In a UK that hasn’t stopped straying from script and surprising with its eccentricities in recent years – particularly in daily political drama – the 2023 Bafta Awards presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts were a sign of the Moderation, correctness of message, restraint in the wardrobe—black and white dominated the night—and balance in rewarding talent. The big winner of the night was the German film All Quiet on the Front, which snagged seven of the famous statuettes in the form of theater masks. The film’s anti-war message, based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel of the same name, chronicles the disillusionment and crumbling patriotism of a group of young men who volunteer to fight in 1917, only to face the death and horrors of all wars discover. . The Baftas wanted to recognize the film’s universal message, but also turned to the beauty, sadness and intimacy of a story as well told as Inisherin’s Banshees of Inisherin.
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All Quiet on the Front won the night’s most important statuette, the Best Picture award. It also received Best Foreign Language Film; the best director for the German Edward Berger; and those for Best Adapted Screenplay, Photography, Soundtrack and Sound.
Neither of Inisherin’s Banshee Souls protagonists, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, managed to win a statuette, although their presence was noted throughout the ceremony and the BBC cameras followed their every reaction. The unexpected breakup in friendship between two men, one a dope and a good man, the other dark and tormented, on an island in the west of Ireland at the beginning of the last century has captivated the vast majority of film critics. The beauty of the scenery is all that’s to be expected, though equally captivating, in an intimate film that escapes Irish clichés – the civil war between the provisional government for the treaty with the British Empire and the IRA Republicans who conversely, Contract is only available in cannon fire coming from the main island. Its director, Anglo-Irish Martin McDonagh, already known for films as original as Hiding in Bruges or Three Billboards on the Outskirts, was present with his partner, screenwriter and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Together they represent two of the most creative talents on the Anglo-Saxon scene.
Martin McDonagh, director of Inishein’s Banshee, with his Bafta for Best Director. DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
Inisherin’s Banshees took home the award for Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay. The Baftas chose to reward their two supporting actors – actress and actor – whose performances are fundamental in a film that has something of the chorus in it. Kerry Condon, in the feature film the reader who dreams of escaping the island, and Barry Keoghan, in the role of the young man who is beaten every day by his police father, won two of the most prestigious awards.
Best Actress and Actor
No surprise in the case of the Best Actress award, which went to Cate Blanchett as the fictional classical music composer/conductor Lydia Tár in the German-American film Tár of the same name, directed by Todd Field. All the more surprising, less for his portrayal of the King of Rock, which caused a stir in the film industry, but for the fact that he was not one of the main actors of the evening, was the award for best actor for Austin Butler’s Elvis film. The film, another big winner at the Royal Festive Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, also won the statuettes for Best Casting, Best Costumes and Best Make-up.
Austin Butler, Best Actor at the Bafta for “Elvis.” DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
The award for the best animated film went to the Mexican Guillermo del Toro for the film Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro. The award for the best documentary film went to Navalny, who tells the personal struggle of one of his fiercest opponents in recent years against the Vladimir Putin regime.
Finally, the Fellowship Award went to British costume designer Sandy Powell in tribute to the work of a widely recognized industry professional, who was praised by director Martin Scorsese through a video shot from afar. Powell’s first job for Scorsese was in the film Gangs of New York.
The Rising Star Award, voted by viewers, went to Franco-British Emma Mackey,
I remember the queen
The Princes of Wales, William of England and Kate Middleton, seated in the front row, were able to listen to the tribute to Helen Mirren, who starred in the already classic The Queen (The Queen), on the way to Die British monarch reacted to Lady Di’s death in Paris and paid tribute to Elizabeth II, who died last September. “Your Majesty, you were the nation’s leading star. On behalf of the Academy, we thank him for everything he has done for the film and television industry,” said Mirren.
The ceremony was moderated by actor and presenter Richard E. Grant and popular presenter Alison Hammond, with a politically correct script that was certainly sober in places, but immaculately timely and non-offending.
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