2012 Contemporary Cinema Awards

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower", written and directed by Stephen Chbosky,
is the HANDS DOWN THE BEST FILM award winner of the 2012 Contemporary Cinema Awards just announced by the Screenwriting Program at Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN.  Criteria for this award include well written screenplay, astonishing cinematography, use of the personal to express universal truths, and most likely to pass the test of time.   There is a 'wow that's a good film' factor too.

 The 2012 Contemporary Cinema Awards (copyright and trademark) are a precursor to all the other award programs coming in the next several months.  It comes at a time when we can still think clearly about the artistic merit of contemporary cinema before shopping takes over our minds as well as the parking lots surrounding our favorite theaters.  The jury is made up of twenty four highly sophisticated and advanced critical thinkers whose lives are immersed in viewing and analyzing contemporary cinema.

 The MOST INCREDIBLY WELL WRITTEN SCREENPLAY goes to Stephen Chbosky, for his screenplay "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" adapted from his novel of the same name.  This award factors in high context dialog, coherent story structure, meaningful themes, believable characters, and unforgettable story.

"This Must Be the Place", written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino wins BEST POST MODERN FILM OF THE YEAR.  Post modern films are highly unique artistic visions not dependent on emotional content or spectacle, and usually made by a European director but not always.  What happened to all our good post modern film makers here in the USA like Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, and Miranda July?

 MOST EASILY FORGOTTEN FILM goes to "2 Days in New York" , although I think Julie Delpy is a wonderful director and I personally love this film -- but the voters have spoken.

 Jennifer Lawrence wins BEST ACTRESS for her role of Tiffany in "Silver Linings Playbook"

 Ben Affleck wins BEST ACTOR for his role of Tony Mendez in "Argo".

 FABULOUS CINEMATOGRAPHY goes to director of photography Umberto Contrello for "This Must Be the Place".  This award has to do with unity and rigor of photographic composition and lighting that contributes significantly and subtly to the content of the film and is just plain astonishing to watch.  "The Master" came in a close second but tended to go off on tangents to photograph Joaquin Phoenix doing whatever.  When he drove off into the desert on the motorcycle I though this would be a good place to end the movie.  Where did he go to by the way?   What happened next?

 Which leads us to the NEARLY OUT OF CONTROL PERFORMANCE award which goes to Joaquin Phoenix, as Freddie Quell,  for his nearly out of control performance in "The Master".  Credit the brave visionary director Paul Thomas Anderson for saying yes to whatever Joaquin wanted to do.  I feel sorry for the actors who played across from him, especially the ones he beat up on the set.

 Go see all these movies.

James Byrne -- award winning filmmaker, professor of screenwriting, blogger time waster, owner of several crew neck sweaters.  byrnefilms@gmail.com