Best Picture: Moonlight

For those of you who have not seen it, I am not giving any details away except for that it is a beautiful coming-of-age film. It feels like a poem on screen.

Best Director: Barry Jenkins for Moonlight or Denis Villeneuve for Arrival.

A lot of people are expecting Damien Chazelle to win the best director award being that he won at the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes. However, La La Land is more notable for its music and costuming than its directing and writing style. This is not to say that I dislike La La Land. In fact, it is an inspiring tale about not giving up on dreams. I just think Barry Jenkins and Denis Villeneuve are more deserving.

Best Actor: Casey Affleck for Manchester By the Sea or Viggo Mortensen for Captain Fantastic

Both actors do a fabulous job at portraying confused and conflicted family members in sad, yet darkly comedic films in their own way.

Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert for Elle.

I have not seen Elle yet, but I want to see her win because she’s a wonderful actress. I was so happy when she won the Golden Globe. It was a great unexpected underdog win for her.

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali for Moonlight.

He deserves it 100%. That’s all I can say.

Best Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris for Moonlight.

Naomie Harris even admits herself that this was a very complicated role to take on. Nonetheless, she succeeds in the film as portraying the protagonist’s dysfunctional mother.

Best Original Screenplay: The Lobster or Manchester By the Sea.

These are two very different films with one thing in common: they are great dark comedies. Kenneth Lonergan does an excellent job at crafting a story about coping with familial conflict without being too mushy-gushy/sentimental. Yorgos Lanthimos and his screenwriting partner Efthymis Filippou satirize the pressures that society places on forming romantic relationships and the ironies that accompany it.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Arrival or Moonlight.

When I found out that Moonlight was based on a play, I tried googling the play and the author Tarell Alvin McCraney, but I could not find any copies on Amazon. Shortly after, I was told that it was based on an unproduced college play that a friend of the director wrote. I would love to see Moonlight on stage. Arrival is based on a short story by Ted Chiang called “The Story of Your Life.” It is a great short story part of a phenomenal collection of science fiction stories entitled Story of Your Life and Others. The film followed the short story very closely. Arrival and Moonlight are two very different films. Nevertheless, they could have been adapted very poorly if taken by the wrong hands. If Arrival were directed by Michael Bay, for example, the film would have a bunch of needless explosions and show too many news reports about the reactions from Russia and China on the arrival of the aliens. Similarly, if Moonlight were directed by Spike Lee, the theme of race would be overly stressed. Race is a theme in Moonlight, but it is not merely an important theme as coming-of-age and interpersonal relationships are.

Best Original Score: Nicholas Britell for Moonlight

Best Original Song: “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land

Best Production Design: Arrival

Best Costume Design: La La Land

Best Animated Film: Zootopia or The Red Turtle

I have not seen The Red Turtle, but it looks really good, and I’m sure I’ll love it if I saw it.

Best Editing: Arrival or Moonlight

Best Cinematography: Bradford Young for Arrival

Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing: Arrival

Arrival all the way! That's all I can say.

Let me know what you think of these picks in the comments below!