Inaugural Sunset Circle award nominees announced

Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal

The Sunset Film Critics Circle is yet another fledgling critics group springing up out of nowhere for no other purpose than to dole out a set of irrelevant, inconsequential and - in this case at least - uneducated year-end awards. But I'm a member of such a group, so I've nothing against them, save for the fact that their 2020 slate of nominees is unfortunately light on non-English language fare after a year in which mainstream American cinema has been rather the supporting player. They don't even have a category for it!

Of interest is that the Sunset Critics have reversed the presumed category placement for the Hillbilly Elegy female leads - so these six critics won't likely have much influence on Academy members when they vote several months from now, but these nominations may be among only a few that the critics bestow upon these particular actors and that might be a sign. Could this be Amy Adams' year at last, and not Glenn Close's?

Winners announced a week from today - 1 December.

BEST FILM

The Father

The King of Staten Island

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Mank

Minari

Nine Days

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

Saint Maud

Sound of Metal

BEST DIRECTOR

Lee Isaac Chung – Minari

David Fincher – Mank

Darius Marder – Sound of Metal

Florian Zeller – The Father

Chloe Zhao – Nomadland

BEST ACTOR

Ben Affleck – The Way Back

Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Winston Duke – Nine Days

Anthony Hopkins – The Father

BEST ACTRESS

Morfydd Clark – Saint Maud

Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy

Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman

Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Bill Burr – The King of Staten Island

Bill Murray – On The Rocks

Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami

Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

Stanley Tucci – Supernova

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – Hillbilly Elegy

Zazie Beetz – Nine Days

Olivia Colman – The Father

Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Youn Yuh-jung – Minari

BEST ENSEMBLE

Hillbilly Elegy

The King of Staten Island

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Minari

The Prom

BEST SCREENPLAY

The Father – Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller

Minari – Lee Isaac Chung

Nine Days – Edson Oda

Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell

Sound of Metal – Derek Cianfrance & Darius Marder

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Gretel & Hansel – Galo Olivares

Mank – Erik Messerschmidt

Nomadland – Joshua James Richards

Sound of Metal – Daniël Bouquet

Tenet – Hoyte Van Hoytema

BEST SCORE

First Cow – William Tyler

Gretel & Hansel – Robin Coudert

Minari – Emile Mosseri

Soul – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Tenet – Ludwig Göransson

BEST BREAKTHROUGH

Kiera Allen – Run

Nicole Beharie – Miss Juneteenth

Joe Kerry – Spree

Orion Lee – First Cow

Jo Ellen Pellman – The Prom

SCENE STEALER

Michael Keaton – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Gabourey Sidibe – Antebellum

Toby Wallace – Babyteeth

Wil Wheaton – Rent-A-Pal

DIRECTORS TO WATCH

Radha Blank – The 40-Year-Old Version

Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Rose Glass – Saint Maud

Edson Oda – Nine Days

Jon Stevenson – Rent-A-Pal