It appears the Hawaii Film Critics Society has gone gah-gah for “La La.” Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” a romantic update of classical Hollywood musicals, earned six awards from the HFCS, including Best Film and Chazelle for Best Director. “Hell or High Water,” David Mackenzie’s neo-western, won three awards, including Best Overlooked Film, Best Supporting Actor for Jeff Bridges and for Taylor Sheridan’s Best Original Screenplay. Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea” earned two acting awards for Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. Tom Ford’s shocker “Nocturnal Animals” earned two awards for Ford’s Best Adapted Screenplay and Michael Shannon, who tied with Bridges in the Best Supporting Actor category.
While some have deemed Viola Davis’ performance in Denzel Washington’s “Fences” to be a supporting turn, the HFCS recognized it to be a leading role and nominated her in the Best Actress category, which she won.
“Moana,” the Polynesian-themed Disney animated film, won two awards, for Best Hawaii Film and Best Song, “How Far I’ll Go.” It shares the latter award with “La La Land” for “Audition (Fools Who Dream).”
Chan-wook Park’s erotic “The Handmaiden” shared the Best Foreign Language Film award with Pablo Larrain’s “Neruda.” The remarkable, over 7-hours long “O.J.: Made in America” won for Best Documentary and “The Magnificent Seven” earned the award of Best Stunts. “Deadpool” won for its startling make-up, while “Jackie” won for its striking recreation of historical attire.
Genre films were warmly received as well. “Arrival” won two awards for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Film and Best Visual Effects (an award it shares with “Doctor Strange”). “10 Cloverfield Lane” won two awards for Best First Film and Dan Trachtenberg as Best New Filmmaker. “Kubo and the Two Strings” won two awards for Best Animated Film (an award it shares with “Zootopia”) and for Charlize Theron’s vocal performance. Theron won the Best Actress award last year for “Mad Max: Fury Road” and is the first actress to be recognized by the HFCS for two years in a row.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Marlon Wayans-starring spoof, “Fifty Shades of Black” and the belated sequel “Zoolander 2” both tied for the “award” of Worst Film of 2016.
The full HFCS list is below.
BEST FILM:
La La Land
BEST DIRECTOR:
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
BEST ACTOR:
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ACTRESS:
Viola Davis, Fences
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (tie)
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Tom Ford (Based on the Novel by Austin Wright), Nocturnal Animals
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Linus Sandgren, La La Land
BEST EDITING:
Tom Cross, La La Land
BEST ART DIRECTION:
Austin Gorg, La La Land
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
BEST MAKE-UP:
Bill Corso, Deadpool
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Arrival (tie)
Doctor Strange
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
BEST SONG:
Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, “Audition (Fools Who Dream),” La La Land (tie)
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Kubo and the Two Strings (dir. Travis Knight) (tie)
Zootopia (dir. Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush)
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
OJ: Made in America (dir. Ezra Edelman)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
The Handmaiden (dir. Chan-wook Park), (South Korea) (tie)
Neruda (dir. Pablo Larrain), (Chile)
BEST HAWAII FILM:
Moana (dir. Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker and Chris Williams)
BEST NEW FILMMAKER:
Dan Trachtenberg, 10 Cloverfield Lane
BEST FIRST FILM:
10 Cloverfield Lane (dir. Dan Trachtenberg)
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM:
Hell or High Water (dir. David Mackenzie)
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR FILM:
Arrival (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
BEST STUNTS:
The Magnificent Seven
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE:
Charlize Theron/ Kubo and the Two Strings
WORST FILM OF THE YEAR:
Fifty Shades of Black (tie)
Zoolander 2