‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Earns Five Awards, Including Best Film, from St Louis Film Critics Assn.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Earns Five Awards, Including Best Film, from St Louis Film Critics Assn.

The wild action, sci-fi and comedic adventure “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has been named Best Film of 2022 by the St. Louis Film Critics Association.

Writer-directors The Daniels’ chaotic tale of an overworked Chinese immigrant’s multiverse journey won five awards overall, including Michelle Yeoh for best actress. She plays Evelyn Wang, whose business is struggling, her marriage is on the rocks, and she has complicated relationships with her daughter and father.

As Evelyn’s milquetoast husband, Ke Huy Quan won supporting actor while Paul Rogers won for editing and The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), who directed, were named in a tie for best original screenplay.

SLFCA announced its awards in 23 categories on Dec. 18, with honors spread out among 13 films.

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis” and “Women Talking” each received three awards.

 Martin McDonagh tied with the Daniels for original screenplay, for his pitch-black comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which is about friends at an impasse, who live on a remote Irish island in 1923, while Kerry Condon won best supporting actress as the smart and feisty Siobhan, sister to Colin Farrell’s Padraic, and Ben Davis won for his moody and rugged cinematography.

This is the third year the group has selected a woman for its director award — Chloe Zhao, “Nomadland,” in 2020; Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” in 2021; and now, Sarah Polley for “Women Talking.”

“Women Talking,” about the women in an isolated religious community deciding on what action to take after a series of sexual assaults in 2010, also won for best ensemble cast and for Hildur Guðnadóttir’s acoustic music score that taps into community and hope.

Catherine Martin won for designing costumes and with Karen Murphy for production design on her husband Baz Luhrmann’s electric “Elvis” biopic, which was also singled out for best soundtrack.

For best actor, Brendan Fraser was selected for his bravura performance in “The Whale,” playing a 600-lb. recluse grappling with loss and guilt while trying to reconnect with his daughter.

The regional critics group announced its annual nominations Dec. 11, with “The Banshees of Inisherin” leading with 11 nominations, followed by ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ with 10; ‘Women Talking’ and ‘The Fabelmans’ earned eight each. Those nominations are listed here: http://www.stlfilmcritics.org/awards.

For Special Merit recognition, the St. Louis Film Critics selected three people for the honor:  imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whistleblower actress Ashley Judd and posthumously, influential musician-actor David Bowie.

SLFCA President Jim Tudor said the group wanted to recognize filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to six years in prison by the Iranian government for inquiring about the arrests of his fellow filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad.

The international film community has denounced his imprisonment as unjust. His latest work, “No Bears,” was shown at the Venice Film Festival and New York Film Festival this fall.

Jafar Panahi

The SLFCA statements on the three Special Merits:

Jafar Panahi

“In recognition of the courage of imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi and all those film professionals confronting political oppression in the pursuit of free speech, human rights, and artistic expression.”

Ashley Judd

“We recognize Ashley Judd for the bravery and courage she demonstrated in portraying herself in ‘She Said.’”

David Bowie

“After nominating the experimental documentary “Moonage Daydream,” we want to also honor the expansive and continuing cinematic presence of singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie, whose life and music continues to permeate and enrich the cinema landscape.”

Here’s the list of our 2022 SLFCA Awards winners and runners-up:

Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, Ke huy Quan of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

BEST FILM

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Runner-up Women Talking

Best Director – Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”

Runner-up: The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) , “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actor – Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Runner-up: Austin Butler, “Elvis”

Best Actress – Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Runner-up: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till”

Best Supporting Actor – Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Runner-up: Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Best Supporting Actress – Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Runners-up: (tie) Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and Janelle Monae, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

Women Talking

Best Ensemble – Women Talking

Runner-up: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Adapted Screenplay – She Said Rebecca Lenkiewicz; based on the book She Said by Jodi Cantor and Megan Twohey, and on the New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, and Rebecca Corbett

Runner-up: Women Talking – Sarah Polley, adapted from book by Miriam Toews

Best Original Screenplay – tie “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh, and The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Runner-up: “The Menu,” Will Tracy and Seth Reiss

Best Cinematography – Ben Davis, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Runner-up: Greig Fraser, “The Batman”

Best Editing – Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Runner-up: Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, “Elvis “

Best Production Design – Elvis, Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy 

Runner-up: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Rick Heinrichs

Best Costume Design – “Elvis,” Catherine Martin 

Runner-up: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Ruth E. Carter

Best Visual Effects – Avatar: The Way of Water”

Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett

Runner-Up: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Music Score – “Women Talking,” Hilda Guðnadóttir

Runner up (tie): Carter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”;  Michael Giacchino, “The Batman” and John Williams, “The Fabelmans.”

Best Soundtrack – Elvis

Runner-up: Moonage Daydream

Best Action Film – Top Gun: Maverick
Runner-up: RRR

Best Comedy Film – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Runner-up: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Horror Film – Nope
Runner-up: X

Best Animated Film – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Runner-up: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On


Best International Feature – Decision to Leave

Runner-up: RRR


Best Documentary Feature – All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Runner-up (tie): Good Night Oppy and Moonage Daydream


Best Scene – Sam Fabelman meets one of his idols on the studio lot in “The Fabelmans”

Runner-up: Iceman meets with Maverick in “Top Gun: Maverick”

Founded in 2004, the St. Louis Film Critics Association is a nonprofit organization of professional film reviewers who regularly publish current and timely film criticism, support local productions and festivals, and enhance public education, awareness, and appreciation of films. Vetted members are affiliated with qualifying media outlets in the St. Louis metropolitan region. (Note: PopLifeSTL.com critics Alex McPherson and Lynn Venhaus are members).

For the awards, eligible films are those that opened in the greater St. Louis area or had an online premiere during the 2022 calendar year – including those film that were given awards-qualifying runs in 2021 but were not available to all SLFCA members until 2022. Films slated for release in early 2023 are also eligible if a press screening, DVD screener, or screening link was provided to all SLFCA members.

For more information, visit http://www.stlfilmcritics.org

In addition, follow us on Twitter (@stlfilmcritics) and “Like” our Facebook page.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Toe Shoes and Kinky Boots

Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Toe Shoes and Kinky Boots

By C.B. Adams
While waiting for the curtain to rise on Dance St. Louis’ 57th-season opener on Friday, Nov. 4, I Googled whether David Bowie had ever opined about dance. I was interested because this evening’s performance at the Touhill Performing Arts Center was “Stardust: From Bach to Bowie” by the NYC-based Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

And sure enough, the Google gods provided something Bowie once tossed out to Conan O’Brien: “I don’t know how many times someone has come up to me and said, ‘Hey, Let’s dance!’ I hate dancing. God, it’s stupid.”

That’s a funny, quotable line, and one that I’m sure he didn’t really mean. It’s hard to imagine a rock icon whose recommended reading list ranged from Camille Paglia’s “Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson” to “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess and from “Passing” by Nella Larson to Julian Jaynes’ “The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind” would have really found dance at Complexion’s high level stupid.

Bowie was no dancer, but his innovative, chameleon-like stage presence revealed a theatricality and an understanding of rhythm, movement, lighting, clothing and presentation. His personas, from glam to glum, revealed an awareness of a certain sort of dance language, much like David Byrne of the Talking Heads (think of the way he moved in that Big Suit, or more recently, his “American Utopia” dance-adjacent performance). If dance (classical ballet to contemporary) works in sentences and paragraphs, then Bowie worked in specific words. In this regard, think Michael Jackson and that single, sequined raised glove.

All of this highlights the successful blending of Bowie and ballet achieved by Complexions’ co-founder and choreographer Dwight Rhoden in the piece “Stardust.” In a recent interview with the “Los Angeles Times” about “Stardust,” Rhoden says, “…there’s a little Bowie in all of us… There’s so much imagery in the lyrics, there’s so many personas and characters and colors to his personality that it just lends itself to a performance of some kind.”

Complexions is masterful at this type of pop culture and contemporary dance mash-ups that have included the music of Marvin Gaye, Lenny Kravitz and Metallica. Beyond the novelty of these collaborations, it’s the versatility, athleticism and adeptness of the company that elevates the approach from performance to art while incorporating a wide range of elements from hip-hop to modern and classical ballet.

“Stardust” consists of nine Bowie songs, each with its own choreography and each lip synced by one or more of the dancers. The sequence begins with “Lazarus,” a song from Bowie’s last studio album (“Blackstar”) and his last single released before his death. This is followed by a “best of” sequence of songs spanning Bowie’s career, including “Changes,” “Modern Love” and “Young Americans.”

Each of the dancers had their own Bowie identity that drew from his iconic array of hairstyles, face paints and costumes. It was a nice reminder of how innovative the gender- and genre-bending Bowie was, especially in his glam-rock era. With no sets and minimal staging (and spot-on lighting by Michael Korsch), the emphasis was clearly on the choreography and execution by the dancers.

The program lists the dancers only as “The Company,” so instead of individual names, it’s best to refer to songs. Collectively, The Company is an exceptionally – and exceptionally equally talented – group of dancers that delivered an impressive range of strength, intensity, athleticism, expressiveness and technical prowess.

Of the nine choreographies, one of the standouts was certainly “Space Oddity,” during which the lead dancer confidently strode across the stage on pointe, then held a very Bowie-esque position for an extended, intense moment. Another standout was “Heroes,” danced to Peter Gabriel’s slow, extended cover of the song from his “Scratch My Back” album. Fans of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” might recognize this version of the song, which benefits from the slow treatment, reminiscent of Michael Andrews’ “Donnie Darko” soundtrack cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” The Company’s ensemble work on “Heroes” was exceptionally fluid and evocative.

The weakest of the series was “1984.” The choreography was not as interpretive, robust or visually interesting as the others. The dancer, clad in a leotard that was more Mary Lou Retton than Thin White Duke, wasn’t given movements as challenging or wowie “Zowie” as the others.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

“Stardust” may have attracted the most attention, but it comprised only the second half of the Complexion’s program. The evening began with “Hissy Fits” after a rousing, pre-show “Happy Birthday” to Michael Uthoff, Dance St. Louis’ Artistic Director. “Hissy Fits” applies a frenetic, slinky, edgy choreography to some traditional melodies of J.S. Bach (heavy on the Glenn Gould interpretations).

Perhaps because “Hissy Fits” was more finely integrated from one Bach piece to the next, rather than discrete Bowie songs, it felt stronger and more “of a piece.” It was tempting to take it more seriously. Not better, per se, but certainly different. It was a strong piece and good choice to introduce the Complexions company.

As “Hissy Fits” opened with a fogged stage and the dancers beautifully illuminated (Michael Korsch’s lighting design for the entire show as stellar). Clad in nude-colored shorts and leotards, the dancers were statuesque in contrast to the lively, sinuous, complicated choreography that lived up to its name. “Hissy Fits” was more lyrical than “Stardust” and it is tempting to describe it as more balletic and classical, but not at the expense of its contemporary street dance elements. It’s a complicated piece about complicated feelings of frustration, bordering on hysteria.

The performance ended with a long-lasting, well-deserved standing ovation. As Bowie once observed, “Gentleness clears the soul, love cleans the mind and makes it free.” Gentleness, love and freedom shone through the dancers and the passionate choreography linked the two halves of the soulful program.