Toronto Film Critics Association names Parasite the year's best movie
The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open, Antigone and Firecrackers are nominated for the best Canadian film prize
by Radheyan SimonpillaiThe Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is high on Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, voting the absurd dark comedy about class warfare Best Picture and Best Foreign-Language Film.
The organization, which counts the NOW film team as members, also announced the nominees for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award. Sophie Deraspe’s French-Canadian immigrant fable Antigone (now playing), Jasmin Mozaffari’s gritty and stylish small town drama Firecrackers and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn’s spare but powerful look drama about a chance meeting between two Indigenous women, The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open (opens Friday), will compete for the $100,000 prize.
Parasite filmmaker Bong also creeped into the winner's circle to claim the Best Director award, leaving Martin Scorsese and Noah Baumbach as runner-ups. Scorsese’s mob epic The Irishman and Baumbach’s Marriage Story were runner-ups in the Best Picture category as well. Both films triumphed elsewhere.
Marriage Story landed two acting prizes. Adam Driver was named Best Actor for his devastating performance as a theatre director going through a divorce. Laura Dern, who plays a divorce lawyer, took home the Best Supporting Actress prize. Both Driver and Dern triumphed over Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler and Julia Fox – the runner-ups in those respective categories – who play lovers in the high-anxiety thriller.
The Irishman eeked out a win in the Best Screenplay category. Screenwriter Steven Zallian’s simple but powerful words (“It is what it is”) triumphed over the verbose, show-stopping speeches in Marriage Story.
While the Golden Globes failed to nominate Lupita Nyong’o for her performance in Jordan Peele's Us, the TFCA recognized her in the Best Actress category. Brad Pitt won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood, edging out Joe Pesci’s low-key performance in The Irishman.
In a win for white feminism and performative woke-sterism, the TFCA gave their Best First Feature prize to Olivia Wilde's comedy-of-age Booksmart. That film triumphed over Atlantics, Mati Diop's tremendous debut feature about Senegelese women haunted by lost men. Melina Matsoukas's Queen & Slim was also a runner-up
The Best Animated Feature award went to stop-motion animation studio Laika’s Missing Link, while the Allan King Documentary Film Award went to Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's American Factory.
In a previous announcement, the TFCA named TIFF’s outgoing Executive Director Michèle Maheux the recipient of the Clyde Gilmour Award. The prize comes with Technicolor services valued at $50,000 for a filmmaker chosen by the honouree. Maheux chose to reward Toronto filmmaker Lina Rodriguez who is behind domestic Colombian dramas like Senoritas and This Time Tomorrow.
Rodriguez will receive that prize at the association's January 9 gala where the winners for Best Canadian Film and the Jay Scott Prize for an Emerging artist will also be announced.
Check out the full list of winners and runners up below:
Best Picture
Parasite
Runners-up
The Irishman, Marriage Story
Best Actor
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Runners-up
Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems; Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Best Actress
Lupita Nyong'o, Us
Runners-up
Renée Zellweger, Judy; Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Runners-up
Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse; Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Runners-up
Florence Pugh, Little Women; Julia Fox, Uncut Gems
Best Director
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
Runners-up
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman; Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original
The Irishman by Steven Zaillian from the book by Charles Brandt
Runners-up
Parasite by Bong Joon-ho; Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach
Best First Feature
Booksmart directed by Olivia Wilde
Runners-up
Atlantics directed by Mati Diop; Queen & Slim directed by Melina Matsoukas
Best Animated Feature
Missing Link
Runners-up
Toy Story 4; How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; Frozen 2
Best Foreign-Language Film
Parasite
Runners-up
Pain And Glory; Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
Allan King Documentary Film Award
American Factory
Runners-up
Apollo 11; The Cave
Rogers Best Canadian Film Award finalists
The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open directed by Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Antigone directed by Sophie Deraspe
Firecrackers directed by Jasmin Mozaffari