A childhood remembrance, full of wonder, horror and humanity, enthralled the Hawaii Film Critics Society. “Roma,” Alfonso Cuaron’s deeply personal, vivid and spellbinding film, led the Best of 2018 list, winning six awards, including Best Picture and Director. Also receiving six awards is “A Star Is Born,” Bradley Cooper’s remarkable directorial debut, including for Best Actor (Cooper’s tour de force was tied with Christian Bale’s stunning turn in “Vice”), Sam Elliot for Best Supporting Actor and “Shallow” for Best Song.
The Best Actress Award was also a tie, as Olivia Colman’s delicious turn as Queen Ann won alongside Toni Collette’s terrifying performance in “Hereditary.” The Best Supporting Actress category also presented a tie, as Emily Blunt’s powerful work in “A Quiet Place” won, as did Elisabeth Debicki’s scene stealing turn in “Widows.”
Other noteworthy winners include Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” (Best Score, Editing and Adapted Screenplay), “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (Best Animated Film), “Mission: Impossible- Fallout” (Best Stunt Work), “Black Panther” (Best Costume Design), “Ready Player One” (Best Visual Effects) and “Isle of Dogs” (Bryan Cranston’s great work as Chief the dog was awarded Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance).
The Best Documentary award was a tie, presented to Morgan Neville’s moving look at Fred Rogers in “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and Peter Jackson’s technical marvel, “They Shall Not Grow Old,” which vividly restored WWI footage. The Most Overlooked Film award was shared with Paul Schrader’s haunting “First Reformed” and Paul Feig’s sly thriller, “A Simple Favor.”
The Best Hawaiian Film award was presented to Brian Kohne’s period mystery, “Kuleana,” a nominee the year before that first premiered at the 2017 Maui Film Festival. In 2018, Kohne’s film received a limited theatrical release throughout the Hawaiian islands and became a grassroots success.
On the other end of the spectrum, “The Nun,” touted as “The Most Terrifying Chapter in The Conjuring Universe,” was deemed Worst of 2018. The full list is below.
HFCS BEST OF 2018 LIST
BEST PICTURE: Roma
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
BEST ACTOR: Christian Bale, Vice (tie) Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
BEST ACTRESS: Olivia Colman, The Favourite (tie) Toni Collette, Hereditary
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Elliot/ A Star Is Born
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Emily Blunt/ A Quiet Place (tie) Elizabeth Debicki/ Widows
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Alfonso Cuaron/ Roma
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters, A Star is Born (tie) Josh Singer (Based on the book by James R. Hansen), First Man
BEST ART DIRECTION: Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton, The Favourite
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
BEST EDITING: Tom Cross, First Man (tie) Alfonso Cuaron and Adam Gough, Roma
BEST ANIMATED FILM: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman
BEST DOCUMENTARY: They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson (tie)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor, dir. Morgan Neville
BEST MAKE-UP: Vice
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Justin Hurwitz, First Man
BEST SONG: “Shallow,”A Star is Born
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Ready Player One
BEST STUNT WORK: Mission: Impossible- Fallout
BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
BEST FIRST FILM: A Star is Born
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM: First Reformed, dir. Paul Schrader (Tie) A Simple Favor, dir. Paul Feig
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE: Bryan Cranston, Isle of Dogs
BEST HORROR/SCI-FI FILM: A Quiet Place, dir. John Krasinski
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Roma, dir. Alfonso Cuaron (Mexico)
BEST HAWAIIAN FILM: Kuleana, dir. Brian Kohne
WORST FILM OF 2018: The Nun