THE 2009 HOWIES, my pick for best of 2009

Well, I've done it. I've finally completed my list of best films, acting, directing and writing of 2009, which I always call the Howies.

Best Film:

Tokyo Sonata

Runners Up:

The Beaches of Agnes

The Hurt Locker

In the Loop

Inglorious Basterds

Of Time and the City

A Prophet

Red Cliff

A Serious Man

Still Walking

Though the runners up are in alphabetical order, the Beaches of Agnes was my second favorite film of the year and The Hurt Locker came in third.

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

(500) Days of Summer

An Education

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Lorna’s Silence

O’Horton

Precious

Seraphine

A Single Man

Thirst

Three Monkeys

And two shout outs of movies that only played at festivals, but don’t have a release yet:

City of Life and Death

Sita Sings the Blues

I have two special awards for Ensemble. I know it’s cheating, but it gives me more room for awards in the acting categories:

Nine

Star Trek

Best Actor

Toni Servillo - Il Divo; Gomorrah

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Nicholas Cage - Bad Lieutenant

Colin Firth - A Single Man

Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

So, so close (in alphabetical order):

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Hearts

Matt Damon - The Informant!

Ben Foster - The Messenger

Paul Giamatti - Cold Souls; The Last Station

Baard Owe - O’Horten

Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Best Actress - Tie

Yolando Moreau - Seraphine

Tilda Swinton - Julia

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Arta Dobroski - Lorna’s Silence

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia; It’s Complicated

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

Nina Hoss - Jerichow; A Woman in Berlin

Helen Mirrin - The Last Station

Catalina Saavedra - The Maid

Best Supporting Actor

Christophe Waltze - Inglorious Basterds

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Niels Arestrup - A Prophet

Peter Capaldi - In the Loop

Vlad Ivanov - Police, Adjective

Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

Colllin Farrell - Crazy Hearts

John Malkovich - The Great Buck Howard

Alfred Molina - An Education

Christopher Plummer - The Last Station; 9; The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Jeremie Renier - Lorna’s Silence

Paul Schneider - Bright Star

Tsutomu Yamazaki - Departures

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique - Precious

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Kirin Kiki - Still Walking

Kyoko Koizumi - Tokyo Sonata

Julianne Moore - A Single Man

Samantha Morton - The Messenger

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

Vera Formiga - Up in the Air

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air

Best Director - Tie

James Cameron - Avatar

John Woo - Red Cliff

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Katherine Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

Kiyoshi Kurosawa - Tokyo Sonata

Quentin Tarantino - Inglorious Basterds

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

Wes Anderson - The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Lee Daniels - Precious

Chan-wook Park - Thirst

Agnes Varda - The Beaches of Agnes

Best Screenplay

Armando Ianucci

Jesse Armstrong

Tony Roche

Simon Blackwell - In the Loop

Runners Up (in alphabetical order)

Joel & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

Nick Hornby - An Education

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Max Mannix

Sachiko Tanaka - Tokyo Sonata

Scott Neustadter

Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer

So, so close (in alphabetical order)

Wes Anderson

Noah Baumbach - The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker

Special awards

Christian Berger: Cinematography – White Ribbon

Alberto Iglesias: Music – Broken Embraces

Production Design – Angels & Demons

Baaria

So long until next year.