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| Anne Dorval and Antoine-Olivier Pilon in Mommy. |
If one was being cranky about it, one could say that Xavier Dolan’s Mommy dominating the Canadian Screen Awards is a weird echo of Birdman taking the top prize at last week’s Academy Awards: this was the year that histrionics and showy auteurism beat out mature, considered craft. In the U.S., that was Richard Linklater’s Boyhood; here at home, it was everything else.
To be fair, Dolan’s intimate opus was the favorite going into the awards, leading the film side of the Screenies with a total of 13 nominations. It took nine: picture, director, original screenplay, editing, actor (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), actress (Anne Dorval), supporting actress (Suzanne Clement), cinematography (Andre Turpin) and makeup (Maïna Militzna).
Mommy’s success left its closest competitor, David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars, almost empty-handed; even Julianne Moore, the favourite for best actress and an Oscar honoree for Still Alice just a week ago, was left behind as members of the Academy Of Canadian Cinema And Television marked their ballots for Dolan and his colleagues straight down the line.
Indeed, the only victories for Maps To The Stars were in categories where Mommy wasn’t even nominated: John Cusack was named best supporting actor, and Howard Shore won for best original score. For the night’s other major contenders, Stephane Lafleur’s Tu Dors Nicole and Albert Shin’s In Her Place, it was an honour just to be nominated.
Nicolas Billon won best adapted screenplay for Elephant Song, based on his own stage play, while Paul W.S. Anderson’s Pompeii took five technical prizes: art direction, costume design, sound editing, overall sound and visual effects. It’s also the winner of this year’s Golden Screen Award, the Academy’s pat on the back for the movie that makes the most money at the Canadian box office.
On the TV side of the evening, Don McKellar won twice for his work on Sensitive Skin: first for best direction in a comedy series and again for best actor in a continuing leading comic role. (Yes, the language is contorted, but it allows the Academy to give out a lot of acting awards.) But McKellar’s co-star Kim Cattrall lost the equivalent actress award to Call Me Fitz’s Joanna Cassidy, whose show took best comedy series.
19-2’s Jared Keeso was named best actor in a continuing leading role over such contenders as Arctic Air’s Adam Beach and Cracked’s David Sutcliffe, which came as something of an upset, but there was no surprise in the best actress prize going to Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany. (At this point, I’d argue Maslany deserves a new category just to celebrate her incredible range in the half-dozen roles she inhabits on that show – or maybe just a Best Ensemble award.)
Orphan Black was also named best dramatic series, which is pretty great news. Genre shows get a lot of resistance when awards time rolls around, so it’s heartening to see a genuinely inventive, technically complex series like John Fawcett and Graeme Manson’s hard-SF hybrid – which shifts fluidly between conspiracy thriller, absurdist comedy and psychodrama – finding favour with the ACCT for the second straight year.
It’s almost enough to make up for them falling for Mommy. But that’s just my opinion, and what do I know? I’m not a member.
Cr. Now Toronto
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