A Constant Visual Feast

2017 is the year we all got out, so I’m not surprised, or disappointed, to see Jordan Peele’s astonishing horror film Get Out win top marks among my peers in the Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA). Our annual awards rumpus usually spreads the love out among a number of contenders, rather than dumping it all on one (see: 2015, where Mad Max: Fury Road dominated all), and 2017 isn’t much different: Some praise for Call Me By Your Name here, some for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri there, some for Dunkirk, and so on. Phantom Thread and Get Out are the two repeat winners in this year’s celebration, as they should be.

Why “as they should be”? Well: a) I gave both films high marks when I reviewed them, and b) just look at my individual ballot below. You’ll figure it out*.

BEST PICTURE

1 – Phantom Thread (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

2 – Get Out (dir. Jordan Peele)

3 – The Shape of Water (dir. Guillermo del Toro)

4 – My Happy Family (dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Groß)

5 – The Florida Project (dir. Sean Baker)

6 – Faces Places (dir. Agnès Varda & JR)

7 – First They Killed My Father (dir. Angelina Jolie)

8 – Marjorie Prime (dir. Michael Almereyda)

9 – The Breadwinner (dir. Nora Twomey)

10 – Columbus (dir. Kogonada)

BEST DIRECTOR

1 – Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread

2 – Angelina Jolie, First They Killed My Father

3 – Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

BEST ACTOR

1 – Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

2 – Adam Sandler, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

3 – Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

BEST ACTRESS

1 – Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

2 – Haley Lu Richardson, Columbus

3 – Diane Kruger, In the Fade

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1 – Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

2 – Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

3 – Michael Stuhlbarg, Call Me By Your Name

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1 – Betty Gabriel, Get Out

2 – Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

3 – Rebecca Hall – Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

BEST ENSEMBLE

1 – Get Out

2 – The Shape of Water

3 – Marjorie Prime

BEST SCREENPLAY

1 – Jordan Peele, Get Out

2 – Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread

3 – Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch, The Florida Project

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE

1 – My Happy Family (dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Groß)

2 – In the Fade (dir. Fatih Akin)

3 – First They Killed My Father (dir. Angelina Jolie)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1 – Faces Places (dir. Agnès Varda & JR)

2 – Human Flow (dir. Ai Weiwei)

3 – Karl Marx City (dir. Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker)

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

1 – The Breadwinner (dir. Nora Twomey)

2 – The Girl Without Hands (dir. Sébastien Laudenbach)

3- Coco (dir. Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1 – Elisha Christian, Columbus

2 – Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water

3 – Philippe Le Sourd, The Beguiled

BEST EDITING

1 – Lee Smith, Dunkirk

2 – Ben Safdie & Ronald Bronstein, Good Time

3 – David Lowery, A Ghost Story

BEST SCORE

1 – Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread

2 – Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water

3 – Oneohtrix Point Never, Good Time

*Acknowledging that my top ten as presented may not be the top ten reflected in my final list at month’s end, which will also include honorable mentions.