Films of 2015: Dublin Film Critics Circle weigh in

The members of the Dublin Film Critics Circle showed their independence this year by voting an animated film, Pixar’s Inside Out, as best film of 2015.  Mad Max Fury Road, a winner with critics groups elsewhere in the world, showed strongly, but was still beaten into second place. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s The Tribe, a Ukrainian film set among the deaf, and Todd Haynes’s Carol, a story of lesbian romance from the 1950s, were in the following pack. Star Wars: The Forces Awakens, the most hyped film of the century, was among those sharing fifth position with a no-budget film shot on iPhones in West Hollywood: Sean Baker’s Tangerine.

Few will be surprised to see John Crowley’s Brooklyn, currently eating up awards season, being named as best Irish film, but it had to share that spot with Conor Horgan’s documentary on Panti Bliss, Queen of Ireland.  Daisy Ridley, the lead in Star Wars, was honoured with best international breakthrough. The best breakthrough in the domestic category went to Tallaght’s Jordanne Jones, so good in Frank Berry’s I Used to Live Here.

[quote title=”Tara Brady – Dublin Film Critics Circle, President”]The DFCC were happy to honour an unprecedented number of films with female protagonists: Carol, I Used to Live Here, Mad Max Fury Road, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, of course, Inside Out Itself. Joy will be unbounded.[/quote]

The lists encompass all films released in Irish cinemas in the calendar year 2015. Unfortunately Scannain did not have a representative on the Dublin Film Critics Circle this year, but we have to say they made some fine choices.

The full list of winners:

Best Film

1 Inside Out

2 Mad Max Fury Road

3 Carol

4 The Tribe

5 Birdman / A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night / Ex Machina / Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Tangerine

Best Irish

1 Queen of Ireland / Brooklyn

2 Song of the Sea

3 Older than Ireland

4 I Used to Live Here

5 The Lobster

Best Documentary

1 Queen of Ireland

2 Amy

3 Red Army

4 Best of Enemies

5 The Wolfpack, The Look of Silence

Best Actress

1 Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

2 Rooney Mara (Carol)

3 Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

4 Charlize Theron (Mad Max Fury Road) / Emily Blunt (Sicario) / Lily Tomlin (Grandma)

5 Nina Hoss (Phoenix)

Best Actor

1 Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

2 Oscar Isaacs (A Most Violent Year)

3 Steve Carrell (Foxcatcher)

4 Matt Damon (The Martian) / Paul Dano (Love and Mercy) / Tom Courtenay (45 Years) / Michael Keaton (Birdman)

5 Viggo Mortensen (Jauja)/  J K Simmons (Whiplash) / Colin Farrell (The Lobster)

Best Director

1 Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

2 Todd Haynes (Carol)

3 Myroslav Slaboshpitsky (The Tribe) / Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy)

4 Sean Baker (Tangerine)

5 John Crowley ( Brooklyn) / J.J. Abrams (Star Wars The Force Awakens)

Breakthrough International

Daisy Ridley (Star Wars The Force Awakens) / Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

Breakthrough Irish

Jordanne Jones (I Used to Live Here)