A mother obsessed with finding justice in her town of Ebbing, Missouri and a detective on a quest in futuristic Los Angeles captured the imagination of the Hawaii Film Critics Society. Their Best of 2017 List bestowed five awards each for Denis Villeneuve’s visionary “Blade Runner 2049” and Martin McDonagh’s confrontational “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which tied in the Best Picture and Best Director categories.
Gary Oldman’s tour de force as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” and James McAvoy’s startling depiction of a man with dozens of personalities in “Split” tied in the Best Actor category. The commanding work of Jessica Chastain in “Molly’s Game” and Frances McDormand in “Three Billboards…” also shared the Best Actress award, while Sam Rockwell’s complex work in “Three Billboards” and Laurie Metcalf’s layered turn in “Lady Bird” won in the supporting acting categories.
Other notable winners include Brett Morgen’s documentary, “Jane,” about the life of Jane Goodall, and Sunao Katabuchi’s animated “In This Corner of the World,” which won awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Film (which it shares with “Coco”). “The Greatest Showman” won Best Song for “This Is Me,” “Atomic Blonde” won for Best Stunts and Andy Serkis won the Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance Award for his work in “War For the Planet of the Apes” (which also tied for Best Visual Effects with “Blade Runner 2049”).
Oahu filmmaker Stacey Hayashi’s “Go For Broke,” which premiered at the 2017 Hawaii International Film Festival, won for Best Hawaiian Film. On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Bay’s “Transformers: The Last Knight,” “won the award for the Worst Film of 2017. The full list is below.
HFCS BEST OF 2017 LIST
BEST PICTURE: Blade Runner 2049 (tie) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049 (tie) Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST ACTOR: James McAvoy, Split (tie) Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game (tie) Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber (based on the book by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell), The Disaster Artist
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST ART DIRECTION: Dennis Gassner & Alessandra Querzola, Blade Runner 2049
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast (tie) Mary Zophres, Battle of the Sexes
BEST MAKE-UP: Andy Clement, The Disaster Artist (tie) Ivana Primorac & Flora Moody, Darkest Hour
BEST EDITING: Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham & Josh Schaeffer, Molly’s Game (tie) Lee Smith, Dunkirk
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger A, Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
BEST SONG: “This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: War For the Planet of the Apes (tie) Blade Runner 2049
BEST STUNT WORK: Atomic Blonde
BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Jordan Peele/ Get Out
BEST FIRST FILM: Lady Bird, dir. Greta Gerwig (tie) Get Out, dir. Jordan Peele
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM: T2: Trainspotting, dir. Danny Boyle (tie) Wind River, dir. Taylor Sheridan
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE: Andy Serkis, War For the Planet of the Apes
BEST HORROR/SCI-FI FILM: Blade Runner 2049, dir. Denis Villeneuve
BEST ANIMATED FILM: In This Corner of the World, dir. Sunao Katabuchi (tie) Coco dir. Lee Unkrich
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Jane, dir. Brett Morgen
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: In This Corner of the World, dir. Sunao Katabuchi (Japan)
BEST HAWAIIAN FILM: Go For Broke, dir. Stacey Hayashi
WORST FILM OF 2017: Transformers: The Last Knight