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| Guardian Film Awards: longlist focus - best picture | Guardian Film Awards: longlist focus - best picture |
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| The Guardian Film Awards were launched last week. Their aim: to act as an antidote to the usual slate of ceremonies. Their method: to cook up slightly different categories, and to involve readers in the voting. | The Guardian Film Awards were launched last week. Their aim: to act as an antidote to the usual slate of ceremonies. Their method: to cook up slightly different categories, and to involve readers in the voting. |
| A brief recap, for those who missed last week's story. We've launched longlists of 10 nominees in each category. We want you to vote for your favourite in each - and the top five reader choices will form our shortlist. Voting ends at noon GMT on 16 February and we'll reveal the shortlists three days later. | A brief recap, for those who missed last week's story. We've launched longlists of 10 nominees in each category. We want you to vote for your favourite in each - and the top five reader choices will form our shortlist. Voting ends at noon GMT on 16 February and we'll reveal the shortlists three days later. |
| The top reader choice in each category will also count for the casting vote when the judges (Claudia Winkleman and Adam Curtis, plus Alan Rusbridger, Peter Bradshaw, Xan Brooks and me) confer towards the end of February. The winners will then be revealed at a ceremony on 6 March. | The top reader choice in each category will also count for the casting vote when the judges (Claudia Winkleman and Adam Curtis, plus Alan Rusbridger, Peter Bradshaw, Xan Brooks and me) confer towards the end of February. The winners will then be revealed at a ceremony on 6 March. |
| There's also a couple of categories voted solely by readers - best cinema and best so-bad-it's-good film - and one (lifetime achievement) that's just down to the judges. Remember, too: you can vote wherever you are in the world, though you're only eligible for one of the (pretty snazzy) prizes if you live in the UK. | There's also a couple of categories voted solely by readers - best cinema and best so-bad-it's-good film - and one (lifetime achievement) that's just down to the judges. Remember, too: you can vote wherever you are in the world, though you're only eligible for one of the (pretty snazzy) prizes if you live in the UK. |
| For the next 12 days, we'll be breaking down each of the categories. For starters: best picture. This is one of the most apparently straightforward, but there is a little spin, for our best film award is open to fact, fiction and foreign language. This has resulted in a bit of a logjam of quality - but as first world problems go, we'll take it. | For the next 12 days, we'll be breaking down each of the categories. For starters: best picture. This is one of the most apparently straightforward, but there is a little spin, for our best film award is open to fact, fiction and foreign language. This has resulted in a bit of a logjam of quality - but as first world problems go, we'll take it. |
| So, let's inspect the contenders, then consider key films that didn't make the cut. Do let us know your thoughts, gripes and suggestions below. As discussed in the comment thread beneath Friday's news story, this is our first time trying this, and we're eager for your feedback. | So, let's inspect the contenders, then consider key films that didn't make the cut. Do let us know your thoughts, gripes and suggestions below. As discussed in the comment thread beneath Friday's news story, this is our first time trying this, and we're eager for your feedback. |
| The Great Beauty | The Great Beauty |
| Peter Bradshaw and Xan Brooks's film of 2013, Paolo Sorrentino's Fellini-riffing epic starring Toni Servillo as a Rome socialite giddy with la dolce vita missed out on the Palme d'Or could prove victorious at the world's most prestigious awards ceremony (and the Oscars).• Full coverage | Peter Bradshaw and Xan Brooks's film of 2013, Paolo Sorrentino's Fellini-riffing epic starring Toni Servillo as a Rome socialite giddy with la dolce vita missed out on the Palme d'Or could prove victorious at the world's most prestigious awards ceremony (and the Oscars).• Full coverage |
| The Act of Killing | The Act of Killing |
| This was the top-ranked film of last year as voted by all the Guardian film team (adding Andrew Pulver, Henry Barnes and me into the mix). Joshua Oppenheimer's ground-breaking documentary about the lack of remorse felt by members of the Indonesian death squads of the 1960s - who are encouraged to re-enact their crimes - is a front-runner for this year's documentary Oscar and has been championed by us for a year and a half. • Full coverage | This was the top-ranked film of last year as voted by all the Guardian film team (adding Andrew Pulver, Henry Barnes and me into the mix). Joshua Oppenheimer's ground-breaking documentary about the lack of remorse felt by members of the Indonesian death squads of the 1960s - who are encouraged to re-enact their crimes - is a front-runner for this year's documentary Oscar and has been championed by us for a year and a half. • Full coverage |
| The Selfish Giant | The Selfish Giant |
| Clio Barnard's triumphant followup to The Arbor is a Sheffield-set tale of young friendship, scrap metal and horse love that references Oscar Wilde and positions Barnard as the next Ken Loach.• Full coverage | Clio Barnard's triumphant followup to The Arbor is a Sheffield-set tale of young friendship, scrap metal and horse love that references Oscar Wilde and positions Barnard as the next Ken Loach.• Full coverage |
| Blue is the Warmest Colour | Blue is the Warmest Colour |
| A big favourite in the readers' poll of last year, this Palme d'Or-winning romance has been a hot potato in every sense (well, almost), from first premiere to post-release fallout. • Full coverage | A big favourite in the readers' poll of last year, this Palme d'Or-winning romance has been a hot potato in every sense (well, almost), from first premiere to post-release fallout. • Full coverage |
| Gravity | Gravity |
| The runaway victor amongst readers last year was Alfonso Cuaron's groundbreaking space thriller (also picked by Peter Bradshaw as his third favourite of the year). • Full coverage | The runaway victor amongst readers last year was Alfonso Cuaron's groundbreaking space thriller (also picked by Peter Bradshaw as his third favourite of the year). • Full coverage |
| 12 Years a Slave | 12 Years a Slave |
| It might not be British by funding, but we're whole-heartedly appropriating Steve McQueen's masterpiece as our own. Still odds on at the Oscars, though its momentum has wobbled slightly since last September's premiere. • Full coverage | It might not be British by funding, but we're whole-heartedly appropriating Steve McQueen's masterpiece as our own. Still odds on at the Oscars, though its momentum has wobbled slightly since last September's premiere. • Full coverage |
| I Wish | I Wish |
| Here's one of Xan Brooks's particular picks from last year: a low-key domestic drama from Kore-eda Hirokazu about divorce and its consequences on the children involved. Number nine on our films of 2013 poll. • Full coverage | Here's one of Xan Brooks's particular picks from last year: a low-key domestic drama from Kore-eda Hirokazu about divorce and its consequences on the children involved. Number nine on our films of 2013 poll. • Full coverage |
| Behind the Candelabra | Behind the Candelabra |
| Studio anxiety over Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic being "too gay" led this to have an HBO premiere in the US. We made it our joint third film of the year - it had theatrical release in the UK - and nominated it in five categories, including best picture. • Full coverage | Studio anxiety over Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic being "too gay" led this to have an HBO premiere in the US. We made it our joint third film of the year - it had theatrical release in the UK - and nominated it in five categories, including best picture. • Full coverage |
| Wadjda | Wadjda |
| Another Xan Brooks cheerleading special, this. Though the first ever film made by a woman in Saudi Arabia actually took four nominations in our film awards, so you can guess that the rest of us loved it too. • Full coverage | Another Xan Brooks cheerleading special, this. Though the first ever film made by a woman in Saudi Arabia actually took four nominations in our film awards, so you can guess that the rest of us loved it too. • Full coverage |
| Before Midnight | Before Midnight |
| Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke are in the news today with a five star review at Sundance of their new film, Boyhood. This time last year, there was a similarly ecstatic reaction in Park City for this, the third in their Jesse and Celine trilogy. | Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke are in the news today with a five star review at Sundance of their new film, Boyhood. This time last year, there was a similarly ecstatic reaction in Park City for this, the third in their Jesse and Celine trilogy. |
| • Full coverage That completes the longlist of 10, which we need you to whittle down to half the size. But what's missing from the list? Who was robbed and why? Here's five of the unlucky few that coulda been contenders | |
| 1) American Hustle | |
| It's got verve, it's got a great vibe, top performances and cracking dialogue. But the feeling, ultimately, was that these elements didn't quite cohere to make a masterpiece. Sorry, David O Russell - you'll have to make do with being the joint Oscars frontrunner. | It's got verve, it's got a great vibe, top performances and cracking dialogue. But the feeling, ultimately, was that these elements didn't quite cohere to make a masterpiece. Sorry, David O Russell - you'll have to make do with being the joint Oscars frontrunner. |
| • Full coverage | • Full coverage |
| 2) Inside Llewyn Davis | |
| The Coen brothers' film is out in the UK this Friday, and it gets recognition in our best line of dialogue and best scene categories. But, similarly, the sense was that - excellent movie though it is - it didn't linger with us in the way we hoped. • Full coverage | The Coen brothers' film is out in the UK this Friday, and it gets recognition in our best line of dialogue and best scene categories. But, similarly, the sense was that - excellent movie though it is - it didn't linger with us in the way we hoped. • Full coverage |
| 3) Nebraska | |
| It pains me, this omission. But despite Bruce Dern's crackerjack performance, not enough of my colleagues agreed that Alexander Payne's black and white road trip matched its central turn. • Full coverage | It pains me, this omission. But despite Bruce Dern's crackerjack performance, not enough of my colleagues agreed that Alexander Payne's black and white road trip matched its central turn. • Full coverage |
| 4) Her | |
| Spike Jonze's computer love story also crops up in a lot in other categories, but a certain narrative stretchiness towards the end cost it a best picture nod. Still, this is a film almost more endearing for its imperfection.• Full coverage | Spike Jonze's computer love story also crops up in a lot in other categories, but a certain narrative stretchiness towards the end cost it a best picture nod. Still, this is a film almost more endearing for its imperfection.• Full coverage |
| 5) Blue Jasmine | |
| Woody's actual, proper, really-we're-not-kidding-this-time return to form was a brilliant piece of cinema. But so much was down to Cate Blanchett; and those little niggles we have with some aspects of the plot and characterisation just won't go away.• Full coverageChip into the comments to tell us where we were wrong (or, even, right). Check back tomorrow when we'll be running through the contenders for best actor. And put your money where your mouth is and vote here. |