FOLLOWING ITS triumph at the Golden Globes on Sunday, Michel Hazanavicius's The Artisthas garnered an impressive 12 nominations for the annual British Academy of Film and Television (Bafta) awards.
The silent, black-and-white film scored the most mentions. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson's adaption of the John le Carré espionage novel, secures second place with 11 nods. John Michael McDonagh, writer of the hit Irish comedy The Guard, receives a best original screenplay nomination. Michael Fassbender, a native of Kerry, secures a best actor nod for his performance as a tortured sex addict in Steve McQueen's searing drama Shame. Fassbender, one of the nation's busiest actors, won the best actor prize at the Venice Film Festival for that performance.
Citizens of Roscommon will rejoice to see Chris O'Dowd – a supporting player in the comedy Bridesmaids– being listed in the best new artist category. O'Dowd, raised in Boyle, is already well-known for his turn in sitcom The IT Crowd, but he has only recently begun making an impression in feature films. Fassbender faces strong competition from the likes of Gary Oldman, grim in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Jean Dujardin, transcendent in The Artist, as he seeks his first Bafta.
McDonagh has an outside chance of slipping past the writers of The Artist(no dialogue to speak of), The Iron Lady(mixed reviews) and Midnight in Paris(a tad slight).
There were few huge surprises in the nominations. Meryl Streep, odds-on favourite for the best actress Oscar, is nominated in the corresponding Bafta race for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Michelle Williams, presumed runner-up, receives a nod for playing Marilyn Monroe in the drama My Week With Marilyn.
Joining Tinker Tailor Soldier Spyand The Artistin the race for best picture are The Help, a story of the American south; The Descendants, Alexander Payne's latest mid-life crisis movie; and – the closest thing to a shocker in the nominations – Nicolas Winding Refn's existential crime thriller Drive. The most glaring omissions from that list are Martin Scorsese's Hugo, a critical favourite everywhere, and Steven Spielberg's Warhorse, which was largely filmed in England. Scorsese can at least console himself with a nomination for best director. Spielberg, holder of an honorary knighthood, will just have to fume quietly.
Bafta's choices are, with good reason, seen as reliable pointers to the Oscar nominations, which emerge next Tuesday. By some calculations, as much as 10 per cent of the Oscar electorate are also members of the British Academy. The bias towards British films does, however, show up in the awarding of 11 nominations to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Despite receiving excellent reviews and achieving strong box office results on both sides of the Atlantic, that complex film has made no impression whatsoever during the American awards season. Indeed, the picture did not receive a single nomination at The Golden Globes.
Last year proved to be something of an annus mirabilis for British cinema. In any other year, such critical hits as Senna, Shameand We Need to Talk About Kevin– all consigned to the "outstanding British film" category – would surely have made it into the main race. The Bafta winners will be announced on February 12th at a ceremony presented by Stephen Fry.
