St Louis Film Critics Assn Announces Nominations for 2024 Awards

St Louis Film Critics Assn Announces Nominations for 2024 Awards

“Dune: Part Two” leads with 12 nominations, followed by “The Brutalist” with 9, “Wicked” and “Conclave” each with 8, “Nickel Boys” with 6, and “Sing Sing” with 5.

“Dune: Part Two” may have been released Feb. 25, but the St. Louis Film Critics Association recognized this action-science fiction epic with 12 nominations for Denis Villeneuve’s world-building visual artistry.

The massive spectacle was mentioned in film, director, ensemble, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, production design, music score, costume design, visual effects, action film, and best scene categories.

The epic historical drama “The Brutalist” earned nine nominations for film, director Brady Corbet, actor Adrien Brody, supporting actor Guy Pearce, original screenplay, cinematography, editing, production design and music score.

 The religious political thriller “Conclave” received eight nominations for film, director Edward Berger, actor Ralph Fiennes, supporting actor Stanley Tucci, ensemble, adapted screenplay, production design and music score.

Also with eight, the musical adaptation and pop culture phenomenon “Wicked” was nominated for film, actress Cynthia Erivo, supporting actress Ariana Grande, ensemble, adapted screenplay, costume design, production design, and soundtrack.

“Nickel Boys” was cited in six categories for film, director, supporting actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, adapted screenplay, cinematography and editing. “Sing Sing” received five – film, actor Colman Domingo, supporting actor Clarence Maclin, adapted screenplay, and ensemble.

“A Complete Unknown,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” and  “The Wild Robot” each garnered four nominations.

SLFCA announced nominations Dec. 8; awards will be announced Dec. 15.

In addition to determining nominations in 26 categories, the regional critics’ group recognized film industry professionals for three special merits

Mohammad Rasoulof at the Cannes Film Festival. Photo by Getty Images.

Special Merit: Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof and the cast/crew of “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” for their courage and persistence in confronting political oppression in the pursuit of artistic expression and portraying truth through film.

Special Merit: Pete Timmermann, director of Webster University’s Film Series in St. Louis, for his exceptional, expert programming of international, restored, and independent films, including fiction and nonfiction, animation and live action, in addition to special events. His superb offerings for the St. Louis film community enriches and expands our cinematic world.  

Special Merit: Filmmakers who found creative uses for practical effects and were less reliant on digitized computer-generated graphics this year, such as hair and makeup artist Christine Brundell using puppetry and prosthetics, in collaboration with director Tim Burton, on “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”; makeup effects director Pierre Oliver Pierson on “The Substance” prosthetics; the micro budget DIY home computer effects from director Mike Cheslik for “Hundreds of Beavers”; the no-green-screen creature work on “Alien: Romulus” with animatronics and puppetry, among other collaborations by director Fede Alvarez; and the “Wicked” production design by Nathan Crowley where he merged practical imagery with CGI throughout, and grew 9  million tulips for Munchkinland.

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.

For the awards, eligible films are those that opened in the greater St. Louis area or had an online premiere during the 2024 calendar year – including those films that were given awards-qualifying runs but aren’t slated for release until early 2025.

For more information, visit the site: www.stlfilmcritics.org

Adrien Brody as “The Brutalist.” A24 Films.

Full List of Nominations:

BEST FILM

Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nickel Boys
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
September 5
Sing Sing
Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR

Edward Berger “Conclave”
Brady Corbet “The Brutalist”
Mohammad Rasoulof “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
RaMell Ross “Nickel Boys”
Denis Villeneuve “Dune: Part Two”

Colman Domingo in “Sing Sing.” A24 Films.


BEST ACTOR

Adrien Brody “The Brutalist”
Timothee Chalamet “A Complete Unknown”
Daniel Craig “Queer”
Colman Domingo “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes “Conclave”
Hugh Grant “Heretic”


BEST ACTRESS

Pamela Anderson “The Last Showgirl”
Cynthia Erivo “Wicked”
Marianne Jean-Baptiste “Hard Truths”
Mikey Madison “Anora”
Demi Moore “The Substance”
Saoirse Ronan “The Outrun”

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg “A Real Pain.” Searchlight.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kieran Culkin “A Real Pain”
Clarence Maclin “Sing Sing”
Guy Pearce “The Brutalist”
Stanley Tucci “Conclave”
Denzel Washington “Gladiator II”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Monica Barbaro “A Complete Unknown”
Danielle Deadwyler “The Piano Lesson”
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor “Nickel Boys”
Ariana Grande “Wicked”
Zoe Saldana “Emilia Perez”

BEST ENSEMBLE

Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
Wicked

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Peter Straughan, “Conclave”
Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, “Dune: Part Two”
RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes, “Nickel Boys”
Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield, “Sing Sing”
Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox “Wicked”

Saturday Night. Columbia Pictures.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, “The Brutalist”
Mike Leigh, “Hard Truths”
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan, “Saturday Night”
Mohammad Rasoulo, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist”
Greig Fraser, “Dune: Part Two”
Edward Lachman, “Maria”
Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu”
Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”

BEST EDITING

Dávid Jancsó, “The Brutalist”
Joe Walker, “Dune: Part Two”
Nicholas Monsour, “Nickel Boys”
Nathan Orloff, Shane Reid, “Saturday Night”
Hansjörg Weißbrich, “September 5”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Judy Becker, “The Brutalist”
Suzie Davies, Roberta Federico, “Conclave”
Zsuzsanna Sipos, Shane Vieau, Patrice Vermette, “Dune: Part Two”
Beatrice Brentnerova, Paul Ghirardani, Craig Lathrop, “Nosferatu”
Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales, “Wicked”

“Wicked.” Universal Pictures.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Jacqueline West, “Dune: Part Two”
Casey Harris, “Hundreds of Beavers”
Massimo Cantini Parrini, “Maria”
Linda Muir, “Nosferatu”
Paul Tazewell, “Wicked”

BEST MUSIC SCORE

Daniel Blumberg, “The Brutalist”
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, “Challengers”
Volker Bertelmann, “Conclave”
Hans Zimmer, “Dune: Part 2”
Kris Bowers, “The Wild Robot”

“A Complete Unknown.” Searchlight.

BEST SOUNDTRACK

A Complete Unknown
Deadpool & Wolverine
I Saw the TV Glow
Maria
Wicked


BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE

Maya Hawke “Inside Our 2”
Lupita Nyong’o “The Wild Robot”
Pedro Pascal “The Wild Robot”
Amy Poehler “Inside Out 2”
Sarah Snook “Memoir of a Snail”


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

“Alien: Romulus” – Eric Barba, Shane Mahan, Nelson Sepulveda
“Dune: Part Two” – Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” – Andrew Jackson, Dan Bethell, Eric Whipp, Andy Williams
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” – Erik Winquist, Danielle Immerman, Paul Story
“Nosferatu” – Angela Barso, Lisa Wakeley

BEST STUNTS

Deadpool & Wolverine
The Fall Guy
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Gladiator II
Monkey Man

“The Fall Guy.”

BEST ACTION FILM

Deadpool & Wolverine
Dune: Part Two
The Fall Guy
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Monkey Man

The Wild Robot. Dreamworks.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

BEST COMEDY

Deadpool & Wolverine
The Fall Guy
Hundreds of Beavers
A Real Pain
Saturday Night

BEST HORROR

Heretic. A24 Films.

Heretic
I Saw the TV Glow
Late Night with the Devil
Longlegs
Nosferatu
The Substance

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Daughters
Will & Harper
Music by John Williams
No Other Land
Sugarcane
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

“Emilia Perez.” Netflix

BEST INTERNATIONAL

All We Imagine as Light
Dahomey
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Emilia Perez
The Seed of The Sacred Fig


BEST FIRST FEATURE
Annie Baker “Janet Planet”
Anna Kendrick “Woman of the Hour”
Josh Margolin “Thelma”
Dev Patel “Monkey Man”
RaMell Ross “Nickel Boys”
Malcolm Washington “The Piano Lesson”


BEST SCENE

Civil War – “What kind of American are you?”
Dune: Part Two – Riding the Sandworm
The Substance – New Year’s Eve performance
Furiosa – War Rig battle
His Three Daughters – Dad’s Chair

“Civil War” – A24 Films.

Encore! Theater Presents Hard-Hitting August Wilson’s ‘The Piano Lesson’

Encore! Theater Presents Hard-Hitting August Wilson’s ‘The Piano Lesson’

By Lynn Venhaus

August Wilson’s powerful, haunting “The Piano Lesson” is an ambitious kick-off for an emerging theater company’s inaugural production in their new home at South Side Spaces.

The Encore Theater Group may lack resources, as a low-budget scenic design in a church basement indicates, but they are not short on effort and drive.

Wilson’s drama, his fourth play of the Pittsburgh, or Century, Cycle, is set in the Hill District in 1936, after the Great Depression, and focuses on themes of legacy, identity, and healing.

The renowned Wilson wrote a series of 10 plays chronicling the black experience in 20th century America, and each one is set in a different decade, with nine of them in the same Pittsburgh neighborhood where Wilson grew up. For this play, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1990, and it was originally produced on Broadway in 1987.

In the Doaker Charles household, a battle is brewing between strong-willed siblings. At the center is the family’s prized piano, an heirloom because carvings of enslaved relatives are in the design.

Entrepreneur-ish sharecropper Boy Willie (Zachary Clark) wants to sell it to build the family fortune and has just arrived from Mississippi with a truck full of watermelons. His sister Berniece (understudy Angel Carter stepped in for Atiera “Tarrah” Currie) plans to go to any length to keep it and preserve their family history, for the images of their great-grandfather’s wife and son are on it. Their uncle (Don McClendon) stands in between, acting as the family storyteller, and the ghosts of the past resurface, for apparently, their home is haunted.

Wilson’s themes are universal, and Encore! director Jason J. Little concentrates on the family dynamics to present an intimate view of the African American experience — reflecting progress and change (or not).

Clark excels as the impulsive Boy Willie, who makes a strong case for using the money to buy the land where their ancestors worked as slaves. That way, they can honor them by taking back what their ancestors couldn’t own in their lifetime. But his family will be the voice of reason, talking about the importance of legacy and learning from the past.

The core male actors click when together on stage. Dennis Jethroe II is notable as comical Wining Boy, the elder brother of Doaker, who is a smooth-talking piano player and a gambler. He has a funny scene slickly selling shy Lymon spiffy clothes to go out on the town in, and often provides comic relief.

Alexander “Smoogie” Christian is a charmer as the well-meaning Lymon, who is trying to find his way in the world.  Larry Green is genuine in his portrayal of the good-natured, sensible preacher Avery, who is sweet on Berniece. Don McClendon, a St. Louis stalwart with a lengthy stage and screen resume, lends gravitas as the head of household, trying to impart the wisdom of experience.

Their characters’ struggle to reconcile the past with their ancestral heritage needs to make a potent connection because Wilson had a lot to say here. Overall, more character-building would have helped to understand the conflicts and gradually feel the rationale of their choices and behaviors.

The supporting cast included Arriel Cummings as a lively gal pal Grace and Jada Little as Berniece’s dutiful but frightened 11-year-old daughter Maretha.

As the understudy, Angel Clark had to do the heavy lifting on opening night, and it is not easy to slip into such a demanding role. At first, she yells a lot at her brother, so you know there is underlying tension, things not spoken, and it’s crucial to understand their complicated relationship. She blames him for her husband Crawley’s death three years earlier.

Understanding the depth of the backstories is important to bring out the emotions, and confronting the ghosts of slavery makes for a hard-hitting show.

On opening night, just before curtain, a noisy thunderstorm unleashed a torrential downpour, and the thunder rolled and lightning struck outside for several hours, which could be heard, and somewhat hampered sound. That additional challenge could have affected the action on stage.

Pacing was an issue, as a planned runtime of 2 hours, 20 minutes took well over 3 and a half hours to complete (not counting late start because of storm). With a less-than-perfect first night under their belt, it is hoped that the rest of the run was less bumpy.

I saw this play during its second go-round by the Black Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2013, and it has stayed with me ever since that night in the Grandel. The Black Rep famously completed the Century Cycle – only the third company in the U.S. to do so – from 1988 to 2003 and has been repeating it. Their first production of “The Piano Lesson” was in 1992.

In their mission to bring another round of the American Century Cycle to St. Louis, they’ve earned St. Louis Theater Circle awards for outstanding production of a drama with “Two Trains Running” in 2022 and “Jitney” in 2023, and they’ve presented “Seven Guitars” in 2017 and “Fences” in 2018. The Clayton Community Theatre has also performed Wilson’s works, most recently “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2021. They have been my introduction into the celebrated playwright’s works, and much appreciated.

Any opportunity to bring Wilson to St. Louis audience in today’s political climate is a good one, but the technical aspects need to be crisp, especially sound and lighting. The company’s executive director Effrem Grettenberger’s specialized lighting design and Jay B. Saffold’s sound design to mimic the supernatural happenings are effective, but there were some technical issues with cues and hard-to-hear dialogue at other times.

Currie, the company’s artistic director, assembled the modest scenic design and handled the costume design with flair, creating character statements through bold color choices and vintage wear. The hats were terrific.

Encore! is well-intentioned about art nourishing the soul, and offering a sense of community, inclusion, and diversity. Their next production is “Cuentame,” in which people will share their personal stories, in November.

Just FYI: To explore “The Piano Lesson” further, Netflix will stream a filmed production of the recent Broadway revival starring Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker and John David Washington as Boy Willie, produced by Denzel Washington, sometime either later this year or early in 2024.

Encore Theatre Group presents August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” June 30 – July 9, with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. at 2607 Potomac in south St. Louis (South Side Spaces). For more information: www.encorestl.org. You can learn more about the cast and crew here:. https://our.show/pianolesson