Quentin Tarantino’s wild cinematic dream of a long-gone era won over the Hawaii Film Critics Society. “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” Tarantino’s shocking, controversial 9th film, led the Best of 2019 list, winning five awards, including Best Picture, Director and Best Supporting Actor (for Brad Pitt’s wonderful turn as a seen-it-all stuntman). “Joker,” the gritty surprise blockbuster of 2019, followed with four awards, including for Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix’s tour de force performance) and Best Comic Book Movie.
The Best Actress Award was awarded to Awkwafina, for her vulnerable, moving lead turn in “The Farewell” (the actress also received the Maui Film festival shining star award for the same film). The Best Supporting Actress award went to Laura Dern, for her riveting performance in “Marriage Story.”
Bong Joon Ho’s savage comedy “Parasite” won two awards, for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Art Direction, while “Rocketman,” the Elton John musical, soared away with Best Song and Best Costume Design. The rest of the awards were widely spread out and offered some nice surprises.
“The Irishman” won the Best Adapted Screenplay award, while “Ford v Ferrari” won Best Sound and “1917” won for Best Cinematography. Also winning single awards were “John Wick: Chapter 3” for Best Stuntwork, “Alita: Battle Angel” for Best Visual Effects and “Long Shot,” the Seth Rogen/ Charlize Theron romantic comedy, won for Best Overlooked Film. Mark Hamill’s chilling vocal rendering of the new Chucky in “Child’s Play” was awarded Best Vocal/ Motion Capture Performance.
The Best Documentary award was presented to Todd Douglas Miller’s “Apollo 11” and Best Animated Film went to “Toy Story 4.”
A couple of sleeper favorites were awarded, in the form of “The Peanut Butter Falcon” (for Best New Filmmaker(s)) and “Fighting with My Family” (for Best First Film). Jordan Peele’s terrifying “Us” was awarded Best Horror Film and Best Sci-Fi Film was given to the year’s biggest box office hit, “Avengers Endgame.”
The Best Hawaiian Film award was presented to Zoe Eisenberg and Phillips Paysons’ independatn yl made, Big Island-set comedy/drama, “Stoke.”
On the other end of the spectrum, “Cats” was voted as Worst Film of 2019. The full list is below.
HFCS BEST OF 2019 LIST:
BEST PICTURE:
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
BEST DIRECTOR:
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
BEST ACTOR:
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
BEST ACTRESS:
Awkwafina, The Farewell
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Steven Zaillian (from the book by Charles Brandt), The Irishman
BEST ART DIRECTION:
Ha-jun Lee, Parasite
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Julian Day, Rocketman
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Roger Deakins, 1917
BEST EDITING:
Fred Raskin, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Toy Story 4, dir. Josh Cooley
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Apollo 11, dir. Todd Douglas Miller
BEST MAKE-UP:
Joker
BEST SOUND:
Ford v Ferrari
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Hildur Guanadottir, Joker
BEST SONG:
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” Rocketman
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Alita: Battle Angel
BEST STUNT WORK:
John Wick Chapter 3
BEST NEW FILMMAKER:
Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, The Peanut Butter Falcon
BEST FIRST FILM:
Stephen Merchant, Fighting With my Family
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM:
Long Shot, dir. Jonathan Levine
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE:
Mark Hamill, Child’s Play
BEST HORROR FILM:
Us, dir. Jordan Peele
BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE:
Joker, dir. Todd Phillips
BEST SCI-FI FILM:
Avengers: Endgame, dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Parasite, dir. Bong Joon Ho (South Korea)
BEST HAWAIIAN FILM:
Stoke, dir. Zoe Eisenberg and Phillips Payson (Big Island)
WORST FILM OF 2019:
Cats