Hello and welcome to the twelfth and once again annual Paultacular Bruene awards. After last year's double sized (or, really, like 1.5x sized) awards covering both 2020 and 2021, we're back to our regularly scheduled vanity project. My zero readers are, I'm sure, ecstatic, joyous, even ebullient.
As usual, here's the format. We (for a generous interpretation of the word "we") are going to go through a bunch of categories, some traditional film awards categories and a few of my own invention. There's a new category debuting this year, we'll see if it lasts or if it's just auditing the course. For each category, I'll list my top five (the "contenders") from 2022, and I'll then crown a winner. As of this writing I've seen 56 films from 2022, so I think it's fair to say I've seen most, but not all, of the relevant movies from the year. Well, except for the horror movies, those I haven't seen. Sorry, Barbarian.
So without much further ado...the Pauls!
Best Visual EffectsThe Contenders
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nope
Strong group this year, I guess working all those VFX artists half to death is paying off. Or, given that Marvel only gets one contender in there--and it's probably the weakest of the five Contenders--maybe not. But this is an exceptionally easy decision. You give Jimmy Cameron a budget and a story about oceans and you know he's going to deliver. The first Avatar was the year before I started doing these things, Titanic came out when I was seven, and The Abyss predates me, but I feel pretty confident that if I did these things retroactively (don't worry, I won't...probably) he would be sitting on a pile of awards here. So yeah, no shit the winner is Avatar: The Way of Water, which I didn't particularly love but looked amaaaaazing.
Best Film Editing
The Contenders
Aftersun
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
You should maybe get used to seeing this year's long-titled Contender, Everything Everywhere All at Once. It's not quite The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, in mouthfuliness of name or in quality, but it's pretty close. And yes, I will be writing it fully out each time, no cheating by calling it "Everywhere" or EEAAO or something.
I get the argument that Everything, Everywhere, All at Once should win "Most Editing" more than "Best Editing" and I'm sympathetic, but in this case I think the film's gonzo over the top style--which, yes, includes a LOT of edits--works marvelously. It wins in a strong, strong field; I can't believe I had to cut After Yang. I also want to shout out Decision to Leave's editing, which has wildly imaginative scene transitions.
Best Costume Design
The Contenders
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
The Northman
Tár
The Woman King
The Northman maybe should be disqualified because its verging on Best Lack of Costume Design, but whatever, Alexander Skarsgard's torso is effectively a costume. Not quite enough to be our winner though; no, that is (and this again is going to indicate pretty strongly where the rest of these awards are going) the fantastic Everything Everywhere All at Once. In this category I try for a mix of period piece, contemporary, and fantasy/sci-fi costuming, and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once offers a little bit of everything.
Will it win three in a row? Let's find out
Best Cinematography
The Contenders
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Batman
Nope
The Northman
Nope (just regular nope, not the Contender Nope), it will not. Instead, we've got to skip the movie that it somehhow took me like two hours to realize was a Hamlet story (indeed, the story Hamlet borrowed from), Amleth himself as he avenges father, saves mother, and kills Fjölnir in The Northman. Robert Eggers is good at this stuff, it turns out.
Best Scene
The first of my original categories, also easily the hardest one for me to winnow down and pick. It's also, not coincidentally, one of two categories with ten nominees. As usual, the I've attempted to give the scenes in question a "title" that should a) make it fairly obvious what the scene is if you've seen the movie, but b) be vague enough to avoid spoilers. We are operating under the "no two scenes from the same movie" rule.
The Contenders
The Meaning of Tea—After Yang
The French Counterattack—All Quiet on the Western Front
Filming the Medieval Battle—Babylon
The Everything Bagel—Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The Volcano Holmgang—The Northman
Jean Jacket's True Form—Nope
The Predator Meets the French—Prey
Lydia Addresses Juillard—Tár
The Djinn and the Slave Girl—Three Thousand Years of Longing
The Practice Run—Top Gun: Maverick
In the absence of any one real all-timer here, I'm giving the best scene of the year to the best executed scene in the best executed (which isn't to say best overall) film of this. That's right, great balls of fire its The Practice Run from Top Gun: Maverick. Maverick is basically a perfect movie, in that it does everything it sets out to do more or less perfectly. Is it the most interesting, or ambitious, or compelling movie of the year? No, not even close. But it might be the most flawless movie of the year, and that includes the incredibly well-realized practice run for the final mission. What can I say, I liked it when the planes when vroom.
Best Production Design
The Oscars changed the name of this one from Best Art Direction and 2012, and I guess this is as good a time as ever to change it here to. Now that, a decade later, I noticed.
The Contenders
After Yang
Babylon
Crimes of the Future
Three Thousand Years of Longing
The Northman
Absolute murderers row here, and I left off a half dozen other worthy contenders. Very tempted to go with Crimes of the Future, a movie I didn't particularly like, just for the bizarre furniture that Cronenberg throws in, but ultimately we're going with with Three Thousand Years of Longing, also the winner of this year's award for Best Genie Bottles.
Best Sound
The Oscars is keeping the formerly two sound design categories combined, and so am I.
The Contenders
Avatar: The Way of Water
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nope
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
As much as I enjoyed it when the planes went real fast and went vrooom, there are scenes from Nope that have stuck with me almost entirely because of the memorable and creepy sound design. One scene in particular, that involves a very localized rainstorm...yeesh
Best Use of Music
Replacing Best Original Song and Best Original Score is a more holistic best use of music in a film. Original songs, scores, needle-drops, all fair game.
The Contenders
After Yang
All Quite on the Western Front
Babylon
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Given that I'm a card-carrying member of the Tár gang and have been Tár-pilled for months, I'm surprising myself by going with one of the last 2022 films I saw, the superlative After Yang. There are plenty of categories here where I'm rewarding movies for going big, but here I'm giving it to a film that goes small and subtle. Well, except for an opening credits dance scene.
Best Animated Feature
The only category that can have less than five contenders, as this year's does. This year I saw four animated movies I'd consider better than just okay-to-good, and they are our four contenders
The Contenders
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Solid! Not great, but solid. I'm not entirely sure why Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is considered animated given there are real people in it and most of it takes place on a real set. We don't consider movies like Avatar: The Way of Water, which is like 95% CG, to be animated for some reason, but Marcel is? Okay, sure, why not.
It's not our winner though. That goes to the very good, but maybe a tiiiiny bit overrated already, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. It's good!
Most Enjoyable Film
What movie did I have the most fun watching this year? Let's find out!
The Contenders
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
The Northman
Prey
Top Gun: Maverick
Man, it sure sucks that they don't make comedies anymore. 2022 also went without a superhero movie I particularly liked; I didn't give even 3.5 stars to a single one this year, the first time that's happened in at least a decade. Still, plenty of good times to be had, especially with our winner, one of the best theatrical experiences I've had in years. I saw Everything Everywhere All at Once with a packed house, and it rocked.
Best Screenplay
Continuing my combination of adapted and original, this is simply (what I consider) the five best screenplays of 2022, regardless of origin.
The Contenders
After Yang
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Three Thousand Years of Longing
With apologies to Everything Everywhere All at Once and After Yang, this year's best screenplay was Todd Field's work in Tár. Tár gang unite.
Best Performance by Animal, Idea, or Inanimate Object
The Contenders
Memory—After Yang
Jenny the Donkey—The Banshees of Inisherin
Sarii the Dog—Prey
A Rock with Googly Eyes—Everything Everywhere All at Once
Spectacle—Nope
Sarii juuuust barely got a spot over Colm's dog from The Banshees of Inisherin; I would say that makes Sarii the winner of Best Dog of the Year, but every dog on Earth is tied for the winner of that award. Still, Sarii isn't our winner, nor is Jenny (poor Jenny); instead I'm slightly cheating because the object in question was not entirely inanimate. Still, the winner has to be A Rock with Googly Eyes from Everything Everywhere All at Once. Cinema, it's back!
(I should probably mention that I did not get around to watching Eo, so I can't speak for the donkey(s) in that film)
Best Vocal Performance
The Contenders
Ewan McGregor—Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
Isabella Rossellini—Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Jenny Slate—Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Antonio Banderas—Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Jared Harris—The Sea Beast
Deep field this year, which is especially notable given that this was an okay-but-not-great animated film year (as noted above). Half the cast of Avatar 2 could be under at least some consideration, and all three of the Disney/Pixar movies that came out in 2022 and I wasn't wild about (Turning Red, Lightyear, and Strange World) had at least one vocal performance I really liked (Sandra Oh, Peter Sohn, and Dennis Quaid, respectively). The single-nomination movies above all have at least one more performance I considered as well.
Given that, all of our actual contenders are very strong, but I have to give it to a performance that is basically a stream of conscience rambling but in a, like, great way. That is of course Jenny Slate in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. What an inspirational two inch little shell.
Scene Stealer of the Year
This category goes to the performer who came in for one inning and threw ten consecutive hundred MPH fastballs, or hit four threes in two minutes off the bench, or scored a golazo in stoppage time, or whatever sports metaphor you prefer. Someone who isn't in the film for very long, but leaves a very distinct impression.
The Contenders
Tobey Maguire—Babylon
Mark Rylance—Bones and All
Judd Hirsch—The Fabelmans
Bjork—The Northman
Val Kilmer—Top Gun: Maverick
The line between this category and a supporting category is a fine one, and our winner this year is really walking it. He's in three scenes in the film, including two fairly lengthy ones, and could absolutely be considered a supporting performer. But I think his performance, which is completely gonzo and off the wall and frankly one of the weirdest I've ever seen from a reasonably famous actor, really captures the spirit of this category, and so I'm going with Mark Rylance in Bones and All.
After all, life is never dully with Sully.
Breakthrough Performer of the Year
Also called the Wait, Who's That?! award, this newly debuting category is for the actor I'd never seen before (or, at least, hadn't seen in anything approaching a major role) who made the biggest impression. This doesn't have to be their debut film, exactly, but it should be pretty close, so a lot of established foreign actors aren't eligible even if I personally wasn't familiar with them UNLESS they are now breaking into Hollywood films. We'll see how this category goes.
The Contenders
Tenoch Huerta—Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Rachel Sennott—Bodies Bodies Bodies
Stephanie Hsu—Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Chloe East—The Fabelmans
Amber Midthunder—Prey
I said earlier that there wasn't a superhero movie in 2022 that I particularly liked, and that's true. The closest, though, was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and a huge part of why that film worked as well as it did was Tenoch Huerta's intense performance as a villainous, though still fundamentally sympathetic, Namor. Huerta is hardly a new actor (he's 42 and has been appearing in Mexican films for fifteen), but this was his first real breakthrough into English Language/Hollywood films (with apologies to The Forever Purge) and it won't be his last.
(Paul Mescal would've made the list for Aftersun, but I did see him in a decent sized role in The Lost Daughter last year)
Best Ensemble
Aka Best Cast, which film had the overall best cast of the year? Quality, quantity, and consistency all factors.
The Contenders
Babylon
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Menu
Nope
Women Talking
Other than our winner and Babylon, this is a group of movies I liked but didn't love but that had great, great casts giving great performances. But that makes our winner pretty easy, and I'm going with my favorite of these films by a mile, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Just a ton of great performances; even Jenny Slate shows up briefly.
(The Banshees of Inisherin probably would've made this group, except I really didn't like Barry Keoghan's weird, twitchy performance. I seem to be the only one, but, well, I didn't)
Okay, onto the traditional acting categories.
Best Supporting Actor
The Contenders
Tenoch Huerta—Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Brendan Gleeson—The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan—Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ralph Fiennes—The Menu
Ashton Kutcher—Vengeance
This was maybe the least compelling category on the board this year. Even of these five, which I struggled to come up with, only two or three really stood out to me. But of those, only one performer had a scene where he threw his own severed fingers at door, and so our winner just has to be Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actress
The Contenders
Stephanie Hsu—Everything Everywhere All at Once
Hong Chau—The Menu
Anya Taylor-Joy—The Northman
Lashana Lynch—The Woman King
Rooney Mara—Women Talking
This category is stronger than the men, but only by a bit. Not a great year for standout supporting performances, I guess. The field is also a lot closer to each other, none of these really is THAT much better than any other of the five, and of all the categories this is probably the one that would have the least variation if I ranked all of them (which, don't tempt me). It's almost a tie, really, but I consulted the rulebook and it turns out that in the case of a photo finish, the winner is the performer who said the word "casadila" in the most memorable way. So, apparently, our winner is Hong Chau for The Menu.
(She was good in The Whale but was absolutely nominated for the wrong movie by the Oscars)
Best Actor
The Contenders
Colin Farrell—After Yang
Brad Pitt—Babylon
Colin Farrell—The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kaluuya—Nope
Brendan Frasier—The Whale
Okay here we go, that's better. Thankfully I watched the film with our winner a few weeks before writing this, because for quite a while the fifth spot on this list was Austin Butler for Elvis. Now, Butler was very good, that's not really the issue; the problem was I hated that movie, and him making the final five would mean 2/5 of the contenders were for movies I at least disliked (I didn't hate The Whale but I can't say I liked it).
But false alarm, because I got around to watching our winner, and it's double nominee Colin Farrell for After Yang. Farrell was excellent in Banshees as well, and its pretty wild that the guy who played Bullseye in the Ben Affleck Daredevil gave two of the five best leading male performances of 2022. But that's exactly what happened.
Best Actress
The Contenders
Margot Robbie—Babylon
Tang Wei—Decision to Leave
Michelle Yeoh—Everything Everywhere All at Once
Cate Blanchett—Tár
Viola Davis—The Woman King
Hooo baby now THAT is a field. I haven't gone back and looked but this has to be one of the best groups of either actor or actress from any year. I absolutely loved all five of these performances, and if this were a gender-neutral category (which I have no plans to do, but who knows) I'm not sure that even our Best Actor winner would even make this field.
But all that said, the winner was an easy call, and she's been the winner since probably about twenty minutes into watching Tar. Cate Blanchett is probably the best actress of her generation, and this may be her magnum opus. Lydia Tar is an all-timer performance, and even gave us a great running bit online about how she's a real person and Tar a biopic.
(I did think Ana de Armas was great in Blonde, honestly maybe as good as some of the Contenders, but I hated that movie)
Best Director
The Contenders
Koganda—After Yang
Park Chan-Wook—Decision to Leave
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan—Everything Everywhere All at Once
Robert Eggers—The Northman
Todd Field—Tár
This is one of those years where I had a pretty clear top 5 favorite films, and spoiler alert but the directors list and the Best Picture list are identical. All due respect to what Charlotte Wells did in Aftersun and Damien Chazelle did in Babylon, but these were the five best, and best-directed films of the year. And of them, the single best-directed was also reasonably clear, and yes it goes to the directors of Swiss Army Man, aka the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie. Give it up for the Daniels, Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan from Everything Everywhere All at Once. This is the first ever duo winner of this award, and its well-deserved.
Will this year have a Best Director and Best Picture split? Let's find out.
Best Picture
The Contenders
After Yang
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Northman
Tár
Nope! (not Nope). The Best Film of 2022 (that I saw), and by a fairly clear margin, was Everything Everywhere All at Once. A totally unique film, a blast to watch, wildly original, moving, innovative, just everything I want in a movie. Everything Everywhere All at Once is the first film released since the start of the pandemic that has joined my personal top 100 of all time (currently ranked 95th).
And that'll do it folks! It was, overall, probably an...average?...film year, but the first one that felt more or less normal since the pandemic. Hope to keep it going next year when, presumably, I'll just be writing the word "Napoleon" and the name "Ridley Scott" a lot.
The Final Tally:
All Quiet on the Western Front: Four Contenders and zero Pauls
Aftersun: One Contender and zero Pauls
After Yang: Eight Contenders and one Paul (Best Use of Music)
Avatar: The Way of Water: Two Contenders and one Paul (Best Visual Effects)
Babylon: Eight Contenders and zero Pauls
The Banshees of Inisherin: Four Contenders and one Paul (Best Supporting Actor for Brendan Gleeson)
The Batman: One Contender and zero Pauls
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Three Contenders and one Paul (Breakthrough Performance of the Year for Tenoch Huerta)
Bodies Bodies Bodies: One Contender and zero Pauls
Bones and All: One Contender and one Paul (Scene Stealer of the Year for Mark Rylance)
Crimes of the Future: One Contender and zero Pauls
Decision to Leave: Five Contenders and zero Pauls
Everything Everywhere All at Once: Fifteen (!) Contenders and Seven (!) Pauls (Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Most Enjoyable Film, Best Performance by An Animal, Idea, or Inanimate Object for A Rock With Googly Eyes, Best Ensemble, Best Director for the Daniels, Best Picture)
The Fabelmans: Two Contenders and zero Pauls
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: Two Contenders and zero Pauls
Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio: Two Contenders and zero Pauls
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Three Contenders and one Paul (Best Vocal Performance for Jenny Slate)
The Menu: Three Contenders and one Paul (Best Supporting Actress for Hong Chau)
Nope: Seven Contenders and one Paul (Best Sound)
The Northman: Nine Contenders and one Paul (Best Cinematography)
Prey: Four Contenders and zero Pauls
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Two Contenders and one Paul (Best Animated Feature)
The Sea Beast: Two Contenders and zero Pauls
Tár: Nine Contenders and two Pauls (Best Screenplay, Best Actress for Cate Blanchett)
Three Thousand Years of Longing: Three Contenders and One Paul (Best Production Design)
Top Gun: Maverick: Six Contenders and one Paul (Best Scene for The Practice Run)
Vengeance: One Contender and zero Pauls
The Whale: One Contender and zero Pauls
The Woman King: Three Contenders and zero Pauls
Women Talking: Two Contenders and zero Pauls
That's thirty movies with at least one Contender and fourteen with at least one Paul, down from forty-two and up from thirteen last year. Though given last year covered two years that's not necessarily meaningful. For a complete list of what I've seen from 2022, in fluid and arbitrary order of overall preference, click here: https://letterboxd.com/teddroe/list/2022/ . Note that the lists are updated as I see more movies, if there are more than 56 it means I've seen stuff since writing this.
Most Undernominated: Absolutely no question it's Aftersun, which was sniffing my top 5 films of the year but only got one Contender. As always for this award, the winner was a last cut for several categories; Paul Mescal was either the 6th or 7th Best Actor, and the ending (though brief) is incredible and almost made Best Scene.
Most Overnominated: This one probably goes to The Banshees of Inisherin, which I only mildly liked overall but that did have a bunch of great performances even if I didn't love one (Keoghan). And Kerry Condon was close to adding another Contender for Best Supporting Actress.
Most Apt Title: A tie between Women Talking and Ambulance
Best Movie You'd Never Know I'd Seen By Reading This: I couldn't quite find anywhere on here for Triangle of Sadness, a film I liked roughly as much as several other movies that got multiple Contenders.
The Hey You're In Istanbul Maybe Move a Couple Scenes Outside of This One Boring Hotel Room Award: There was a lot about Three Thousand Years of Longing that I loved. The choice of location for the first two acts framing device was not one.
The Inside Llewyn Davis Award for Most Contenders Without a Win: Babylon, with eight. As usual with this award, that just sort of makes sense.
Best Job Avenging Father, Saving Mother, and Killing Fjolnir: Two for three for our boy Amleth!
Movie I Promise I Saw But Couldn't Find Anywhere On Here For: This one also has to Triangle of Sadness.
Worst Movie Represented: Probably The Whale. I didn't hate it (though I understand why some did) but I certainly didn't like it. Fraser was legitimately great though.
Award for Most Severed Fingers to Prove a Point: Look, when Colm from The Banshees of Inisherin makes a promise, he's gonna keep it.
The Last Jedi Award for Insanely Polarizing Movie that I Thought Was Basically Fine: I thought it was a little better than "fine" but Glass Onion got bizarrely polarized. Probably related to its director, speaking of the category name...
Worst Piece of Crap I saw from 2022: Look, I think there were some interesting choices and sometimes impressive filmmaking on display, but Blonde was just a fundamentally bad idea.
The Hey Maybe Next Time Don't Do That Award: Blonde again the big winner here.
Movie I Should Be Most Ashamed of Not Seeing Before Writing This: I'm not sure why I didn't get to Apollo 10 1/2, which looks like something I'd really like, but I just didn't. Other possible candidates include Eo, Bardo, and Armageddon Time. I tried to find All the Beauty and the Bloodshed but it wasn't available anywhere I have access to.
Award for Shattering My Previously Rosy Vision of Life in World War I Trenches: All Quiet on the Western Front. Oh, so it WASN'T super fun. Got it.
The "Not Sure Why I Didn't Like It More" Award: For the second year in a row this one is going to a Guillermo del Toro movie. On paper, his Pinocchio ticks a ton of boxes for me, and some people really loved it, but I ultimately couldn't fully get there. I liked it (certainly more than Nightmare Alley) but didn't love it. Maybe I just don't like Del Toro's work (outside of Pan's Labyrinth) as much as I thought I did.
The "They're Wrong" Award: Babylon was very good. Not great, but very very good.
The "I'm Wrong" Award: I feel like there are quite a few of these this year (did people really genuinely like Avatar 2?) but I'm going with RRR. "Naatu Naatu" was good, but overall it just didn't really work for me, and seemingly only me. I'm like one of the people in the Far Side "Didn't Like Dances with Wolves Society" strip.
Best Accordion Playing (Trying to Drive Away Apartment Hunters Category): Lydia Tár you stinker.
The Irritating Backlash Award: Seems almost cheating to give this to the Best Picture favorite, which always has a weird backlash, but I just have to go with Everything Everywhere All at Once. Someone on twitter told me with a straight face (well, as much as I could tell from an anonymous twitter account) that it was a movie made for teenage boys and that "millions of teenagers" had seen it. Oh yeah for sure teenage boys are for sure known for their love of films starring 60 year old foreign actresses, its all over TikTok.
Movie I Probably Would Have Liked More if Into the Spiderverse Didn't Exist: I'm awarding this one two years in a row! This year it goes to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the animation of which would've seemed much more inventive if it had come out a few years ago.
That's all folks!
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