8th Annual Friendly Film Fan Awards

The winners are finally decided.

 Ladies and gentlemen, and those who identify as both or neither, the time has finally arrived! Now that the Oscars are over, it’s time to get to the awards you’ve all actually been waiting for, as we officially announce the recipients for the 2024 Friendly Film Fan Awards! 2023 was a spectacular year for movies, from bombastic, action-heavy blockbusters to intimately still indies and everywhere in between. Filmmaking rose to new heights, design work was re-contextualized and innovated upon, and performances and scripts reached some of their greatest potential to date. It all comes to a head here, as we head into our first category of this year’s FFFA contenders, beginning with…

​BEST SOUND DESIGN
The Nominees:

• The Creator
• Maestro
• Oppenheimer
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• The Zone of Interest – WINNER

 
To put it lightly, Sound was a stacked category this year; The Creator’s bridge sequence remains one of the year’s most underrated in this respect, both Oppenheimer and Maestro’s best scenes featured sound that – while undoubtedly loud – was as crisp and clear as could be, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s soundscape not only matched but often informed the look and movement of much of its stunning animation. However, there was one film that came out clear ahead of the others, with a soundscape that not only told a deeply unsettling story just beyond the frame, but stuck with us long after the credits rolled and became in many ways the film’s defining element: Jonathan Glazer’s masterfully-told The Zone of Interest. A family drama about an SS Officer in Nazi-era Germany working at the Auschwitz concentration camp, The Zone of Interest uses its sound not to accentuate what’s happening on screen, but to constantly remind the viewer of the horror of what’s occurring off of it; the juxtaposition of its slice-of-life story against the lives those slices are taken out of renders the viewer not simply motionless but sickened, entirely dysregulated by way of the unyielding churns, screams, gunfire, and cries of a people’s erasure from life itself. Whereas the other nominees’ sound designs are one of several elements used in crafting their films’ identities, in many ways sound itself is Zone of Interest’s entire identity. There simply is no finer example of its use in film this past year.

​BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Nominees:

• The Creator
• Godzilla Minus One
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
• Oppenheimer – WINNER
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 
When it comes to visual effects, it’s important to remember that “visual” is the key term, not “computer-generated.” For all their wonderful work this year, from the miraculous Ginza attack sequence in the now Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One to Mission: Impossible’s stellar blend of both practical and CG effects, there was no film for which the visual effects were crafted – or employed – quite like Oppenheimer. Though entirely devoid of CGI, the interstitial and often dreamlike effects which constantly interrupt the frame remain nonetheless the best-looking of any film released last year, supporting their titular character’s fractured and frantic state of mind at every possible juncture in the story. The ways in which many of these effects were achieved is not simply worthy of recognition with a nomination here, but in our view, far and away the clear choice as the ultimate winner in these Friendly Film Fan Awards.

​BEST SCREENPLAY
The Nominees:

• Arthur Harari and Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall – WINNER
• Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Samy Burch, May December
• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
• Celine Song, Past Lives

 
Narrowing down the field of exceptional screenplays this year down to a mere five nominees across both the adapted and original spectrum was in itself a herculean task which took us multiple days to finalize, so you can imagine the stress levels involved in choosing a winner from these five unbelievable scripts. Ultimately, though, we elected to go the same route the Academy did; while we absolutely loved the delicacy of Past Lives and all it left unsaid, the screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall remains a completely undeniable tour-de-force, an overtly brilliant examination of how legal proceedings uncover so much more than simply who is or is not guilty in the eyes of the law. Whether one believes the decision made at the end of the film or otherwise is entirely irrelevant to the journey of Sandra Hüller’s character, to the unraveling of her relationship to her partner, how it infects everything around it, and how their mutual behaviors are seen by their son (played fantastically by Milo Machado Graner). It’s a magnificent achievement in screenwriting, and is – at least in our eyes – the correct choice for Best Screenplay. 

BEST SCORE
The Nominees:

• Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer – WINNER
• Justin Fendrix, Poor Things
• RADWIMPS & Kazuma Jinnouchi, Suzume
• Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 
There was a lot of great work in film compositions this past year, some of which the Oscars forgot to include in their own nominations (looking at you, snubbers of Across the Spider-Verse), but if you’ve followed us for any significant length of time, you’re well aware that one score came out far ahead of the rest of the rest of the pack, which is why we’re more than proud to fall in step with the Academy with our choice of winner, Ludwig Göransson, for his incredible work on Oppenheimer. Simultaneously classical and timely, urgent and inevitable, Oppenheimer’s score is not only the best example of the use of music in film over the past year, but one of the best compositions of music committed to film in the past several. Göransson has quickly become one of the finest working musicians in any business, and his work here stands as a testament to both his immense talent and his constant growth. We can’t wait to hear what he has planned for us next. Congratulations, Ludwig, on your historic win here today.

​BEST CHARACTER DESIGN
The Nominees:

• Barbie – WINNER
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Poor Things
• Priscilla
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 
When it comes to the design elements of any given film from the past year, it has been a two-horse race all the way down the line, with Poor Things ultimately taking the Academy for a ride in Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup & Hairstyling one after the other after the other. While we absolutely loved all the design work in Poor Things, however, our Best Character Design award – a combination of those latter two Oscars categories for the sake of efficiency and nominee pool expansion – goes to Barbie, which not only brough the titular dolls to life in vibrant color and unmistakable definition, but often informed where characters found themselves emotionally at different points throughout the film; plus, the looks are just plain fun! Barbie was a design juggernaut this year, among other things, and we couldn’t be happier to recognize all the incredible work on display in it, which also leads us to…

​BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Nominees:

• Adam Stockhausen, Asteroid City
• Sarah Greenwood, Barbie – WINNER
• Jack Fisk, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Shona Heath and James Price, Poor Things
• Chris Oddy, The Zone of Interest

 
Another white-knuckle race between Barbie and Poor Things in which the latter ultimately came out on top in the Oscar race, Best Production Design was yet another stacked category this year, from the entirely created visual worlds of Poor Things, to the flawless realizations of life-size fantasy worlds in our ultimate winner, Barbie. We’ve all heard the story about the global pink paint shortage cause by Barbie’s immaculately-rendered Barbieland, but what we’re more interested in here is actually the construction and architecture of the world itself, rather than simply the colors used. Yes, Barbie has previously-realized visual palettes to draw from whereas Poor Things does not, but it’s in how entire sets were constructed as tangible, life-size versions of those palettes that we find the magic of Barbieland, set against large-scale matte paintings that both inform and accentuate the fantasy elements present in the film. Barbie is more than worthy of this award, and we’re proud to be the ones to hand it to the entire Production Design team. 

​BEST FILM EDITING
The Nominees:

• Daniel Garber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline
• Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon – WINNER
• Affonso Gonçalves, May December
• Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
• Paul Watts, The Zone of Interest

 
When it comes to film editing (not to sound like a broken record), there were a lot of pretty stellar examples this year, from The Zone of Interest’s decisions of what not to include, to May December’s “not enough hot dogs” cut, to the Academy’s choice of winner, Jennifer Lame’s frantic-yet-clear and unmistakably masterful edit of Oppenheimer. However, when it comes to editing, more than just speed and organization of fractured narratives matters – pacing matters, and no film is a finer example of prioritizing pacing over speed than Killers of the Flower Moon, edited by one of the best to ever do it, Thelma Schoonmaker. Killers’ edit doesn’t exactly make the film feel shorter, but that’s entirely by design; we’re meant to sit in the discomfort, in the dread, in the dismayed horror of what’s happening to the Osage nation at the hands of our protagonists. And when there is a lull (though there’s never a drag), we’re meant to feel that to, as though we need this to be over as much as the Osage do. Schoonmaker’s edit moves at the clip it needs to, always pushing forward but never without the push of the characters within it; it moves when they do, and for that reason plus many others, it’s our choice for the Best Film Editing of 2023.

​BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Nominees:

• Dan Laustsen, John Wick: Chapter 4
• Matthew Libatique, Maestro
• Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
• Robbie Ryan, Poor Things – WINNER
• Łukasz Żal, The Zone of Interest

 
Neon-soaked or black-and-white, this year’s cinematography nominees produced some of the most iconic and stunning looks in film history, with purposeful camerawork which highlighted the immense power of many of their subjects by placing at that power’s center those helpless in the shadow of it. However, gorgeous images notwithstanding, cinematography is about more than just how the frame looks on the screen; it’s also about whether or not the look feels fitted to the story it’s in, how the camera’s movement is both informed by the world and in turn informs how the characters are seen within that world, which is why in our humble opinion, no nominee this year quite so deserves this award as Robbie Ryan for his brilliant work in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. The cinematography in Poor Things speaks not simply to the innovation required to capture some of these frames (a 16mm lens on a wide-angle camera? Who does that?) but the inspired choices in movement and what the frame is able to capture because of it. Almost every time Bella is with Godwin Baxter and Max McCandles, the shots are static, still, not ugly but lacking in fervor, whereas when she is driving the story out in the world, the movement is fluid and full of life. These choices reflect Robbie Ryan’s skill and his attention to detail in Poor Things’ storytelling, which is why his cinematography is our choice for this year’s Friendly Film Fan award.

​BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE
The Nominees:

• Creed III
• Gran Turismo
• The Iron Claw
• John Wick: Chapter 4 – WINNER
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

 
If and when the Academy finally does recognize stunt work with a real Oscar rather than a half-hearted montage clearly intended to advertise the presenters’ upcoming film, there will need to be a reckoning (a dead one, perhaps) with the decades of stunt work they have continuously elected not to award, even as they are introducing a clearly politically-motivated “Best Casting” award at next year’s ceremony since most of the higher-ups in the Academy at the moment are – you guessed it – casting directors. All that said, while the specter of Tom Cruise looms large over the entire stunt world for his continuously dangerous escalation of Mission: Impossible’s defining feature, this year’s award goes to another action franchise which has become perhaps an even bigger name in the stunt world over the last decade: John Wick. John Wick: Chapter 4 is chock-full of some of the best stunt work in the series to date, and whether or not one finds some of its non-stop sequences overwrought or occasionally too silly even for this franchise, to watch them play out is still undeniably impressive. From the Dragon’s Breath shootout to the staircase fall to a nightclub fight up there with the best ever committed to screen, Chapter 4’s stunt ensemble is without question one of the best in the business, and more than deserves this award.  

​BEST ENSEMBLE
The Nominees:

• Barbie
• The Holdovers
• The Iron Claw
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Oppenheimer – WINNER

 
There were many acting ensembles over the past year without which their films could not have risen to the level they did, but sometimes the bench is just too deep for other nominees to overcome; such is the case with Oppenheimer, which packs some of the best character actors of their generation – including previous Oscar winners – into single-scene bit parts simply due to higher-volume roles already filled by other high-level talents working at the top of their game. From Cillian Murphy to Robert Downey Jr. to Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in high-profile parts to actors like Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, David Krumholtz, Florence Pugh, Alden Ehrenreich and Benny Safdie in more supporting roles to Casey Affleck, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Alex Wolff and even goddamn Gary Oldman for no more than five to ten minutes of screen-time each, Oppenheimer possesses one of the all-time great ensembles in the history of the term, and for us here at The Friendly Film Fan, there was simply no other choice but to award it Best Ensemble. 

​BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The Nominees:

• Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
• Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
• Julianne Moore, May December
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers – WINNER
• Maura Tierney, The Iron Claw

 
Every great supporting performance by an actress this year was full of triumph, heartache, or often a mix of both brokered by either a sense of unbound piece or unresolvable brokenness. Both grief and closure rested upon all these women’s shoulders, some of whom even became the very foundations of the films in which they played a part, even if they weren’t the main characters. From Maura Tierney to Rachel McAdams, each of these performances stood out amongst the best the year had to offer…but the clean sweep is now complete as the winner of Best Supporting Actress, which she has been all season long, is Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Randolph’s work in The Holdovers grounds the film from its other two primary characters’ more absurd antics, providing the soul of the narrative and unerringly driving home the themes of found family and closure over deep-seated grief, even if that closure is not entirely completable. It’s a performance that comes at just the right time for an actress who’s only at the beginning of what’s sure to be a long and fruitful career of exceptional work, and while we don’t like to think of ourselves as an “it’s time” awards body, it is the right time – now – for her to receive her first of what very well might be many Friendly Film Fan awards wins.

​BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
The Nominees:

• Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
• Ryan Gosling, Barbie
• Milo Machado Graner, Anatomy of a Fall
• Charles Melton, May December – WINNER

 
While there is no denying the raw yet underplayed power of Robert Downey Jr., the sheer charisma of Ryan Gosling, the devious bastardity of Robert De Niro, or the devastating vulnerability of Milo Machado Graner, there was one more performance which for us cemented its giver not simply as a talent we didn’t expect, but one we had severely underestimated, which is why our Best Supporting Actor winner is Charles Melton for his incredible performance in Todd Hayes’ May December. Melton’s performance is filled with an innocence of self that’s fully aware of how violated that innocence has become, just how lost it is in the scramble for its own resurrection which can never occur. It’s a devastating turn from an actor no one realized was capable of such enormous depth – at least not at this level – and it took us completely by storm. Charles Melton, we will never again underestimate what you are capable of. 

BEST ACTRESS
The Nominees:

• Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
• Greta Lee, Past Lives
• Carey Mulligan, Maestro
• Emma Stone, Poor Things – WINNER

 
As much as we love every lead actress performance nominated here this year, plus several others there simply was not room to nominate, we can only be ourselves, and declare along with the Academy that yeah, there just wasn’t a better performance this year than Emma Stone’s career-best work in Poor Things. There may be other, more historically significant performances, or even more palatable performances in many ways, but from her physical movement in an absurdist dance number to her dialect to her decision on when to move and when not to, Emma Stone’s performance was something truly extraordinary, something new, something we’ve never seen anyone do before. From minute one, you can track her development as a character through her eyes, her face, and how she moves, and Stone never once loses the audience or makes it unclear exactly what stage of personal growth Bella Baxter finds herself in. It’s truly an astonishing turn from an actress who’s always been known to be, but now in undeniably and entirely, fearless. Well done, Emma Stone; you now have not only two Oscars, but two Friendly Film Fan Awards!

​BEST ACTOR
The Nominees:

• Bradley Cooper, Maestro
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
• Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
• Teo Yoo, Past Lives – WINNER

 
Most Oscar-winning performances, with some limited exceptions, are loud, boisterous; they call attention to themselves as the audience is sucked into the gravity of the actor giving it everything they’ve got – they’re also, often, not unworthy as many would have you believe. Were it not for the sheer power of quiet in many of this year’s nominees, Bradley Cooper could be walking away with this award, and yet, the quiet eyes of Teo Yoo in Past Lives speak so much love into the film that goes entirely unsaid; we’d be fools not to hand him this award. Yoo’s performance is so deeply felt so as to almost be unnoticeable, so subtle as to be invisible – it’s a performance full of yearning, longing, full of grief over what was lost and acceptance that even though he can never get it back, what is given will have to be enough, and he accepts making peace with that notion. The ending of Past Lives may rest on Greta Lee’s incredible breakdown, but its middle and third act are largely carried by the shoulders of Teo Yoo, and we’re proud to hand him the Friendly Film Fan Award for Best Actor.

​BEST DIRECTOR
The Nominees:

• Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
• Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
• Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
• Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest – WINNER

 
Sometimes great direction is all about not getting in the way, about letting what’s in the frame dictate where the story goes and the feeling it gives an audience. But other times, such as in this case, the best direction we saw all of last year was all about control: understanding not only what to put in the frame, but what to never put in it, leaving one’s mark on celluloid so unmistakably that no one can question what it is you have to say, making every step along the way with absolute conviction so that none fall falsely along the way. This is what makes Jonathan Glazer’s direction of The Zone of Interest so undeniably powerful. To never travel inside the walls, to always present atrocity as slice-of-life-adjacent is to condemn the world for their own complicity, for their silence in the face of absolute horror. If these things are allowed to continue so casually in one man’s backyard, who’s to say that such apathy can’t extend to neighboring countries or the rest of the way across the globe? Glazer’s presentation of Zone of Interest presents the depths of human depravity, of just how twisted and untethered the soul can become, and leaves it up to his audience to do the examinations of such evil themselves. No matter how we feel individually, we are all capable of collective atrocities, and our mere silence, our desire to shut it out so as not to feel its sickening infection of comfort in the face of unspeakable evil, might be the worst of them all.

​And finally, the one you’ve all been waiting for…

​BEST PICTURE
The Nominees:

• Anatomy of a Fall
• Barbie
• Killers of the Flower Moon – WINNER
• Maestro
• May December
• Oppenheimer
• Past Lives
• Poor Things
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• The Zone of Interest

 
We’re fast approaching the point when Martin Scorsese will no longer be able to make movies, so for the master to offer up his own self up to this kind of scrutiny and vulnerability in filmmaking this late in his career is not simply a treat for movie fans, it’s a miracle for cinema itself. Killers of the Flower Moon may not be a perfect film; in fact, on a technical level, it might not even be the best one amongst these ten nominees. Yet, for any faults it has, it is the movie which has defined year in film for us, even more so than Barbie or Oppenheimer. Scorsese not only tells the story of the Osage Reign of Terror with grace and conviction, but confronts in the film’s ending the very idea that he’s made this story into a visual entertainment art piece at all, why on earth human beings feel it so essential to bring tragedy into an entertainment space, and why – even when we mean well – we will always fall short in telling stories that don’t belong to us. With every subsequent revisit, the film only gets better and better, and we imagine it will only age the way movies themselves do as its legacy becomes more than anyone thought it could be. It doesn’t simply possess one of the great movie endings of the last ten-to-twenty years, it is one of the master’s greatest-ever works, and we count ourselves lucky to not only have been around for its unveiling, but to name it the Best Picture of 2023.

And those are your 2024 Friendly Film Fan Awards winners! What would you have picked to win from this list? Do you have your own nominations to share from last year? Let us know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan