Cory's Reads #20: Announcing the Winners at The First Annual Speccies
Some landslides and some upsets. PLUS: my thoughts on this year's Oscars.
A lot has changed since I first unveiled the nominees for this year’s Speccies just over a month ago.
CODA has gained plenty of awards season momentum, taking home the grand prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and seeing actor Troy Kotsur rake in win after win at various prestigious awards ceremonies worldwide.
King Richard star Will Smith has continued his victory tour on the awards circuit, cashing in on an impressive performance as the father to Venus and Serena.
And Power of the Dog has established its own sort of victory tour, nabbing numerous trophies for its director Jane Campion, as well as various members of its cast.
And yet, these developments have only a little to do with our announcements here at the Speccies. Several of these awards season mainstays didn’t even make the cut for nominations! I enjoyed Smith in King Richard, for example, but I was much more excited to see Simon Rex receive some recognition for his work in Red Rocket at the Gotham Independent Spirit Awards.
But part of awards season (perhaps all of awards season) is the complaining. And so let’s give ourselves some more reasons to complain. Without further ado, I present to you the winners of this year’s Speccies…
Best Supporting Actor
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
Jon Bernthal (King Richard)
Troy Kotsur (CODA)
Jamie Dornan (Belfast)
Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch)
And the Speccy goes to…Jeffrey Wright!
Tonight’s ceremony starts off with a bang, as this category actually ended in a tie. I therefore owe an apology to Kodi Smit-McPhee, but I figured he’s received enough attention on the real-life awards circuit. It seems Troy Kotsur has all the momentum needed, however, to pull off the victory at the Oscars. Nevertheless, the Cory’s Reads community has selected the incredible Jeffrey Wright, who was ignored entirely throughout the awards process, for his work in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. Wright appears in the film’s fourth episode as food journalist Roebuck Wright. While Wright-as-Wright weaves a compelling tale of trickery and thievery, it’s his more solemn moments in the studio of a television talk show that convey an uncanny sense of isolation and nostalgia, uniquely at home in an otherwise jovial film.
Best Costume Design
The Green Knight
The Last Duel
West Side Story
Licorice Pizza
The French Dispatch
And the Speccy goes to…West Side Story!
Congrats to West Side Story costume designer Paul Tazewell! He is the first African American male to be nominated for an Academy Award in this category, and there is good reason to believe he might be the first to win in this category as well! I wholeheartedly support the readers in their decision here. West Side Story succeeds for several reasons, but its vibrant costuming certainly plays a key role.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Titane
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Old
The Matrix: Resurrections
And the Speccy goes to…Titane!
An easy choice here for the Cory’s Reads community. While The Eyes of Tammy Faye may bring home the Oscar, Titane introduced by far the most radically transformative makeup of 2021.
Best Foreign Language Film
Drive My Car
The Worst Person in the World
Parallel Mothers
Flee
The Hand of God
And the Speccy goes to…Drive My Car!
So I made a bit of a goof with this category, accidentally omitting Julie Ducournau’s Titane. The film is nominated for Best Picture tonight, so surely it would have been a heavy favorite in this category as well. Nevertheless, let’s work with what we have. This year’s race in the Best Foreign Language category is a tight one, and Flee probably would have been a narrow winner if it were up to me. The race was so close, in fact, that it came down to a tie between Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World. Both films would be deserving winners, but I lean towards Drive My Car for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s masterful direction and Eiko Ishibashi’s mesmerizing score. It’s a long film, but it’s a rewarding one, an experience that washes over you in the days after you first watch.
Best Sound
The Tragedy of MacBeth
Licorice Pizza
The Green Knight
Red Rocket
West Side Story
And the Speccy goes to…The Green Knight!
The readers just can’t make up their minds. This category ended in a three-way tie between The Green Knight, The Tragedy of MacBeth, and West Side Story. All three are deserving winners, and I even had a hard time breaking the tie. Ultimately, in reflecting on each of the films, The Green Knight’s soundscape most readily manifested itself in my mind, with the quiet crackling of tree branches, and the ethereal blowing of the wind. Longtime David Lowery collaborator Johnny Marshall (and indeed, the film at large) deserved better on this year’s awards circuit.
Best Supporting Actress
Jodie Comer (The Last Duel)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Rita Moreno (West Side Story)
Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley)
Lorraine Toussaint (Concrete Cowboy)
And the Speccy goes to…Cate Blanchett!
We have our first upset of the evening! Blanchett’s icy performance in Nightmare Alley went unnoticed by most awards bodies, but the Speccy voters are no ordinary awards body. You’re too clever! I’m glad Blanchett gets recognized here for a performance that evokes Classical Hollywood while still adding to the extensive resume of one of our generation’s greatest performers. I probably would have chosen Oscar front-runner Ariana DeBose, but that’s only a small quibble.
Best Visual Effects
The Matrix: Resurrections
Dune
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
No Time to Die
And the Speccy goes to…Dune!
Duh.
This was the widest margin of victory in any category, and for good reason. I may not have admired Dune the way many others did, but there is no denying its jaw-dropping visuals. Oscar powerhouse Double Negative Studios lays claim to a new awards show with its first-ever win at the Speccies.
Best Animated Feature Film
Flee
Luca
Belle
Encanto
The Mitchell’s vs the Machines
And the Speccy goes to…The Mitchell’s vs the Machines!
This is a deserving victory for director Michael Rianda and his team. The Mitchell’s vs the Machines is one of the better animated films over the last decade or so. It’s only a shame it has to go toe-to-toe with another fantastic animated film in Flee this awards season. I was incredibly torn between those two films in this category, but the voters made my life easier. Of course, Flee is also up for Best Picture here, so I might have given it a slight edge. More than anything, I’m just glad we managed to steer clear of the Disney offerings in a category with much more dynamic films to choose from.
Best Production Design
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Licorice Pizza
The Green Knight
Nightmare Alley
The Tragedy of MacBeth
And the Speccy goes to…The Tragedy of MacBeth!
Yet another tie. This time between Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of MacBeth and Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. I could have gone either way this one, but Stefan Dechant’s production design on MacBeth is otherworldly, stripping away all the details one might associate with a task like production design, and instead sculping simple sets out of basic geometric shapes and a touch of light and shadow. It draws further attention to the drama at hand, while also displacing that drama outside of space and time.
Best Cinematography
Ruben Impens (Titane)
Andrew Droz Palermo (The Green Knight)
Drew Daniels (Red Rocket)
Michael Bauman/Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of MacBeth)
And the Speccy goes to…Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of MacBeth!
Back-to-back ties. Back-to-back wins for The Tragedy of MacBeth. And indeed, it’s fitting that the film would win these two awards like this, as Bruno Delbonnel’s black-and-white cinematography skillfully captures the aforementioned production elements. Delbonnel’s expressionistic lighting transforms certain settings, and his 1:37:1 aspect ratio offers rare visual depth to a story that is most commonly associated with the stage.
Best Editing
Helle le Fevre (The Souvenir Pt II)
Andrew Weisblum (The French Dispatch)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Olivier Bugge Coutté (The Worst Person in the World)
Cam McLaughlin (Nightmare Alley)
And the Speccy goes to…Andrew Weisblum for The French Dispatch!
I have deep respect for the readers’ love for The French Dispatch, a film I would place in the upper echelon of director Wes Anderson’s career, despite its absence from all the awards buzz this year. Part of what makes this peculiar anthology so damn breezy is Weisblum’s bouncy editing. Not only does Weisblum stitch together these unrelated stories in a way that makes them each digestible and enjoyable, but he also peppers each sequence with some subtle cuts that utterly transform the story at hand. I’m mostly thinking of that same moment I referenced in Jeffrey Wright’s writeup, but there are countless others to choose from.
Best Documentary
Flee
The Sparks Brothers
A Glitch in the Matrix
Summer of Soul
Procession
And the Speccy goes to…Flee!
Flee may have been upset by The Mitchell’s vs the Machines in the animation category, but it is the rightful winner here. The film is an absolute masterstroke in documentary storytelling, and as corny as the expression sounds, is truly more urgent than ever right now. I wish the film had been made more accessible to audiences, particularly in an era where some of the best documentary work is happening on streaming services, but I highly encourage anyone and everyone to seek it out. You may shed a tear or two along the way, but that’s a small price to pay.
Best Original Song
“So May We Start” (Annette)
“No Time to Die” (No Time to Die)
“Beyond the Shore” (CODA)
“Dos Oruguitas” (Encanto)
“We Love Each Other So Much” (Annette)
And the Speccy goes to…Encanto’s “Dos Oruguitas”!
As Oscar night approaches, this category actually fascinates me. Once upon a time, Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” seemed like the obvious frontrunner, but you can never discount a Disney smash hit. Clearly, the readers preferred the tune from Disney, but I frankly hope the Academy goes a different route. While my personal choice here would have been Annette’s “So May We Start”, I also thoroughly enjoyed Billie’s Bond theme. “Dos Oruguitas” is fine, but it doesn’t even stand out to me relative to the other smash hits from Disney films like “Let It Go” from Frozen or “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana.
Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat (The French Dispatch)
Johnny Greenwood (Spencer)
Jonny Greenwood (The Power of the Dog)
Daniel Hart (The Green Knight)
Eiki Ishibashi (Drive My Car)
And the Speccy goes to…Alexandre Desplat for The French Dispatch!
The French Dispatch continues its successful night at the Speccies with a deserving victory for Alexandre Desplat. I truly could have gone with any of the nominees in this category, and might have even settled on Daniel Hart for The Green Knight (who Desplat defeated by just a single vote) when it was all said and done, but there is a certain joy and willingness to innovate in Desplat’s work that shines through on so many of his Wes Anderson collaborations, and The French Dispatch is no exception. Perhaps this will make up for Desplat’s inexplicable loss at the 2018 Oscars when Ludwig Goransson’s Black Panther score defeated Desplat’s work on Isle of Dogs.
Best Original Screenplay
Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Part II)
Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
And the Speccy goes to…Paul Thomas Anderson for Licorice Pizza!
Was there ever any doubt?
Well, yes. Kind of. PTA’s script just barely eked out the victory over Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, a worthy contender in and of itself. Still, Licorice Pizza’s hilariously layered script is by far the rightful winner here, and it’d be a sin for it to lose to the likes of Belfast and Don’t Look Up on Oscar night.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Takamasa Oe (Drive My Car)
David Lowery (The Green Knight)
Ben Affleck/Matt Damon/Nicole Holofcener (The Last Duel)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
Guillermo del Toro/Kim Morgan (Nightmare Alley)
And the Speccy goes to…Guillermo Del Toro and Kim Morgan for Nightmare Alley!
A mild surprise in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, as the love for Nightmare Alley continues. Despite it going vastly underseen, I personally would have chosen The Last Duel here, as its script does some heavy-lifting that just isn’t necessary in these other projects. Still, I can’t complain too much about this win for del Toro and Morgan. Nightmare Alley is a masterfully told story, maintaining its classical elements while also elevating the dialogue for our contemporary sensibilities. The Power of the Dog is a fairly safe bet to win in this category at the Oscars, and while I enjoyed the film, I do think there are more dynamic scripts out there for the voters.
Best Director
Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Part II)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
And the Speccy goes to…Guillermo del Toro for Nightmare Alley!
This was a surprisingly decisive victory for del Toro, nabbing nearly half of all votes in this category. While I have a hard time turning my back on PTA’s moody masterpiece, or even Spielberg’s sweeping setpieces, this is still a solid choice from you readers. Nightmare Alley may not be del Toro’s best film, but there is an argument to be made it is his greatest accomplishment from a direction standpoint. It’s polished in the way a retelling of a Classical Hollywood story might be, but it’s also haunting in a way del Toro’s greatest monster flicks tend to be (despite not featuring a single monster at all). Does this win portend a major victory for Nightmare Alley in the final category of the evening?
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Simon Rex (Red Rocket)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog/The Electrical Life of Louis Wain)
Caleb McLaughlin (Concrete Cowboy)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of MacBeth)
Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley)
And the Speccy goes to…Benedict Cumberbatch!
Benedict Cumberbatch wins the Speccy on the heels of two incredible performances in 2021. My instincts tell me the voters likely recognized Cumberbatch’s work in The Power of the Dog specifically, but I hope this victory convinces everyone to check out his Louis Wain performance as well. He wins in a crowded category, overcoming my personal favorite in Simon Rex, who fortunately won in this same category at the Independent Spirit Awards. The Power of the Dog may not have figured into the Speccies as much as it has into the rest of the awards season — it’s not even nominated for Best Picture — but it nabs a deserving victory here.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Agathe Rousselle (Titane)
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)
Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby)
Marion Cotillard (Annette)
And the Speccy goes to…Agathe Rousselle!
What a pleasant surprise! Rousselle’s victory is actually the most dominant of the night, nabbing over half the votes in this category. Titane remains one of the year’s very best films, and it initially pained me to think the film would go largely unnoticed throughout the Speccies. Fortunately, the Speccies voters opted to recognize the film’s chillingly intimate lead performance. I might have opted for Alana Haim here, or even Rachel Zegler just to spite the Academy for bizarrely discluding her from the Oscar night invite list. But it’s hard to complain about a performance as engrossing as Rousselle’s getting recognized here. It’s honestly a shame that this category is all but guaranteed to see a bland winner on Oscar night in either Jessica Chastain or Nicole Kidman.
Best Picture
West Side Story
Nightmare Alley
Licorice Pizza
The Matrix: Resurrections
Flee
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Red Rocket
Titane
The Green Knight
The Souvenir Part II
And the Speccy goes to…Licorice Pizza!
I must say, the Cory’s Reads readers have Taste with a capital ‘T.’ Licorice Pizza may have gone unrecognized in some of the more technical categories, but its overall greatness was never in doubt. Few films over the last decade have managed to so perfectly evoke not just a time period, but a feeling. A feeling of illicit love. A feeling of youthful malaise. A feeling of cautious optimism. I could go on. Licorice Pizza is laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s also soulful and sweet and so damn easy to watch! It is without a doubt the best film of 2021, and I’m glad the readers got it right.
(Oddly enough, while almost every film in this category received at least a single vote, Nightmare Alley did not. Where did all those fans go?)
Well that’s a wrap on the First Annual Speccies. That’s also a wrap on the first 20 editions of Cory’s Reads. Thank you all for your support as readers, voters, tweet likers, etc. As always, it means the world.
Until next time,
Cory.