AWFC’s take on 2022’s films
When we go to the movies, we make a deal with ourselves to have undivided attention for a couple of hours. It’s about immersing yourself … choosing to commit to that ahead of time.
—James Cameron, director of a few films you may have heard about, including “Titanic,” “Avatar,” “The Terminator,” Aliens,” and “The Abyss”
Meeting Jennifer Merin was a pivotal moment for me in my role as a film critic. We were both at a press conference in New York a couple of decades ago publicizing a comedy starring Isla Fisher. The actress (wife of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen) entered a hotel conference room where she would be interviewed by junket press members.
Merin, formerly film reviewer for The New York Press and SoHo News and Associated Press columnist, was sitting behind me. We got to chatting, and she told me about the Alliance of Women Film Journalists that she formed in 2006. “You ought to consider joining,” she said.
When Fisher entered the room, she wobbled across the densely carpeted floor in towering spiked heels that took her 5 foot 3-inch height to a new, if shaky, level. I made a snarky comment regarding her difficulty in walking in those ridiculous shoes. Merin smiled.
“Oh, Karen, you definitely need to join AWFJ,” she said. And I did.
Our 95-member organization represents professional women critics’ collective perspectives on movies and cinema culture and, with its annual EDA awards, honors female creatives in non-gender specific awards categories and in unique Female Focus categories.
They’re named in honor of Merin’s mother, actress Eda Reiss Merin.
Top winners for 2022 are “Banshees of Inisherin, ” “Women Talking,” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Here are AWFC members’ 2022 choices by category:
Best film: “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Best director: Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”
Best original screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Best adapted screenplay: Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”
Best documentary: Laura Poitras, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
Best animated film: Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, “Guillermo de Toro’s Pinocchio”
Best actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best actor: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Best actor in a supporting role: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best ensemble cast: Casting directors John Buchan and Jason Knight, “Women Talking”
Best cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Top Gun: Maverick” and Polly Morgan, “The Woman King” (tie)
Best editing: Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best non-English language film: “Decision to Leave” and “RRR” (tie)
The following are my favorite categories—respectful, informed, and onthe-nose—that are unique to AWFJ:
EDA Female Focus awards (honoring women only):
Best woman director: Gina Prince-Bythewood, “The Woman King”
Best woman screenwriter: Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews, “Women Talking”
Best animated female: Isabella Rossellini as Connie, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”
Best woman’s breakthrough performance: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till”
Outstanding achievement by a woman in the film industry: Viola Davis, for getting her lifetime passion project “The Woman King” made and creating opportunities for other women creatives
Grand dame award for defying ageism: Emma Thompson Most egregious lovers’ age difference: “Crimes of the Future” with Viggo Mortensen (born 1958) and Lea Sedoux (born 1985)
She deserves a new agent award (suggesting that the actor is better than the role she’s been given): Ana de Armas for “Blonde”
Most daring performance: Emma Thompson, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”
Time-waster remake or sequel award: “Jurassic World Dominion”
AWFJ Hall of Shame award (Open to women and men): Harvey Weinstein for everything and forever.
“We are particularly proud that this year’s member-determined roster of nominees included a goodly number of female contenders in non-gender specific categories,” says Merin, “and that we have female winners in those categories. We hope to see similar results at this year’s Academy Awards (March 12) and various guild awards as well as with other critics awards groups.”
For more information visit AWFJ. org.
Karen Martin is senior editor of Perspective.