The British Have Spoken

This is a little late, but just for the record, the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award ceremony took place on Sunday, and was broadcast in the U.S. on BBC America. Even though not many Americans are even aware of their existence, the BAFTAs are a pretty fun event to watch. It's a lot more relaxed than many award shows (and it's British—who'd have thought?) and the longtime host, Stephen Fry, is witty and ironic in the best way. They even play rock/pop music when the presenters take the stage (yes that's The Chemical Brothers or The Killers or The White Stripes you hear when Patrick Stewart or Pierce Brosnan or Kristin Scott-Thomas appear on stage after an appropriately amusing introduction from Fry).

Winners in the big categories were:
Best Picture - Brokeback Mountain
Best Director - Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Best Actress - Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Best Supporting Actor - Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain)
Best Supporting Actress - Thandie Newton (Crash)

Pretty much how it's expected to go at the Oscars, except in those supporting categories where Gyllenhaal pulled an "upset" (BAFTA showered George Clooney with more nominations than anyone else this year—that's saying a lot—but his noms for both Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck in the supporting actor category probably hurt his chance for a win) and Newton, who isn't Oscar-nominated, surprised as well (Oscar frontrunner Rachel Weisz, who is British, was up for lead actress at the BAFTAs for The Constant Gardener). It's the first ever major award win for either of them (although Gyllenhaal was recognized by the National Board of Review earlier in the season and Newton was part of Crash's ensemble cast win at SAG).

Other winners included:
Best Adapted Screenplay - Brokeback Mountain
Best Original Screenplay - Crash
Best Cinematography - Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Costume Design - Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Editing - The Constant Gardener
Best Make-up/Hairstyling - The Chronicles of Narnia
Best Original Score - Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Production Design - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Best Sound - Walk the Line
Best Special Effects - King Kong

All of these winners are nominated in the corresponding Oscar categories as well (and none of them were shown on the BBC America broadcast).

In awards specific to the BAFTAs, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won for Best British Film (over the likes of Constant Gardener and Pride & Prejudice, ha ha) and Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright won an award for Most Promising Newcomer.

The show's most disturbing win was James McAvoy's triumph over Gael Garcia Bernal, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams and Michelle Williams for the inaugural general-public-selected Rising Star Award. No disrespect to McAvoy (who was perfectly charming as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia) but he was up against four of the best "Rising Star" candidates possible. I guess that's what playing a faun does for you.

Even the BAFTAs' career-achievement award was more interesting than the usual rote tribute, thanks to a very moving speech from the honoree, producer David Puttnam, that included praise for the films of 2005 and an extended reference to The Sixth Sense. You kinda had to see it to get it...