Many thought this latest melodrama from Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan deserved the top prize in Cannes this year. As it was, the runner-up jury prize, shared with Jean-Luc Godard for Goodbye to Language, is a clear-enough sign that, with his fifth film, 25-year-old Dolan, is ready for his closeup.
Xavier Dolan‘s French-language Mommy swept the Canadian Screen Awards on Sunday night, as Quebec movies continue to dominate the country’s film awards.
And John Cusack won for best film supporting actor in Toronto for his star-turn in David Cronenberg‘s Maps to the Stars. Dolan’s family drama, which shared the Cannes Jury Prize and won for best foreign film at the Cesars, came into the Canadian film and TV awards with a field-leading 13 nominations.
Mommy took Screenies for best film, best director, best film actress for Anne Dorval, best film actor for Antoine Olivier Pilon and best film supporting actress for Suzanne Clement. Dolan’s fifth film swept the movie awards competition on the strength of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Montreal block vote, which last year allowed Quebec directors Denis Villeneuve (Enemy) and Louise Archambault (Gabrielle) to dominate the film prize-giving.
And in 2013, Quebec director Kim Nguyen’s War Witch earned nine trophies at the inaugural Canadian Screen Awards with a Congo child-soldier drama not seen at the local multiplex outside of Quebec.
On the English language movie front, Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars, which came into Canada’s screen awards with 11 nominations and was introduced at the awards show by co-star Julianne Moore, made do with two trophies. That included best film score for Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore.
On the TV side, the Space and BBC America series Orphan Black repeated as best TV drama, and earned star Tatiana Maslany the best TV actress crown. And HBO Canada’s Call Me Fitz, starring Jason Priestley, won for best TV comedy, and CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada earned the best reality TV trophy.
The Canadian Screen Awards, which aired on the CBC network, was hosted by Andrea Martin. The veteran actor and Broadway star in her opening monologue mocked her comic tumble and pixelated crotch shot on the red carpet to open the show.
“Talk about your Fifty Shades of Grey. Now there’s your mystery tunnel,” she deadpanned. “At my age, it’s nice to be under white lights and not walking towards them,” Martin added.
