wHatred happened at this year's BAFTA ceremony and provided a very exciting star moment. Mikey Madison is a crowd-packed best actress candidate (only the unhappy Carla Sofia Gascon really delayed) to win buffta with a wonderfully clever, funny, charismatic and vulnerable performance in Sean Baker's Anora It broke before the dense crowd of people who had taken it. New York table dancer getting a Vegas wedding with son of a Russian oligarch. Her final close-up scene in the film is a complicated, thrilling masterclass. I admit that I myself cheered on Marianne Jean Baptist for her performance in Mike Lee's difficult truth, but who could grue her nightly victory to Madison?
Otherwise, the big winner of the night was Edward Berger's brilliantly refined Vatican plot drama Conclave, based on Robert Harris' bestsellers. It was a level pegging in terms of numbers with brutals, but was carried the highest prize in the evening. Conclave is a film that has become a solid favorite of Buffta voters with all its blue chip excellence, and was excited by his lead performance as a troubled cardinal. They were diverted into visual prosperity, and were entertaining in the intelligent but friendly dialogue on religious issues, and were greatly enjoyed by the ending of their twist. The strict anti-spoiler rules command that the film cannot be fully argued that it is actually part of a contemporary debate that has been thoroughly analyzed elsewhere.
A brutal man can count itself as a winner who has almost stepped forward. We are delighted that Brady Corbet has won the Best Director of this mysterious and monumental drama. It is the parable of Randian, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor and architect, played by Brody. He makes his name in the postwar US courtesy of the very awful vindicticive sponsors he plays. I grew it. (And by the way, there hasn't been a bigger on-screen promotion for Ain Rand since the TV Mad Men scene when eccentric ad mogul Bert Cooper told Don Draper he should read Atlas Schlug. )
It's encouraging to see Bakhta's love go to comedy (though it had to be a comedy of serious issues) and real pain – two New York Jewish cousins going on a Poland Holocaust tour The story is a joy, earning the best original script for Jesse Eisenberg's sparkling script and the best supporting actor for Kieran Culkin's overactive, hilarious and unexpected subtle performance. It's a masterclass of intimately detailed and very entertaining drama.
There is no BAFTA in the worst PR campaign, but there is no doubt who won. Emilia Perez's old Star Gascon tweets hilariously embarrassingly confused. She has published some horribly biased ideas about Hitler, George Floyd, Islam and, indeed, Oscar diversity. Gascon – Of course, as I carefully predicted, it didn't completely destroy the overall chances of the film. A terrible trial. (And before social media, it's about pondering what Gascon said or had in mind those greasy offensive things that weren't kept forever in the Archive of Shame.)
In fact, Emilia Perez is an overkill in the middle and one of the weakest films of this year's awards season. But this is an interesting example of an interesting film that has a kind of bidirectional optical illusion, rather than a serious disagreement like the 2015 white and gold dress/blue and black dress phenomenon. Virus photos. To some, Emilia Perez looks like a raucous mess with a grotesque-like tone. For others, it is a glorious, luxurious melodrama, where so creepy is part of its rebellious energy and reach. (The same thing happened with the strange Björk tragedy of Lars von Trier and the dancers before the dark generation.)
Conversely, the most encouraging underdog victory in BAFTAS must be Kneecap's incredible success. This must be a fictional true story of an Irish language hip-hop band that won an outstanding British debut, The Heart and Soul of entry-level BAFTA. It makes the most sense in the evening, and perhaps for the winners. I wasn't completely keen on this film, but its pure energy and infectious self-esteem is fun to watch, and it's great to think that KneeCap provided the soundtrack for this year's BAFTA night is.
