Writer and comedian David Mitchell had some trenchant things
to say in his column in The Observer last week about awards ceremonies and the
inclusion of Andrea Risborough in the list of best actress nominees.
He said he had not realised the Oscar system involved luxury
dinners, private Academy screenings, meet-and-greets, splashy television spots
and magazine profiles. He knew there was a ”bit of schmoozing” but not an
official schedule during which film-makers were required to proclaim themselves
deserving of an Oscar. Whoever decided awards should just watch the films and
vote for what they thought was best, he said.
That is what some 120 or thereabouts of Britain’s film
critics did last night when they held their annual Critics’ Circle Film Awards
in London – they were honouring films and performances they had watched. I can
assure you there is no schmoozing.
Both Marianne Gray, who reviews for Movies1, and I chaired
the awards for about ten years in total. The nominees were chosen by ballot and
the second ballot was held to find a winner who was in due course invited to
attend the awards ceremony. Sometimes the invitation was accepted and they turned
up in person, sometimes they accepted on video from Hollywood because they were
busy – not working on a film but doing that Oscar round of schmoozing.
One Oscar nominee this year who did attend, however, was
Paul Mescal , in the best actor list for Aftersun. He has just ended a run in
Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida in London and is shortly about to
transfer in it to the West End.
Mitchell argued that the surrounding events at the Oscars
undermined the integrity of the process. Well there are no surrounding events
for the Critics’ Circle Film Awards so read the list of winners for what it is
– the result of votes cast by an unbiased, uninfluenced electorate.
WILLIAM RUSSELL
- You can see the full list of Critics’ Circle award winners at https://movies1.tv/awards
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