild Robot; 4. Nosferatu; 5. Queer
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
I Saw the TV Glow uses makeup most creatively in its The Pink Opaque sequences, recreating 90s childhood nightmares with their Ice Cream Man and Mr. Melancholy's twin henchmen Marco and Polo; but Maddy's hair is a whole story, too, changing as she ages and becomes more "aware" of who should be. Lisa Frankenstein takes Cole Sprouse from a rotting corpse to a less-rotting corpse while keeping him weirdly desirable throughout, yes, but its big coup is in recreating the 1989 makeup and hair of its goth titular teen, her beauty queen stepsister, and her perfectly perfect stepmother. Nosferatu has the wonderful period hair and mustaches for its ensemble of males, even down to the "loopy professor" look for Willem Dafoe, even down to the "I'm INSANE" unkemptness of Simon McBurney, but its highlight is, of course, the unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok: bald, pale, emaciated, too long are the fingers, full of sores and rot, and, well, the blood. She is Conann has a lot of fun with its stylized depictions of barbarian queens, fascistic pristineness, winged seraphs, and, especially, the hellhound Rainer. The Substance does a great job depicting beauty across the years, how it's styled by Hollywood, the decay of aging exacerbated by hard living, and, finally, Monstro Elisasue - and the blood geysers ain't bad, either.
The winner is:
Nosferatu
Sacha Carter, special makeup effects supervisor
Traci Loader, makeup designer
Suzanne Stokes-Munton, hair designer
David White, prosthetic makeup effects designer
2. I Saw the TV Glow; 3. The Substance; 4. She is Conann; 5. Lisa Frankenstein
Best Cinematography
We rank them from fifth to first:
5. In a Violent Nature
Pierce Derks
4. I Saw the TV Glow
Eric Yue
3. She is Conann
Nicolas Eveilleau
2. Nosferatu
Jarin Blaschke
1. The Brutalist
Lol Crawley
Best Ensemble
You have to believe everyone for a movie to work. One weak link won’t always ruin a movie, but it’s always that uneasy feeling in the back of your head when you praise a film effusively: “Do I warn them about that one actor…?”
These nominated films don’t have that problem. You believe the men in Conclave have decades of personal history, be it friendship or enmity, and that they believe they have been called by something more than mere ambition. You believe in the family at the core of Hard Truths, as disparate as the two sides may be, because they look at, move around, and react to each other with the familiarity and frustrations families have. You believe, surprisingly, in every monster, victim, savior, madman, and Transylvanian peasant in Nosferatu, they make the fantasy true, the nightmare real. You believe the journalists of September 5 have their varying lengths of experience, their individual expertise, their own human weaknesses, and how they all help and abet one another. And you believe the men of Sing Sing, you're genuinely not sure, besides Colman Domingo, who's "playing" a convict and who's playing a version of themselves until the credits roll - by which time, you appreciate that they are all actors.
The winner is:
Conclave
casting by Nina Gold / Martin Ware
2. Sing Sing; 3. Hard Truths; 4. Nosferatu; 5. September 5
Best Costume Design
Much of the class system in Gladiator II is tracked through the costumes, from the simple earth colors of the armor and padding of the soldiers and gladiators to the violet and gold finery, the pristine whiteness of the emperors' and Denzel's robes. I'm in love with all the design choices in Lisa Frankenstein, from Lisa's Deetz-ian black lace wardrobe to her stepmother's late-80s athleisurewear to even the simplicity of the objects of Lisa's affections: leather-jacketed Michael Trent and the broodingly cravated Creature. Nosferatu may be more committed to actual period detail than some of its predecessors, but one cannot help be enchanted by Orlok's moth-eaten nobleman robes, Ellen's florals, Eberhart's layers, and Friedrich's pants. It doesn't matter when The Substance takes place, it's a Hollywood tale out of time, as evidenced by its costumes: Elisabeth's athletic wear shows her physique but is still daytime appropriate; Sue's form-fitting pink spandex is almost too hot for TV; Harvey's tacky, gaudy suits are confident and ugly, just like him.
The winner is:
Nosferatu
Linda Muir
2. The Substance; 3. She is Conann; 4. Lisa Frankenstein; 5. Gladiator II
Tomorrow, six more categories, including Best Director and Best Original Song.
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