On Tuesday, January 24, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced the 2017 Oscar nominees. Three days later, I am finally getting around to finishing up my own lists of favorites from last year. I already posted my “best film” and “best acting” lists, so today’s post – about the (often) unsung artists and craftspeople who are essential to the filmmaking process – completes the triptych. Most of the time, the movie’s hyperlink will take you to my review, if one exists (and if not, I have a note explaining where the hyperlink takes you). I also hyperlink the artists’ names, as well (mostly to IMDb, but sometimes to their own personal websites), so you can see what other work they have produced over their careers. In the case of best score, I link to the movies’ soundtracks on Amazon or iTunes, as well.
For each category, I stick to 5 candidates, in alphabetical order. These are the films where I thought that the work in that particular area truly enhanced the quality of the movie. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments after you look it over!
Best Screenplay (adapted and original, combined):
- Captain Fantastic: (Matt Ross)
- Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, based on short stories by Maile Meloy)
- Hell or High Water (Taylor Sheridan)
- Loving (Jeff Nichols)
- Moonlight (Barry Jenkins – screenplay – and Tarell Alvin McCraney – story)
Best Cinematography:
- The Handmaiden (Chung-hoon Chung)
- La La Land (Linus Sandgren)
- The Lobster (Thimios Bakatakis)
- Loving (Adam Stone)
- Moonlight (James Laxton)
Best Editing*:
- Cameraperson (Nels Bangerter and Amanda Laws)
- Hell or High Water (Jake Roberts)
- The Last Man on the Moon (David Fairhead and Dan Haythorn)
- Miles Ahead (John Axelrad and Kayla Emter)
- 20th Century Women (Leslie Jones)
[*2 of these are documentaries – Cameraperson and The Last Man on the Moon – which are among the hardest kinds of films to edit, given the huge amount of material to work with, from which one must, somehow, extract a coherent story.]
Best Production Design:
- The Handmaiden (Seong-hie Ryu)
- La La Land (David Wasco)
- The Lobster (Jacqueline Abrahams)
- Miles Ahead (Hannah Beachler)
- Silence (Dante Ferretti)
Best Visual Effects**:
- Arrival (IMDb crew page)
- Deadpool (IMDb crew page)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (IMDb crew page)
- Pete’s Dragon (IMDb crew page)
- Tower (IMDb crew page)
[**Too many people to mention all, so I have simply hyperlinked, next to the title, to the movie’s crew page on IMDb page, where you can look at the multitude of people involved in the many visual-effects teams.]
Best Original Score***:
- Arrival (Jóhann Jóhannsson) – soundtrack on Amazon
- The Handmaiden (Yeong-wook Jo) – soundtrack on iTunes
- La La Land (Justin Hurwitz) – soundtrack on Amazon
- Moana (Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina and Lin-Manuel Miranda) – soundtrack on Amazon
- Moonlight (Nicholas Britell) – soundtrack on Amazon
***plus The Lobster for best choice of previously composed music (particularly Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1, Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato)
