Misstropolis

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

First Annual Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Event

by Tom Meek

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I would like to invite you to the very first, very exciting Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Event. Here’s the deal.

It’s rare that movie awards committees stray very far outside the lines of popular opinion. When they do they sometimes have a sense of forced snubbing about them, like Ryan Gosling two years ago for his performance as a drug addicted inner city school teacher in Half Nelson. Or they feel almost too good to be true like this year’s nods to Julie Christie for her poignant performance as an Alzheimer’s afflicted senior in Sarah Polley’s Away from Her, Mathieu Amalric for his performance as French magazine editor and stroke victim Jean-Dominique Bauby in Julian Schnabel’s brilliant, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Ellen Page as a restless pregnant teen in Juno.

And even if these choices are great, and worthy which I believe they are, are they truly the best? Do awards groups scour far and wide enough to offset the pervasive influence of popular sentiment? This is your chance to be the judge. Be a part of Boston history at the first annual Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards Night at the Brattle Theater and speak with the picks-masters themselves.

Critics’ groups around the country race to make their newsworthy and relevant picks first – every group wants to be more relevant than the next. Of course the press organization that carries the most Oscar season clout is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, they’re the ones behind the Golden Globes (and having a very tough year with that little writers’ strike and all).

The smaller and more obscure a groups announce their picks early, hoping that being first will lend if not relevance, at least some attention in the press. The National Board of Review always goes first. We in the Boston Society of Critics go early in December as well. Members of the BSFC are the folks who write for the local print media like the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Boston Phoenix, as well as entertainment reporters from radio and television.

Having have sat on many BSFC panels, I can tell you that the diverse array of opinions and tastes brings many intriguing possibilities from the far sides of the year’s work in cinema. This year’s most unique and exciting selection was in the Best Actor category: Frank Langella as a aging Manhattan novelist in the vein of Phillip Roth, reinvigorated by the attentions of a graduate student interested in his work in Starting Out in the Evening.

Intellectual power struggles, highbrow literary debates and sexual tension ensue. If you’re a writer of any form, you’ll chew on the lonely revelations of what it takes to write. And non-literary types are sure to be moved by the powerful portrayal of the struggle to remain relevant in the world as the clock winds down.

The BSFC was busy this year. We finally put up a website and announced this upcoming event, our very first award ceremony. The reception and screening will take place on Sunday, January 20th at the Brattle Theater. Reception from 5:00pm - 6:30pm, Screening & Award Presentation at 7:00pm.
Starting Out in the Evening also starring Lauren Ambrose, Lili Taylor and Adrian Lester will be screened at 7pm.

Awards recipient Frank Langella will be in attendance as will other local award recipients like Nick Paleologos of the Massachusetts Film Bureau - one of the people responsible for turning Boston into Beanywood (!) and you’re invited too.

Ticket and sales information are at the Brattle’s website. Hope to see you there.