Report
by Carol Allen (a member of the circle)
The Critics' Circle Film Awards and the
BAFTAs always make an interesting comparison, in that they're
both glamorous, star studded London based events, both have
some specifically British awards, as well as covering the
whole of the film spectrum and both have grown to occupy
much higher profile ground over the last decade. They also
jointly feed into the pre-Oscar frenzied guesswork about
who's going to win the little gold fellows in Hollywood The
BAFTAs however is a purely industry based event voted for
by BAFTA members with a nationally televised award ceremony,
this year expanded to fill the Royal Opera House, followed
by a private shindig away from the public eye. The CCAwards,
on the other hand, held this year at the Dorchester on 8th
February, four days before the BAFTAS, are voted on by the
circle's film critic members from all over the country. It
is a charity event in aid of the NSPCC and gives supporters
of the charity as well as guests of sponsors and critics,
who are otherwise not part of the film industry, an opportunity
to rub shoulders with the stars and at the same time do their
bit for a good cause. The event this year raised £42,000
for the children's' charity.
As far as the awards themselves were concerned,
it was no surprise that Helen Mirren picked up Best British
Actress Award for The
Queen. Had there not been a specifically
best British gong, she would probably have beaten Meryl Streep
as Best Actress overall, as she did with the BAFTAs. The
film itself scored highly at both events, (voted Best Screenwriter
and British Film of Year by the critics), as did Paul Greengrass's United
93 (British Producer of the Year and Film of the Year), while first time director
Andrea Arnold picked up her first of two best newcomer awards over the four
days. Guests at the Dorchester must have had something of a feeling of deja
vue when watching the BAFTAs on the Sunday, as some of the winners made virtually
the same speech! Helen Mirren's appearance at the Dorchester was something
of a pleasant
surprise, in that she had warned us she would be arriving late from filming,
wouldn't have time to put on her party dress and would have to leave immediately
afterwards. As it turned out, she appeared on time looking stunning (and indeed
regal) in a dark blue ball gown, and stayed on long after the ceremony mixing
with the guests and making a point of congratulating newcomer Arnold on her
award. In contrast her director Stephen Frears, ignoring formality, turned
up in what seems to be his awards ceremony uniform for this season - black
lounge suit and red trainers. Paul Greengrass of the flowing grey hair demonstrated
a similar dislike for the penguin suit in his outfit. Wonder if they'll show
a similar refreshing British informality at the Oscars?
Guests wishing to boast to their friends
about how many stars they'd spotted must have had a field
day, as nominees and winners were present in abundance. Toby
Jones picked up his British Actor of the Year award for Infamous,
and Pedro Almodovar, winner of the Foreign Language award,
brought his entire entourage to dine with him. Like the BAFTAs,
there were winners who couldn't make it, but British Supporting Actress and
Actor winners Emily Blunt and Michael Caine and Best Actor Forest Whitaker
made their thank you speeches via video link, while Meryl Streep's award was
picked up for her by Emma Thompson, who wore a glorious oyster pink silk gown
and made the wittiest speech of the evening, telling slightly risqué tales
about working with Meryl on Angels in America.
The Dilys Powell Award for Lifetime Achievement
(our “fellowship”) this year went to veteran
actor Leslie Phillips, currently starring with Peter O'Toole
in Venus. Leslie entertained the audience with reminiscences
of his long career, still fresh in his
mind from writing his just published autobiography, while a cartoon of the
actor, drawn specially for the event by NSPCC supporter Gerald Scarfe, raised £2,100
for the charity later by auction.
Other celebrities who contributed to the
evening by co-presenting awards with the critics or thanking
on behalf of absent winners, included Jodie Whittaker the
young co-star of Venus, Charles Dance, Tom Courtenay and
Anne Reid, a former best British actress winner for The Mother,
who picked up Michael Caine's award for him and was looking
forward to giving it to him later. The whole event was wittily
co-hosted by presenters Mariella Frostup and Paul Gambaccini.
Both Reid and Courtenay were sitting at
the same table as me and my guest, where Courtenay was telling
us how much he had enjoyed recently working on the forthcoming
film The Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman's His Dark
Materials trilogy, in which he plays the small but important
role of Farder Corum. The young woman sitting on my other
side, who was there as guest of a fellow critic and nothing
to do with movies apart from being a film fan, was mightily
impressed by all this,
as she was by having Leslie Phillips and Samantha Bond sitting just behind
her and all the onstage celebrities within spitting distance on the stage.
Just the sort of thing that makes the Critics' Circle Film Awards just that
little bit different from your run of the mill awards do.
Full list of winners
for the 27th Awards of the London Film Critics’ Circle:
British Producer of the Year
Greengrass, Levin, Bevan and Fellner (United 93)
Screenwriter of the Year
Peter Morgan (The Queen)
British Newcomer of the Year
Andrea Arnold (Red Road)
British Actress of the Year in
a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears
Prada)
British Actor of the Year in a
Supporting Role
Michael Caine (The Prestige)
British Actress of the Year
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
British Actor of the Year
Toby Jones (Infamous)
British Director of the Year
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Foreign Film
Volver
Actress of the Year
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Actor of the Year
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Director of the Year
Paul Greengrass (United 93)
The Attenborough Award for British
Film of the Year
The Queen
Film of the Year
United 93
Dilys Powell Award
Leslie Phillips
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