“12 Years A Slave,” Steve McQueen’s harrowing adaptation of the memoir of a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War era Deep South, clearly made an impact among members of the Chicago Film Critics Association. The highly acclaimed drama led all contenders for the group’s annual awards with a stunning 11 nominations, including Best Picture, McQueen for Best Director, John Ridley for Adapted Screenplay, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor for his performance in the lead role, Michael Fassbender for Supporting Actor, newcomer Lupita Nyong’o for Supporting Actress and Promising Performer as well as slots in the categories for Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction/Production Design and Editing.
Tying for second place with seven nominations each were two very different visions of humans grappling with technology. “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuaron’s visually stunning thriller about an outer space mission gone awry that threatens to leave a lone astronaut stranded in the cosmos received earned the filmmaker nominations for Director and Editing and nods for Best Picture, Art Direction/Production Design, Cinematography, Original Score and a Best Actress bid for Sandra Bullock. “Her,” an oddball comedy-drama about a lonely man who finds himself developing a touching relationship with his computer’s new and highly advanced operating system, also found itself among the Best Picture nominees and also found Spike Jonze shortlisted for Director and Original Screenplay, rock group Arcade Fire cited for Original Score, Scarlett Johansson nominated for Supporting Actress for her voice-only performance as the operating system in question and additional nods for Cinematography and Art Direction/Set Direction.
Among the other top nominees, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Joel & Ethan Coen’s look at a few days in the life of a troubled folk singer in the era just before the arrival of Bob Dylan, received nods for Best Picture, the Coens for Director and Original Screenplay, Oscar Isaac for Best Actor, Cinematography and Art Direction/Production Design and “American Hustle,” David O. Russell’s comedic look at the Abscam sting operation of the late 1970s, rounded out the Best Picture category and found Russell nominated for Director and Original Screenplay (along with Eric Singer), Jennifer Lawrence in the running for Best Supporting Actress and an additional citation for Editing and the powerful French drama “Blue is the Warmest Color” received a nomination for Foreign-Language Film while Lea Seydoux made the cut for Supporting Actress and her co-star, newcomer Adele Exarchopoulos, found herself in the running for Best Actress and Most Promising Performer. Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” and the shocking documentary “The Act of Killing” each received three nominations and “The Wind Rises,” the latest and apparently the last film from animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, received nominations for both Foreign-Language Film and Animated Feature. (Interestingly, one of its competitors in the latter category is “From Up on Poppy Hill,” which he co-wrote and which was directed by his son, Goro.)
Now in its 24th year, the CFCA will announce its winners in a ceremony to be held on the evening of December 16, 2013.
BEST PICTURE
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen–Inside Llewyn Davis
Alfonso Cuaron–Gravity
Spike Jonze–Her
Steve McQueen–12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell–American Hustle
BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern–Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor–12 Years A Slave
Oscar Isaac–Inside Llewyn Davis
Matthew McConaughey–Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford–All Is Lost
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett–Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock–Gravity
Adele Exarchopoulos–Blue is the Warmest Color
Brie Larson–Short Term 12
Meryl Streep–August: Osage County
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi–Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender–12 Years A Slave
James Franco–Spring Breakers
James Gandolfini–Enough Said
Jared Leto–Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Scarlett Johansson–Her
Jennifer Lawrence–American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o–12 Years A Slave
Lea Seydoux–Blue is the Warmest Color
June Squibb–Nebraska
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle–Eric SInger & David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine–Woody Allen
Her–Spike Jonze
Inside Llewyn Davis–Joel & Ethan Coen
Nebraska–Bob Nelson
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years A Slave–John Ridley
August: Osage County–Tracey Letts
Before Midnight–Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Philomena–Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street–Terrence Winter
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Act of Killing
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Hunt
Wadjda
The Wind Rises
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
From Up on Poppy Hill
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 Years A Slave–Sean Bobbitt
Gravity–Emmanuel Lubezki
Her–Hoyte Van Hoytema
Inside Llewyn Davis–Bruno Delbonnel
Prisoners–Roger Deakins
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
12 Years A Slave–Hans Zimmer
Blancanieves–Alfonso de Vilallongo
Gravity–Steven Price
Her–Arcade Fire
Spring Breakers–Cliff Martinez and Skrillex
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 Years A Slave
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST EDITING
12 Years A Slave–Joe Walker
American Hustle–Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers
Gravity–Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger
Upstream Color–Shane Carruth & David Lowery
The Wolf of Wall Street–Thelma Schoonmaker
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Lake Bell–In A World
Ryan Coogler–Fruitvale Station
Destin Cretton–Short Term 12
Joseph Gordon-Levitt–Don Jon
Joshua Oppenheimer–The Act of Killing
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Barkhad Abdi–Captain Phillips
Chadwick Boseman–42
Adele Exarchopoulos–Blue is the Warmest Color
Lupita Nyong’o–12 Years A Slave
Tye Sheridan–Mud
By Number Of Nominations Received:
11 nominations: 12 Years A Slave
7 nominations: Gravity, Her
6 nominations: Inside Llewyn Davis
5 nominations: American Hustle
4 nominations: Blue is the Warmest Color
3 nominations: The Act of Killing, Nebraska
2 nominations: August: Osage County, Blue Jasmine, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Spring Breakers, The Wind Rises, The Wolf of Wall Street
1 nomination: 42, 20 Feet from Stardom, All is Lost, The Armstrong Lie, Before Midnight, Blackfish, Blancanieves, The Croods, Don Jon, Enough Said, From Up on Poppy Hill, Frozen, Fruitvale Station, The Great Gatsby, The Hunt, In A World, Monsters University, Mud, Philomena, Prisoners, Stories We Tell, Upstream Color, Wadjda.
