Film Awards Spotlight: T.O. critics sing Carol

December 16, 2015Norman Wilner

The Toronto Film Critics Association fell hard for Carol, naming the lush romance – starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett as a shopgirl and a privileged older woman drawn to one another in early 50s Manhattan – the best picture of 2015.

Todd Haynes was awarded the best director prize in one of several instances of twinned honours issued by the group of 40 Toronto-area critics. (Full disclosure: I am the vice president and secretary of the TFCA.)

The organization also named the finalists for this year’s Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, which carries a cash prize of $100,000: The Forbidden Room, Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson’s giddy celebration of nested narratives Philippe Falardeau’s bright-eyed political satire My Internship In Canada, and Andrew Cividino’s breakout coming-of-age drama Sleeping Giant.

The winner will be announced at the TFCA’s awards gala on January 5.

Nina Hoss was named best actress for her performance as a woman forced to impersonate her pre-WWII self in Christian Petzold’s textured thriller Phoenix, which also won best foreign-language film. And Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress for her turn as an enigmatic AI in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, which was named best first feature.

Tom Hardy was his own double act, winning best actor for his dual performance as identical twin gangsters Reginald and Ronald Kray in Brian Helgeland’s Legend it’s also the second straight win for Hardy in that category after last year’s solo tour de force in Steven Knight’s Locke.

Hardy was also up for supporting actor this year for his work in The Revenant – though the prize ultimately went to Mark Rylance for Bridge Of Spies.

And Joshua Oppenheimer, who won the TFCA’s Allan King Documentary Award in 2013 for The Act Of Killing, won the prize again for its equally shattering companion piece, The Look Of Silence.

The Big Short – adapted by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay from Michael Lewis’s book – won best screenplay, and Aardman Animations’ Shaun The Sheep Movie took best animated feature. Not baaaad.

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The full list of TFCA Awards winners and runners-up:

BEST PICTURE

Carol (Entertainment One)

Runners-up: Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner Bros.) Spotlight (Entertainment One)

BEST ACTOR

Tom Hardy, Legend

Runners-up: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

BEST ACTRESS

Nina Hoss, Phoenix

Runners-up: Cate Blanchett, Carol Brie Larson, Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies

Runners-up: Benicio Del Toro, Sicario Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Runners-up: Rooney Mara, Carol Kristen Stewart, Clouds Of Sils Maria

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Haynes, Carol

Runners-up: Tom McCarthy, Spotlight George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road Denis Villeneuve, Sicario

BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL

The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, based on the book by Michael Lewis

Runners-up: Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman, based on his play Carol, Phyllis Nagy, based on the novel The Price Of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith Spotlight, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy