The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - PICTURE

by

Julien Faddoul

5. The Death of Stalin

For the year’s most superbly sustained satire; one that succinctly conveys inhumanity with wit. It renounces certain historical-movie conventions, choosing not to adopt any kind of restorative interpretation of the material (most of the cast all use their native accents, no matter how diverse) and intertwines comedy and horror with such audacity that it risks total alienation.

4. Widows

For the year’s greatest prestige Hollywood drama. By far, really. Both the sociopolitical commentary and the character-drama are consistently engrossing. The concerns are grim but the outlook is hopeful and astute, and the cast is an absolute dream.

3. Life and Nothing More

For an exquisite, penetrating, superbly acted slice of kitchen-sink sadness on America’s social sickness, assembled with remarkable simplicity. The kind of art that should vehemently be championed.

2. First Reformed

For a striking work of strange existential beauty. One of the most searing films about faith ever made and one asks important and saddening questions without relying on one-dimensional nihilism.

1. If Beale Street Could Talk

For as close to an exemplary adaptation of Baldwin as one could hope for. In its depiction of swooning first love, its socio-political outrage, its illustration of the philosophies of solitude and solidarity, its extraordinary use of camera movement, sound design, editing and performance: it is superb work from all involved.

My Top Ten

6. Support the Girls

7. Private Life

8. Cold War

9. Incredibles 2

10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical)

Bodied

Isle of Dogs

A Quiet Place

The Rider

Films I'm Sad to Have Missed

All Square

American Animals

Araby

Assassination Nation

Barbara

Beirut

Bisbee ’17

Blaze

Border

Claire's Camera

Come Sunday

The Children Act

Crime + Punishment

The Day After

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?

Dim the Fluorescents

Disobedience

Dumplin'

El Mar La Mar

Galveston

Gemini

The Great Buster

The Green Fog

Hal

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hannah

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Infinite Football

Ismael's Ghosts

Jane Fonda in Five Acts

The King

Let the Corpses Tan

Let the Sunshine In

The Little Stranger

The Long Dumb Road

Love, Gilda

Measure of a Man

Mom and Dad

Monrovia, Indiana

Night Comes On

1985

Outside In

Please Stand By

PROTOTYPE

Shoah: Four Sisters

Skate Kitchen

Song of Back and Neck

This Is Our Land

The Third Murder

Tyrel

Unsane

Watergate

Werewolf

Who We Are Now

Films I'm REALLY Sad to Have Missed

A Bread Factory (I & II)

24 Frames

SPECIAL CITATIONS:

The Most Overrated Film of the Year: A Star is Born

The Most Underrated Film of the Year: Bodied

The Most Pleasant Surprise of the Year: Stan & Ollie

The Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Ralph Breaks the Internet

The Film That Drove Me the Most Crazy This Year: Black Panther

The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - DIRECTOR

by

Julien Faddoul

5. Support the Girls – Andrew Bujalski

For his deftest film to date. His salty handling of the characters and his detailed sense of editing/pacing has never been more impactful.

4. Widows – Steve McQueen

For, in accepting his pulpy instincts, making his best film to date. Although he’s utilizing all the familiar elements, it is no surprise that McQueen’s interpretation of a twisty (however ludicrous) heist film would be this acidic.

3. Life and Nothing More – Antonio Méndez Esparza

For managing every beat with astonishing calmness. The working class American and particularly Black American lives, expressions, collisions, and contexts as seen by both insiders and outsiders to such communities are in perfect sync.

2. First Reformed – Paul Schrader

As soulful a compendium of Schrader’s oeuvre, sensibilities and influences (chiefly Bergman and Bresson here, but also Dreyer, Tarkovsky, Chekhov and his own collaborations with Scorsese) as one would both hope for and expect. His usual lack of ostentatiousness, affected though it is, crystallises into something politically and philosophically shattering.

1. If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins

For his humanity, intertwining the love of cinema with the love of lovers with riveting specificity. His heartrending compositions (a mix of Almodovar, Wong Kar-Wai and Jonathan Demme) are in lyrical-mode, beckoning you to look closer.

Runner Up: Cold War – Pawel Pawlikowski

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The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - ACTOR

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Julien Faddoul

5. The Guilty – Jakob Cedergren

For deftly ricocheting from irritable entitlement to pure kindness and empathy. He commands the screen, which is super lucky for everyone else involved.

4. The Sisters Brothers – John C. Reilly

For a soulful portrayal of a simple man who exploits situations and uncovers his personal identity. He continues to be one of the most reliable and frustratingly underappreciated character actors working today.

3. The Death of Stalin – Steve Buscemi

For a perfect balance of tyrannical urgency and bumbling neurosis. He anchors the whole thing with his dyspeptic charm in the way only Buscemi can.

2. The Death of Stalin – Simon Russell Beale

For pulling off an incredibly tricky tonal tightrope. He is hilarious yet the repulsiveness of Lavrentiy Beria is unshakeable. A marvel.

1. First Reformed – Ethan Hawke

For a truly brilliant work of martyrdom, as what is probably the most wearily jaded of Schrader’s emotionally debilitated men. He makes it all seem effortless.

Runner Up: Private Life – Paul Giamatti

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The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - ACTRESS

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Julien Faddoul

5. Widows – Viola Davis

For playing every note in the book and never falling out of tune. There’s no need to belabour this at this point, but few actors can command the screen with such assimilation.

4. Support the Girls – Regina Hall

For taking on a role that in her hands would feasibly be bitterly funny, and turning it into something closer to a Dardenne’s heroine. Never condescending to her environment, you feel the love she has for her girls.

3. A Private War – Rosamund Pike

For the year’s most underrated performance, and magnificent it truly is. As a woman whose fearlessness is the kind everyday people take for granted, her own fearlessness on camera is almost as inspirational.

2. Life and Nothing More – Regina Williams

For being utterly absorbing in how she embodies the contradictions of what it means to be a human being. The fact that she’s a non-professional and that her performance is largely improvised makes it all the more mind-boggling.

1. Hereditary – Toni Collette

For the year’s single greatest performance from anyone. Raw, persistently astonishing, she’s almost primordial in her emotive array and thematic clutch. It is acting mastery, and one all students of the artform should observe closely. There really are just too many moments of brilliance to list here. But I do wish the film itself was at her level.

Runner Up: Private Life – Kathryn Hahn

This was an embarrassingly difficult year for BEST ACTRESS, with riches galore to choose from. I’m sorry, but I have to list some others that could easily have made the top five:

Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Melissa McCarthy

Cold War – Joanna Kulig

Eighth Grade – Elsie Fisher

The Favourite – Olivia Coleman

The Favourite – Rachel Weisz

Leave No Trace – Thomasin McKenzie

A Quiet Place – Emily Blunt

Sadie – Sophia Mitri Schloss

A Simple Favor – Anna Kendrick

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The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - SUPPORTING ACTRESS

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Julien Faddoul

5. A Quiet Place – Millicent Simmonds

As I stated when I honoured her here for her performance last year, her guilelessness is something to behold. In spite of her disabilities, she's an absolute natural.

4. Shoplifters – Sakura Ando

For her intrinsic impulses in every scene. She’s one of Japan’s most imaginative actresses.

3. First Man – Claire Foy

For buttressing this man's journey with maternal warmth, poise and intelligence.

2. If Beale Street Could Talk – Regina King

For illustrating such gravitas and compassion, perfectly embodying Sharon Rivers the way Baldwin wrote her.

1. Hereditary – Ann Dowd

For providing the charisma that the film desperately needed and for doing it with a kind of savage grace. An intricate balancing act.

Runner Up: Outlaw King – Florence Pugh

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The 2018 Cinema Touch Awards - SUPPORTING ACTOR

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Julien Faddoul

5. The Favourite – Nicholas Hoult

For being as deliciously and theatrically sour as he can, and providing the film with the wit it sorely needs.

4. The Death of Stalin – Jason Isaacs

For injecting the film with a riotous shot of Yorkshire enzyme. It’s truly perplexing that he doesn’t do comedy more often.

3. The Death of Stalin – Jeffrey Tambor

For being the secret weapon in every ensemble he’s a part of. The more serious he is, the funnier he is.

2. If Beale Street Could Talk – Colman Domingo

For his determination and intelligence above the call of duty. That monologue in the bar is as subtly captivating as any scene this year.

1. Paddington 2 – Hugh Grant

For the greatest foppish turn in years. There’s something to be said for being loose and relaxed as a performer; it radiates through the screen and is joyous to watch. Magnificent.

Runner Up: A Private War – Tom Hollander

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