BAFTAs 2018: A fawn fest or a pivotal moment in the #MeToo movement?
Grab yourself some fish & chips, a glob of marmite, and some poor dental work, because the British Academy Film Awards were given out over the weekend and Blighty is abuzz. As in, literally, nobody has slept out of sheer excitement. We all know that these award ceremonies mean everything to the world, right? Especially when a single film is rewarded non-stop for seemingly no reason . . . *
Yes, the UK held its very own little Oscars-warm-up on Sunday, by inviting a bunch of superstars to come and sit in the audience and fawn over this year’s BAFTA winners. As such, we’ve decided to look at some of the winners, the snubs, and the WTFs!
On the Best Director side of things, Guillermo del Toro (unsurprisingly) scooped the face-shaped award for The Shape of Water, as his beautiful tale about Michael Shannon trying to stop Sally Hawkins from making love to a fish continues to sweep awards season. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan looked a little forlorn, as his Dunkirk was left with almost nothing to its name besides Best Sound. We weep for you, Christopher!
Ridley Scott was rewarded BAFTA’s highest honor – the Fellowship – which meant he had fifteen minutes of stage time to tell his life story. Thankfully he’s a pretty cool guy and just used it to talk about that weird Blade Runner thing everybody’s forgotten about.
Elsewhere, Gary Oldman won Best Actor, rubbishing Daniel Day-Lewis’ dreams of one final little award before he retires. Oldman’s performance in Darkest Hour was riveting, sure, but the prosthetics largely did the work we reckon, while Day-Lewis was just an absolute storm of a man in Phantom Thread. In addition, Frances McDormand won for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. As expected. All to plan. So predictable.
Thankfully one of the neat moments of the night was Daniel Kaluuya winning the audience-voted Rising Star award. Kaluuya ran up to the stage dressed with his #TimesUp pin. He used his speech to give his thanks to his mother, and it was a pretty heart-warming moment. It’s a real shame Get Out hasn’t got the awards attention it deserves, but Kaluuya getting his few minutes certainly helped to soothe that sore.
Fourteen times Oscar-nominee and cinematographer of our time, Roger Deakins, also nabbed Best Cinematography for his seminal work on Blade Runner 2049. Deakins is in prime position to finally get the Oscar he’s been chasing his entire life, but Hoyte van Hoytema (Dunkirk) might just sink his dreams.
In other categories, Baby Driver won Best Editing for stuffing too many songs into its runtime and Phantom Thread scooped Best Costuming because, I mean, does this one need explaining? Darkest Hour won for Prosthetics & Make-up too.
One of the most controversial moves of the night was the showering of Three Billboards with every other award. The film from Martin McDonagh has received a lot of commentary over his problematic depictions of the issues of race. Overall, it’s a pretty good movie – but bagging Best Original Screenplay, Best British Film, and Best Film might all just be a step too far.
We’re at the very least thankful to see the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements showing off to the widest possible audience with yet another blackout red carpet dress code. Echoing the so-called protest at the Golden Globes, numerous actors wore all black in “solidarity” with those standing against abuse in the industry. Although the intentions are good, it’s unclear whether these supposed acts of solidarity are effective, or just another example of virtue-signaling in Versace.
That’s all from the 2018 BAFTA Awards, folks – the ceremony that for some reason keeps on going. If you’re disappointed it’s over for another year, do not fret, because the Oscars are coming up next week, and it’s poised to be a riveting night of watching mostly rich white people receiving gold statuettes. How much excitement can we fit into one week?
*Editor’s note: Film Daily cannot be held accountable for the terrifying levels of sarcasm presented by its staff writers.
