BAFTA Award Nominations Highlight The Artist, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Hugo

Today the British Academy of Film Television Arts (BAFTA) announced their nominations.  BAFTA is the UK's version of the Academy Awards. These awards typically help give a good perspective on the Academy Awards.  


British films/actors typically are always given nominations, and these nominations do not always follow to the Oscars, like Judi Dench's nomination for My Week with Marilyn, which is a throw away nomination.  Meanwhile BAFTA also picks some pretty great surprises with Brit Lynne Ramsey nominated for Best Director for We Need to Talk About Kevin.


Two films received a major boost here, Drive, and Tinker Tailor  Soldier Spy.  Spy has the second most nominations with 11 including Best Picture.  Meanwhile Drive garnered 4 nominations, including the Best Picture race too.


The Artist has solidified its front runner status with a total of 12 nominations.  Meanwhile The Descendants which won at the Globes only received 3 nominations setting this film back a bit.  The other big surprise in the world of frontrunners is that Hugo received 9 nominations and no Best Picture nomination.  Hugo is still a serious threat but this weakens its chances. At the middle ground My Week with Marilyn (a British film) received 6 nominations The Help had 5, and War Horse had 5 nominations.


This award show tends to have an impact or helps to predict the winners, it can also help predict some surprise nominations because many of the members of the Academy are British.  Here is the complete list of nominations:

BEST FILM

• THE ARTIST – Thomas Langmann
• THE DESCENDANTS – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
• DRIVE – Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
• THE HELP – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

DIRECTOR

• THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
• DRIVE Nicolas – Winding Refn
• HUGO – Martin Scorsese
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tomas Alfredson
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay

LEADING ACTOR

• BRAD PITT – Moneyball
• GARY OLDMAN – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• GEORGE CLOONEY – The Descendants
• JEAN DUJARDIN – The Artist
• MICHAEL FASSBENDER – Shame

LEADING ACTRESS

• BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist – Film
• MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
• MICHELLE WILLIAMS – My Week with Marilyn
• TILDA SWINTON – We Need to Talk About Kevin
• VIOLA DAVIS – The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER – Beginners
• JIM BROADBENT – The Iron Lady
• JONAH HILL – Moneyball
• KENNETH BRANAGH – My Week with Marilyn
• PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• CAREY MULLIGAN – Drive
• JESSICA CHASTAIN – The Help
• JUDI DENCH – My Week with Marilyn
• MELISSA MCCARTHY – Bridesmaids
• OCTAVIA SPENCER – The Help

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
• SENNA – Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
• SHAME – Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – _Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• ATTACK THE BLOCK – Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
• BLACK POND – Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
• CORIOLANUS – Ralph Fiennes (Director)
• SUBMARINE – Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
• TYRANNOSAUR – Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

DOCUMENTARY

• GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD – Martin Scorsese
• PROJECT NIM – James Marsh, Simon Chinn
• SENNA – Asif Kapadia

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
• BRIDESMAIDS – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
• THE GUARD – John Michael McDonagh
• THE IRON LADY – Abi Morgan
• MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• THE DESCENDANTS – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
• THE HELP – Tate Taylor
• THE IDES OF MARCH – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
• MONEYBALL – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• INCENDIES – Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
• PINA – Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
• POTICHE – François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
• A SEPARATION – Asghar Farhadi
• THE SKIN I LIVE IN – Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

ANIMATED FILM

• HE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Steven Spielberg
• ARTHUR CHRISTMAS – Sarah Smith
• RANGO – Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• THE ARTIST – Ludovic Bource
• THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
• HUGO Howard – Shore
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Alberto Iglesias
• WAR HORSE – John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• THE ARTIST – Guillaume Schiffman
• THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Jeff Cronenweth
• HUGO – Robert Richardson
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Hoyte van Hoytema
• WAR HORSE – Janusz Kaminski

EDITING

• THE ARTIST – Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
• DRIVE – Mat Newman
• HUGO – Thelma Schoonmaker
• SENNA – Gregers Sall, Chris King
• TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER – SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• THE ARTIST – Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
• HUGO – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
• WAR HORSE – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN

• THE ARTIST – Mark Bridges
• HUGO – Sandy Powell
• JANE EYRE – Michael O’Connor
• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jill Taylor
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Jacqueline Durran

SOUND

• THE ARTIST – Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
• HUGO – Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
• WAR HORSE – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Joe Letteri
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
• HUGO – Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
• RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
• WAR HORSE – Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

MAKE UP & HAIR

• THE ARTIST – Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
• HUGO Morag – Ross, Jan Archibald
• THE IRON LADY – Marese Langan
• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION

• ABUELAS – Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
• BOBBY YEAH – Robert Morgan
• A MORNING STROLL – Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM

• CHALK – Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
• MWANSA THE GREAT – Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
• ONLY SOUND REMAINS – Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
• PITCH BLACK HEIST – John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
• TWO AND TWO – Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD

• ADAM DEACON
• CHRIS HEMSWORTH
• TOM HIDDLESTON
• CHRIS O’DOWD
• EDDIE REDMAYNE

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the Most Proper, Well Mannered and a Near Perfect take on the World Britain During the 1970s and the Cold War

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (4 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Tomad Alfredson (Let the Right One In)

Written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan 

Starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Collin Firth, and John Hurt



Tinker Tailor Solider Spy  is based on the 1974 spy novel by John le Carre.  The interesting thing about this will be that this may be the shortest review I have ever done for a film.  Yet this was a brilliant film.

The film itself centers around an intelligence expert named George Smiley (Gary Oldman).  Smiley is forced into retirement but then is brought back secretly to investigate the presence of a mole in the "Circus" the highest level of the Secret Intelligent Service in Britain.  Explaining more about the film would be difficult because one there are specific details and key plot points I do not want to give away and also because of the complicated structure in understanding British intelligence during this period.

After seeing the film I decided that I wanted to learn more about the novel the subject material was based on, and British Intelligence.  I was also a history major in college so understanding the basic history and time period was important to me.  I think understanding the historical context and British intelligence is an important element of this film.  So many films like the Bond series capture a vantage point that details things as well as this film. This is one of the flaws that is not the films fault.

 The film at times was so meticulous and precise then if you looked away or sneezed you could become lost in the films subject matter.  The script is sharp, and well written, and adapts one of the largest books that was once a mini-series into a well made two hour film.  That is no easy task.  Tomas Alfredson who directed the Swedish film Let the Right One In was the perfect choice to direct this film.  Alfredson is an expert at taking the world of espionage and creating such a dark and twisted journey that involves sex, intrigue, and one intense ride.

The real star of this film is Gary Oldman.  Oldman is one of my favorite actors working today.  This man can take a role and we can lose site of the actual actor.  Oldman has done this flawlessly in films like The  Contender, Hannibal, the most recent Batman series, the Harry Potter series, and Air Force One.  This is his best performance; he is stoic, yet incredibly powerful in every interaction he has on camera.  Whether Smiley is trying to get Tom Hardy's character to divulge his source for knowing there was a mole, or using his expert knowledge to make the actual mole (not divulging who) reveal there sordid plan.

The film's message is one of loneliness. These men and women who work for this agency have no where to turn, and no one they can share their secrets with.  Friendship, marriage, and any form of relationship goes out the window, and all in the name of love of one's country.