The 1998 Critics Consensus Award Winners
Just as it started, so too does it end. A quiet, predictable victory amidst so much oddness in Saving Private Ryan's Best Picture win from the critics in 1998, one of the least predictable frames overall for these Critics Consensus Awards. You may recall the unusual choices film journalists collectively made that year in their awards and poll voting from my earlier reveal of the '98 nominations, though pleasantly unusual, finding space to honour movies otherwise mostly undersung by industry groups. That same feature extends to the year's awards, as three of four acting winners were not nominated for an Oscar (and two of those three never have been either), while neither Screenplay award winner appears in the Best Picture lineup. But it's nominations leader Saving Private Ryan's show in the end, as the only movie from '98 to win more than one award. A lovely detail: both leading acting winners performed LGBTQIA+ characters - one (Ian McKellen) is openly gay himself, the other (Sheedy) is a prominent transgender rights activist. Check it all out below.
Best Picture
Saving Private Ryan (Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn and Steven Spielberg)
Best Director
Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Ally Sheedy (High Art)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Lisa Kudrow (The Opposite of Sex)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Bill Murray (Rushmore)
Best Original Screenplay
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan)
Best Cinematography
Janusz Kaminski (Saving Private Ryan)
Best Music
Burkhard von Dallwitz (The Truman Show)
Best Documentary
The Farm: Angola, USA (Liz Garbus, Bob Harris, Wilbert Rideau and Jonathan Stack)
Best Foreign Language Film
The Celebration (Birgitte Hald and Thomas Vinterberg)
Image Credit: MovieStillsDB