Chances are it’s not a prize that studios are going to mount furious campaigns for, but the Guardian First Film Award has the classiest slate of nominees I’ve seen all year. Not so much an award as a nice little citation in their year-end Film&Music edition, their critics have drawn up a list of the ten best directorial debuts from the last 12 months, and have invited their readers to vote for the winner.
They’re going by the UK release schedule, which is why you have 2007 fare like “Persepolis” rubbing up against more recent releases on the list. (And why “Waltz With Bashir” or “Synecdoche, New York,” surely the year’s most discussed freshman effort, aren’t on it.)
So the ten are: “Caramel” (Nadine Labaki); “Control” (Anton Corbijn); “Eden Lake” (James Watkins); “In Bruges” (Martin McDonagh); “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Philippe Claudel); “The Orphanage” (Juan Antonio Bayona); “Persepolis” (Vincent Parannaud and Marjane Satrapi); “Shotgun Stories” (Jeff Nichols); “Unrelated” (Joanna Hogg); “Water Lilies” (Céline Sclamma).
Not much American content there, but hey, that’s the kind of year it’s been. I haven’t yet seen “Eden Lake” or “Unrelated,” I’m afraid to say, but besides that fact, I can’t argue too much with any of these inclusions. (Clearly I’m getting too sanguine.) What would you vote for? What have they left out?
I’m still trying to break a three-way tie in my head between “Control,” “Persepolis” and “I’ve Loved You So Long,” which you may remember I kind of liked. (I’m just happy for an excuse to use the “Control” poster as illustration — seriously, has there been a better one in the last couple of years?) Check out all the details, and vote if you’re so inclined, here.
Comments
8 responses to “What was the debut of the year?”
Shotgun Stories a pleasant surprise for me last spring. I’m glad to see you put it on here.
In Bruges was certainly a smashing debut. Felt like early Mamet.
Wasn’t “Gone Baby Gone” released in the UK this year? Maybe it’s a bit too mainstream, but I thought it was an excellent first effort from Ben Affleck. Maybe he should stay behind the camera.
Glad to see In Bruges on the list, a movie that will probably never receive the awards consideration it deserves in the United States, at least Oscarwise.
Out of that crop I’d say Shotgun Stories but in the U.S., the best debut I’ve seen all year is “Medicine for Melancholy”.
Persepolis is some kind of masterpiece, so that one for sure.
No Hunger?
Good point. ‘Hunger’ must have fallen outside the time bracket… the Guardian would’ve put it in for sure.