33rd Annual London Film Critics Circle Awards

The London Film Critics Circle (LFCC) announced its awards on January 20th, 2013 with giving away the Film of the Year award to French drama film AMOUR, directed by Michael Haneke. It also won the Actress of the Year and Screenwriter of the Year awards. This isn’t a surprise anymore especially after the announcement of 85th Academy Awards nominations, Amour got the Best Picture and Best Director nominations as well. The Director of the Year award went to Ang Lee for his exceptional direction of LIFE OF PI. I REALLY WANT LIFE OF PI TO WIN BIG AT THE OSCARS.

Key thing to notice: Joaquin Phoenix gets the Actor of the Year award for his role as Freddie Quell in THE MASTER.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Film of the Year: Amour

Director of the Year: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Actor of the Year: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Actress of the Year: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Supporting Actor of the Year: Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Supporting Actress of the Year: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Screenwriter of the Year: Michael Haneke (Amour)

Technical Achievement Award: Bill Westenhofer (Life of Pi)

Documentary of the Year: The Imposter

Foreign Language Film of the Year: Rust and Bone

British Film of the Year: Berberian Sound Studio

British Actor of the Year: Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio)

British Actress of the Year: Andrea Riseborough (Shadow Dancer)

Breakthrough British Filmmaker: Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (Sightseers)

Young British Performer of the Year: Tom Holland (The Impossible)

Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film: Helena Bonham Carter

47th Annual National Society of Film Critics Awards

The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) announced their awards on January 5th, 2013 with giving away the Best Picture award to French-language drama film AMOUR, directed by Michael Haneke who also won the Best Director award. This is really great now as there are a lot of strong contenders this season but NSFC has made a daring decision by selecting Amour as it has also given Emmanuelle Riva the Best Actress award.

Here is the complete list of winners:

BEST PICTURE: Amour

BEST DIRECTOR: Michael Haneke (Amour)

BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

BEST ACTRESS: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike; Bernie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams (The Master)

BEST NONFICTION: The Gatekeepers

BEST SCREENPLAY: Tony Kushner (Lincoln)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mihai Malaimare, Jr. (The Master)

EXPERIMENTAL: This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi)

FILM HERITAGE:

• To Laurence Kardish, Senior Film Curator at MoMA, for his extraordinary 44 years of service, including this year’s Weimar Cinema retrospective.


• To Milestone Film and Video for their ongoing Shirley Clarke project.

DEDICATION: This year’s awards are dedicated to the late Andrew Sarris, one of the most original and influential American film critics as well as a founding member of the Society.

Film Review: Amour (2012)

My rating: ★★★★★

EXCEPTIONAL.

Everything has to come to an end but what does not end is your inevitable love; this is the lesson that I learned today. Winner of the Golden Palm at 2012 Cannes Film Festival, written and directed by Michael Haneke, Amour is a meticulous, demanding and a delicate psychological drama with a story and narrative beyond your imagination. The beginning is a mere proof that something is going to happen in the end, but how it would, and more importantly, WHY it would, reveals in the film through old memories, poetry and heart-warming conversations. A lot of people may not like this movie and think of it as garbage, which I know would happen but let me put it this way: Not everyone can understand the true meaning of this film. You have to understand what is going on, you have to think of the story from everyone’s perspective which requires your attention, demands your concentration because the real meaning is hidden in those delicate and usual conversations between the old couple, Georges and Anne whom are played by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva respectively. Emmanuelle Riva’s performance is out of this world, and I’m quite disappointed in myself that I had never heard of her before. The way she has carried out her role throughout the film seems ridiculously natural and it makes you feel so bad to see her like that.

The film’s plot is based on an identical situation that happened in Haneke’s family and I think that fact makes this film so close to him and that’s why he was able to turn it into a wonderful piece of love as the title explains itself. This film has a slow-pace and it keeps going at the same pace until the end and is still able to offer so much which is both magical and thought-provoking. Why is it thought-provoking? Because it made me think that God forbid it happens to me, anyone I know (i.e. my family member or a friend) or even anyone I don’t know at all, it would be so hard for them to go through all of this. I felt terrible for the couple at times, as Eva (the couple’s daughter who is married and is also going through a rough phase so she doesn’t get much time to visit her parents) asks Georges about Anne’s worsening condition to which he replies that, “Things will go on as they have done up until now. They’ll go from bad to worse. Things will go on, and then one day it will all be over.” This line moved me especially what Georges did which requires more than courage to do to someone you love more than your own life. How hard it is to lose someone you have loved your whole life but one day, all of a sudden, it all ends and you have no idea what to do with your life anymore because you’re old, you’re tired of everything and you want nothing but your loved one for the rest of your life and that is the only thing you can’t get. How hard it could be to endure this, which I cannot even think of imagining because it is one of the hardest things to do, to be able learn to live without someone you have loved your entire life because you give up eventually and you are not able find any purpose to live any more.

Michael Haneke has done a wonderful job on this film, it really deserves to be appreciated by every film lover and even if you don’t watch films, you still need to watch this, because it has a strong message for everybody including me: A message of love, affection and commitment, which has been delivered properly. Amour has also taught me to love my parents even more, to be there for them at all times because they are an essential part of our lives, they sacrifice their own happiness for us because they want to see us happy but we don’t give them anything in return when the tables are turned which is dreadful. What could be better than this compliment that after watching this film I went downstairs and hugged my parents and told them how much I love them. I thank Michael Haneke for teaching me the true meaning of love. This is an extremely tough film to watch at some points, and it gave me chills on more than one occasions. Amour is easily one of the best and greatest films of the year 2012.