A few days after the New York Film Critics Circlewent gaga forLady Bird, the west coast critics have weighed in with their favorites of 2017. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named the critically acclaimed romanceCall Me by Your Namethe Best Picture of the year, but spread the love for Best Director with a split betweenCall Me by Your Name’s helmerLuca GuadagninoandGuillermo del Torofor his stunning work onThe Shape of Water. Indeed, while del Toro’s fairy tale romance scored rapturous reviews on the fall film festival circuit, it’s been mostly absent from the early year-end awards, includinga shut-outfrom the National Board of Review.
The LAFCA, however, finally showeredShapewith well-deserved praise, singling outSally Hawkinsfor Best Actress while the film also won the award for Best Cinematography (Dan Laustsen) and scored runner-up notices for Score and Production Design. One of the great things about the LAFCA awards is that they reveal their runners-up in each category, so as you peruse through the winners list you can also see the other films and performers who just narrowly missed the cut.
It’ll be interesting to see howShapefares as the season continues. This coming week brings us the AFI Awards and Critics Choice nominations, and I’m really hoping the awards groups’ genre bias doesn’t sideline one of the best films of the year.
Check out the full list of Los Angeles Critics Association awards below.
Best Picture
Call Me by Your Name
Runner-up:The Florida Project
Best Director
Guillermo del Toro,The Shape of Water& Luca Guadagnino,Call Me by Your Name(TIE)
Best Screenplay
Jordan Peele,Get Out
Runner-up: Martin McDonagh,Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins,The Shape of Water
Runner-up: Frances McDormand,Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet,Call Me by Your Name
Runner-up: James Franco,The Disaster Artist
Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf,Lady Bird
Runner-up: Mary J. Blige,Mudbound
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe,The Florida Project
Runner-up: Sam Rockwell,Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Music/Score
Jonny Greenwood,Phantom Thread
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat,The Shape of Water
Best Cinematography
Dan Laustsen,The Shape of Water
Runner-up: Roger Deakins,Blade Runner 2049
Best Production Design
Dennis Gassner,Blade Runner 2049
Runner-up: Paul D. Austerberry,The Shape of Water
Best Editing
Lee Smith,Dunkirk
Runner-up: Tatiana S. Riegel,I, Tonya
Best Animation
The Breadwinner
Runner-up:Coco
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
Faces Places
Runner-up:Jane
Best Foreign Language Film
BPMandLoveless(TIE)
Doulgas Edwards Experimental Film
Purge This Land
New Generation Prize
Greta Gerwig
