Chicago Film Critics Association Gets it Right
By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 23, 2011 3:45PM
When the Chicago Film Critics Association announced their winners for 2011 earlier this week, there was a lot of nodding going on in the Chicagoist Arts and Entertainment underground bunker, where they keep us chained to a radiator, watching movies for 23 hours a day (one hour for posting). Yes, The Tree of Life took down four awards, but there was otherwise a pleasing variety among this year's winners and admirably little to complain about.
This year's critics association awards season finds The Tree of Life battling with The Artist for awards supremacy, with The Descendants occasionally trying to make it a three-horse race. With The Tree of Life snagging Picture, Director, Cinematography and a Supporting Actress victory for Jessica Chastain from the CFCA, Terrence Malick's opus nets another exhibit for its prosecution of an Academy Awards case.
Yes, we would have been tickled if the supporting actress insurgency of Anna Paquin (Margaret) had nudged her ahead of Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) but nomination was itself quite an achievement. Like getting on a runoff ballet against a Daley-backed Alderman, Paquin should still claim a moral victory here. Williams is starting to gather up nods for the Actress crown, and she'll need as much hardware as she can get to hold up against sentimental favorite Viola Davis, critics' darling Tilda Swinton, the iconic/inevitable Meryl Streep, and the walking cosmetology doctoral thesis that is Glenn Close. We also love Albert Brooks receiving recognition for his turn as the heavy in Drive, and Michael Shannon getting his due for Take Shelter.
We thought it was a great year for movies, and predict a fairly divisive Oscar fight if the critics' ballots are any indication. This was mostly a quiet year at the box office for indie and art house films, and no runaway commercial success received widespread critical imprimatur. There was nothing like 2010's Inception, 2009's Avatar, or 2008's The Dark Knight. Without a cash-laden bully, the more arty and prestige titles will be left to bloody one another up. Hollywood has nobody to blame but themselves: seven of the top ten at the box office this year were sequels, one was a reboot, and two were Avengers prequels.
The CFCA will be handing out honorary awards to Shirley MacLaine, James Earl Jones, Dennis Farina, Second City, and Jason Segal. The ceremony will be held at the Chicago Broadway Playhouse on January 7.