By Erin Free
The presence of Russell Crowe – in black hoodie, jeans, and Water Diviner T-shirt – was undoubtedly one of the highlights of last year’s Film Critics Circle Of Australia Awards at The Paddington Woollahra RSL in Sydney. Perhaps indicating their disdain for the critical discourse, big name actors rarely rock up for the annual gongs, making Rusty’s showing (and eloquent presentation and acceptance speech abilities) even more exciting. This year, the stars were even more thin on the ground. In a bittersweet swing, this year’s major nominee, Mad Max: Fury Road, is also a frontrunner in the nominations at Monday’s Oscars, meaning that there was literally nobody on hand from the film to collect its FCCA awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography (John Seale), Best Production Design (Colin Gibson sent members of his art department to accept on his behalf; who tied with Holding The Man’s Josephine Ford), and Best Editing (Margaret Sixel). Having an Aussie film like Mad Max: Fury Road so heavily represented at the Oscars is an exciting thing, but it unquestionably put the brakes on The FCCA Awards. A noted proponent of the importance of the filmmaker/critic discourse, FilmInk genuinely believes that Sydney-based Mad Max: Fury Road director, Dr. George Miller, would have been there at The FCCA Awards if he didn’t have to be in Hollywood to practice his best I-lost-but-I’m-not-bitter-or-disappointed face for the Oscars.
The other big winners for the night were The Dressmaker and Last Cab To Darwin. Challenging Rusty’s 2015 brand of sartorial splendour was the latter’s director, Jeremy Sims, who was “rocking” a chequered shirt, T-shirt, shorts, and work boots, and looked like he’d wandered into the RSL looking for a cheap beer and a bag of chips after a tough day on the local building site. Sims accepted the Best Actor Award on behalf of his leading man, Michael Caton, who has been ill for the last couple of weeks, and was unable to attend; though his proud wife Helen Esakoff was in the house. Sims also collected the Best Supporting Actor Award for dazzling young up and comer, Mark Coles Smith (The Gods Of Wheat Street), who winningly stoles his scenes in Last Cab To Darwin. In an indication of his upward career trajectory, Smith was in Canada shooting a new medical TV drama. Stat!
Kate Winslet unsurprisingly failed to show to collect her Best Actress Award, and Judy Davis was gently mocked for once saying (via the late John Hargreaves, who collected an award on her behalf) that she couldn’t attend that year’s FCCA Awards because she had to wash her hair. The Dressmaker producer, Sue Maslin, however, assured the audience this year that the mercurial Ms. Davis would be very, very happy about winning her Best Supporting Actress Award for the hit comedy drama.
Despite its over-18s setting, and the distant blinging of poker machines, the kids were well and truly in attendance at the awards, with producer/director, Robert Connolly, on hand to pick up the Best Children’s Film Award for his box office belter, Paper Planes. His talented young star, Ed Oxenbould, won the Best Performance By A Young Actor gong (“I’d like to thank my parents for getting me here…literally, because I’m too young to drive and look after myself,” he jested amusingly), which he shared with Coco Jack Gillies, the delightful young star of the canine-penguin smash, Oddball.
Other awards went to Sherpa (Best Documentary), Holding The Man (Best Screenplay for Tommy Murphy), and Tanna (Best Music for Antony Partos), and though the food was a little thin on the ground this time (what happened to last year’s gut-filling array of party pies, sausage rolls, springers, pizza pieces, chips, and meatballs?), a fun night was had by all, largely thanks to the work of ABC Overnights presenter, Rod Quinn, who proved a funny and genial host, and once again offered up his intermission movie trivia quiz.
For more information (including a full list of winners and nominees), head to http://fcca.com.au.
