Dublin Film Critics' Circle has, somewhat unexpectedly, named Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born as the best film of 2018. The fourth version of that Hollywood warhorse was very well reviewed but is notably more mainstream than most of the other films the circle has listed.
Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, topping critics' lists across the world, was comfortable winner in the best-director category – the very split that awards punters are predicting at the upcoming Oscars.
Paddy Breathnach's Rosie, a searing, moving meditation on the homelessness crisis, took the prize for best Irish film. From a script by Roddy Doyle, Rosie casts Sarah Greene and Moe Dunford as a couple desperately trying to find a room for the night in overcrowded Dublin.
It was another strong year for domestic cinema, with Frank Berry's Michael Inside, a rough tale of prison life, and Lance Daly's Black '47, a commercially successful Famine story, following in second and third place. Dafhyd Flynn, brilliant as the lead in Michael Inside, was an inevitable winner of the breakthrough-artist category.
The sheer breadth and variety of high-quality cinema in 2018 led to 45 films earning votes for best film. Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War, which has just swept the board at the European Film Awards, was the runner-up in that race. Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird overcame the annual "But wasn't that last year?" barrier to take the bronze medal.
Four of the 12 films in the best-film chart – the circle sticks with an eccentric ranking system – were from women directors. This result is some way from equality, but it comes closer than most other best-of-2018 lists. Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, Debra Granik's Leave No Trace and Chloé Zhao's The Rider were also mentioned.
A Star Is Born seems an odd film to share such company, but its success confirms its status as a firm consensus choice (despite some senior members rolling their eyes). Cooper and Lady Gaga both took acting prizes.
This is the 12th year that Dublin Film Critics' Circle, whose president is this newspaper's Tara Brady, have presented their films of the year. In its announcement the group paid tribute to Stephen Coffey, much-admired critic and author, who died earlier in the year. "Stephen was a true enthusiast who is missed every time members gather to chatter outside the morning's press screening. We extend sympathy to his wife, Tina, and to all his friends and family," it said.
DUBLIN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS FOR 2018
Best film
1 A Star Is Born
2 Cold War
3 Lady Bird
4 You Were Never Really Here
5 Loveless/ A Quiet Place
6 BlacKKKlansman
7 Leave No Trace
8 Shoplifters
9 First Man
10 The Rider/Mandy
Best director
1 Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
2 Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
3 Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
4 Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War
5 Damien Chazelle, First Man
6 Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
7 Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shoplifters
8 Spike Lee, BlacKKKlansman
9 Debra Granik, Leave No Trace
10 Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Best actress
1 Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
2 Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
3 Toni Collette, Hereditary
4 Sarah Greene, Rosie
5 Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
6 Viola Davis, Widows
7 Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace
8 Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread
9 Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water/Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians
10 Charlize Theron, Tully
Best screenplay
1 Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
2 Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
3 Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
4 Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
5 Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
6 Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, BlacKKKlansman
7 Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Leave No Trace
8 Xavier Legrand, Custody
9 Dan Kokotajlo, Apostasy
10 Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki, Cold War
Best actor
1 Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
2 Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
3 Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
4 Ben Foster, Leave No Trace
5 John David Washington, BlacKKKlansman
6 Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
7 Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
8 Marcello Fonte, Dogman
9 Brady Jandreau, The Rider
10 Nakhane Touré, The Wound
Best cinematography
1 Linus Sandgren, First Man
2 Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
3 Lukasz Zal, Cold War
4 Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
5 Benjamin Loeb, Mandy
6 Joe Anderson, The Old Man and the Gun
7 Benoît Debie, Climax
8 Ashley Connor, The Miseducation of Cameron Post
9 Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Suspiria
10 Norm Li, Never Steady, Never Still
Best documentary
1 Three Identical Strangers
2 Katie
3 The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid
4 Whitney
5 Filmworker
6 Studio 54
7 Free Solo
8 McQueen
9 Cambodian Spring
10 I, Dolours
Best Irish film
1 Rosie
2 Michael Inside
3 Black '47
4 The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid
5 The Little Stranger
6 The Breadwinner
7 Making the Grade
8 Kissing Candice
9 Katie
10 The Image You Missed
Breakthrough artist
Dafhyd Flynn, Michael Inside
This year's Dublin Film Critics' Circle panel comprised Daniel Anderson, Aoife Barry, Sarina Bellissimo, Tara Brady, Declan Burke, Gavin Burke, Ciaran Carty, Donald Clarke, Jason Coyle, Graham Day, Michael Doherty, Kevin Fennell, Aedín Gormley, Joe Griffin, Brogen Hayes, Brian Lloyd, John Maguire, Esther McCarthy, Roe McDermott, Deirdre Molumby, Darren Mooney, Niall Murphy, Áine O'Connor, Cara O'Doherty, Ben O'Reilly, Nicola Timmins, David Turpin, Chris Wasser, Hilary White and Paul Whitington
