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    L.A. Film Critics Name Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” Best Film of the Year

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments902 Views
    This image released by A24 shows Sandra Hüller in a scene from "The Zone of Interest." (A24 via AP)
    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Jonathan Glazer's chilling Auschwitz-set drama, "The Zone of Interest," has been named best movie of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

    The critics group, which announced its picks late Sunday after a day-long meeting, also awarded prizes for Glazer's directing and Mica Levi's score. It selected Sandra Hüller, who stars in both "The Zone of Interest" and the French courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Fall," for one of its two lead performance awards.

    The critics, as they often do, deviated considerably from their East Coast corollary, the New York Film Critics Circle. That group earlier named Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" the year's best film.

    The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which doesn't delineate gender in its acting categories, gave all four of its acting awards to women.

    In the lead acting category, the winners were Hüller and Emma Stone, the star of Yorgos Lanthimos' Frankenstein riff "Poor Things." The supporting performance prizes went to Rachel McAdams for the Judy Blume adaptation "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"; and to Da'Vine Joy Randolph, co-star of the boarding school comedy-drama "The Holdovers."

    Last year, "Tár" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" tied for the group's top prize. This year's awards will be handed out in a ceremony on Jan. 13.

    Here's a full list of the picks by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association:

    Best Film: "The Zone of Interest"

    Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, "The Zone of Interest"

    Best Lead Performance: Sandra Hüller, "Anatomy of a Fall" and "The Zone of Interest"; and Emma Stone, "Poor Things"

    Best Supporting Performance: Rachel McAdams, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"; and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"

    Best Non-English Language Film: "Anatomy of a Fall"

    New Generation Award: Celine Song, "Past Lives"

    Best Screenplay: Andrew Haigh, "All of Us Strangers"

    Best Documentary: "Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros"

    Best Animated Film: "The Boy and the Heron"

    Best Editing: Laurent Sénéchal, "Anatomy of a Fall"

    Best Production Design: Sarah Greenwood, "Barbie"

    Best Score: Mica Levi, "The Zone of Interest," with a recognition also of sound designer Johnnie Burn

    Best Cinematography: Robbie Ryan, "Poor Things"

    Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize: "Youth (Spring)"

    Career Achievement Award: Agnieszka Holland

    Category:News
    Tags:Jonathan GlazerLos Angeles Film Critics AssociationPoor ThingsThe HoldoversThe Zone of Interest



    Review: Director Ben Taylor’s “Joy”

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    Toward the end of Netflix's "Joy," the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace out of pure bliss. They aren't the parents, but they had as much to do with the birth as the mom and dad.

    This charming and winning movie charts the decade-long true story of how the world's first IVF baby was born in England in 1978 — a 5-pound, 12-ounce girl who paved the way for millions more. It's an upbeat, very English affair, mixing sober discussion of endometriosis with chocolate biscuits.

    The couple embracing that day were pioneering scientist Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist. Together with surgeon Patrick Steptoe, the trio succeeded with in vitro fertilization, a method of treating infertility. Edwards would go on to win the Nobel Prize.

    "Joy" has been birthed at a time when science is under threat in America — even IVF — so it's downright inspiring to see plucky, smart scientists working hard to change the world. "What we're doing, it matters," says Steptoe, played with quiet economy by Bill Nighy.

    "Joy" is the personal stories of the three scientists — mostly through the eyes of Purdy, a polite lab-coated warrior. "If I hear a commotion, I'm not very good at staying out of it," she says. Perfectly played by Thomasin McKenzie, Purdy is both vulnerable and strong, learning through the process to be a better human. James Norton plays Edwards with charm, self-doubt and calm spirit.

    Jack Thorne's script nicely explains the massive pressure the trio faced. IVF may have become common and uncontroversial over the last decades, but back in the late '70s it was experimental and shunned. The Anglican church called it a sin, the newspapers labeled it Frankenstein-ish and other... Read More

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