Great Movies
"Lady Bird," Greta Gerwig’s delightful semi-autobiographical look at the relationship between an equally headstrong mother and daughter set over the course of the latter’s senior year in high school, was named the winner of the Chicago Film Critics Association’s award for the Best Picture of 2017 in a ceremony held tonight. The film, which went into the ceremony with six nominations, was the big winner of the evening with four awards in total, including Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan and Best Supporting Actress for Laurie Metcalf, as well as Gerwig herself for Most Promising Filmmaker.
Coming in second in the award count was "Call Me By Your Name," Luca Guadagnino’s acclaimed adaptation of Andre Aciman’s novel centered on the unexpected relationship that develops between a 17-year-old and the 24-year-old grad student who comes to live with his family at their villa in Northern Italy during the summer of 1983. Acclaimed filmmaker James Ivory received the award for Adapted Screenplay and Timothée Chalamet was named both Best Actor and Most Promising Performer of 2017. The only other film to win multiple awards was Denis Villeneuve’s "Blade Runner 2049," the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, which won two prizes: Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
Christopher Nolan was named Best Director for his WWII epic "Dunkirk," Willem Dafoe was named Best Supporting Actor for his turn as a harried motel manager in "The Florida Project," Jordan Peele won the Original Screenplay prize for his audacious horror-social satire hybrid "Get Out," Best Original Score went to Johnny Greenwood for his music for "Phantom Thread," and Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss won Best Editing for their work on the kinetic action thriller "Baby Driver." "The Square," Ruben Östlund’s outrageous satire centered on the world of modern art, was named Best Foreign Film; Pixar’s "Coco" won the prize for Animated Feature; and "Jane," Brett Morgen’s film focusing on the life and work of primatology scientist Jane Goodall, won the Best Documentary award.
THE 2017 CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
BEST PICTURE: Lady Bird
BEST DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
BEST ACTOR: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
BEST ACTRESS: Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Jordan Peele, Get Out
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Square
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Jane
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Coco
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
BEST EDITING: Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, Baby Driver
BEST ART DIRECTION: Blade Runner 2049
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Johnny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
BY THE NUMBERS
4 Awards—Lady Bird
3 Awards—Call Me By Your Name
2 Awards—Blade Runner 2049
1 Award—Baby Driver, Coco, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, Jane, Phantom Thread, The Square
Peter Sobczynski is a contributor to eFilmcritic.com and Magill's Cinema Annual and can be heard weekly on the nationally syndicated "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" radio show.
