The Dublin Film Critics Circle Honours Drive
Donald Clarke
Every year, the good people of the Dublin Film Critics Circle meet up to tabulate lists of their favourite films. There’s a good deal of huffing, no little puffing and more agreement than you might suspect. This year, after much redistribution of ballots, the best film ended up going to Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. It’s a good choice. The picture managed to straddle the mainstream and the fringe with an impressive degree of confidence. From the moment I saw the thing I knew it was destined for cult status.
Anyway, here is the complete list of results. Savour, fume and so on…
Best Film
1. Drive
2. Black Swan
3. The Tree of Life
4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
5. Melancholia
6. Take Shelter
7. Senna
8. True Grit
9. A Separation
10. Animal Kingdom
Best Director
1. Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
2. Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
3. Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
4. Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
5. Lars von Trier, Melancholia
6. Martin Scorsese, Hugo
7. David Michod, Animal Kingdom
8. Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit
9. Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin
10. Takeshi Miike, 13 Assassins
Best Actress
1. Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
2. Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
3. Natalie Portman, Black Swan
4. Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
5. Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
6. Emily Watson, Oranges `and Sunshine
7. Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
8. Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur
9. Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom/ Yun Jung-hee, Poetry
10. Viola Davis, The Help
Best Actor
1. Ryan Gosling, Drive
2. Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
3. Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4. Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
5. Nick Nolte, Warrior
6. Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
7. Aidan Gillen, Treacle Jr
8. Jeff Bridges, True Grit
9. Dominic Cooper, The Devil’s Double
10. Neil Maskell, Kill List/ Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur
Best Irish Film
1. The Guard
2. Snap
3. Sensation
4. Rewind
5. As If I Am Not There
6. One Hundred Mornings
7. Knuckle
8. The Runway
9. Between the Canals
10. Parked
Best Documentary
1. Senna
2. Project Nim
3. Inside Job
4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
5. Knuckle
6. Bobby Fischer Against the World
7. Pina
8. Page One: Inside The New York Times
9. TT3D: Closer to the Edge
10. Tabloid
Breakthrough
1. Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter
2. John Michael McDonagh, The Guard
3. Richard Ayoade, Submarine
4. Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
5. Carmel Winters, Snap
6. Asif Kapadia, Senna
7. Juanita Wilson, As If I Am Not There
8. Ben Wheatley, Kill List
9. Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur/ Justin Kurzel, Snowtown
10. Stephanie Sigman, Miss Bala
Best Irish Documentary
Knuckle
Domestic Breakthrough
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard
As voted for by Daniel Anderson, Tara Brady, Declan Burke, Gavin Burke, George Byrne, Paul Byrne, Ciaran Carty, Donald Clarke, Joe Griffin, Gordon Hayden, Brogen Hayes, Aoife Kelly, Paul Lynch, John Maguire, Roe McDermott, Esther McCarthy, David O’Mahony, Mike Sheridan, Nicola Timmins, Hilary White, Paul Whittington
Oh dear. Nobody’s noticed how bad ‘Drive’ is yet. Interesting to see ‘Rewind’ on this list too. It shares with ‘Drive’ a fatally and indefensibly stupid resort to a spectacularly retarded (and no less convenient) coincidence to get us all the quicker to the labored finale. Oh dear.
Most pointless film of 2011 goes to ” The Tree of Life ” ……..2 hours or whatever it was of my life i can never get back……
I had to go see the excellent ” Tyrannosaur ” to purge it from my mind…..
LOve that “Drive”…good choice………Love that Ryan Gosling…………..a gosling is a baby goose you know..
You hate coincidences? Don’t go and see Hugo. Or read any Dickens, ever.
No comment on the lists but just wanted to send seasons greetings to you and all readers of the column.
From all the reviews I’ve read, I’m looking forward to The Artist with great anticipation.
Best wishes everyone.
Coincidences can and do and will continue to work on screen in the right hands – entire GREAT narratives have hinged upon them. Refn’s always worth checking but ‘Drive’ is no classic, cult or otherwise. It IS, however, a real pleasure to the eye and ear, however unoriginal in its (obviously less important) storytelling. It’s a really slick production but let us not mistake the superficial for the essence. Look at the first scene, with Cranston – how many millions of times have we seen this character limping along offering uppers/downers as we learn he knows everything about everything to do with cars and is quietly, totally devoted to the hero? Not just character traits or whatever; Cranston’s entire character IS cliche. I only point that out because it goes without saying how familiar Gosling’s character is (how many times since ‘Le Samourai’, if not before, have we followed this same, laconic, supercool hardman?), and without an added dimension nor unexpected decision, or (surprising) momentous change, or anything….
Dustbin!
I’m laying off ‘Rewind’ cause its producer or something is probably a regular here and it’s too easy a target.
And, anyway, there’s no accounting for taste.
I can’t believe the critical acclaim Drive has received. Dreadful film and gosling as best actor? for that? It really was a poor year for cinema if that’s the best they can come up with. Boring, pretentious nonsense
Where is everyone with their obscure IFI lists?
The films that entertained me this year (in the order they were seen)…
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
Biutiful
Animal Kingdom
Blue Valentine
Black Swan
Barney’s Version
The Fighter
True Grit
13 Assassins
Hanna
Win WIn
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Beginners
Super 8
Midnight in Paris
The Skin I Lve In
Jane Eyre
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Drive
Warrior
The Adventures of Tintin
Another Earth
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
and honorable mentions:
Tangled
Rabbit Hole
Rango
Fair Game
Thor
The Way
X-Men: First Class
Captain America
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Troll Hunter
50/50
Moneyball
Why being a projectionist is a chore:
Love and Other Drugs
Season of the Witch
Hall Pass
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I
will NEVER watch EVER:
The Dilemma
Big Mommas House
Beastly
Your Highness
Scream 4
Fast 5
Honey 2
Zookeeper
Final Destination 5
Spy Kids 4
Conan 3D
I Don’t Know How She Does It
Abduction
Johnny English Reborn
Straw Dogs
The Thing
Alvin and the Chipmunks 3
New Year’s Eve
Haven’t seen it yet. Meant to before Christmas but events dear boy events. Will go. Soon as I can afford to renew the road tax on one of me jammers to get there.
Saw it (“Drive”) in its entirety over Christmas……….albeit on a laptop (got connections)……….anyhoo……..don’t see why more critics aren’t comparing it to “Taxi Driver”…….as I see it, Gosling and De Niro shared the same pathology in the parts they played..
There was an absolutely brilliant Irish film this year called THE PIER at the Galway film festival one of the best Irish films ever.
Does anyone else think the new ” Girl With the Dragons Tattoo ” is better than the original ?
I do. And its mainly down to Daniel Craig as i thought the actor that played that part in the Swedish trilogy was the weakest link of the 3 movies
Dan, I estimate about 11 of your entertaining films were shown in the IFI
Not very obscure are they?
@Dan, where’s ”The Guard” and ”Tree of Life” in your list of (presumably) what you thought great? Suppose just ‘cos I thought they were great doesn’t mean anyone else should.