This year’s awards season peaks here with the publication of the “Braddies” – that is, my personal 10-strong best-of lists for films released this calendar year. These are distinct from the paper’s top 50, and come in the categories best film, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and actress, best screenplay, best cinematography and best documentary. There are also two new categories this year: best directorial debut and the special Braddie award for the quirkiest film overlooked by the complacent MSM gatekeeper-establishment that may be a future cult classic. (Last year it went unofficially to Gore Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness, and I am standardising the award this year).

As ever, I invite readers to peruse this list and comment on omissions etc below.

Cold War, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski.

Best film

Roma (dir Alfonso Cuarón)

A Star Is Born (dir Bradley Cooper)

Cold War (dir Paweł Pawlikowski)

Leave No Trace (dir Debra Granik)

Western (dir Valeska Grisebach)

Zama (dir Lucrecia Martel)

Hereditary (dir Ari Aster)

Coco (dirs Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina)

Widows (dir Steve McQueen)

Phantom Thread (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

Alfonso Cuarón directing Yalitza Aparicio in Roma. Photograph: Carlos Somonte/AP

Best director

Alfonso Cuarón for Roma

Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born

Mike Leigh for Peterloo

Bart Layton for American Animals

Andrey Zvyagintsev for Loveless

Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird

Ryan Coogler for Black Panther

Nuri Bilge Ceylan for The Wild Pear Tree

Hirokazu Kore-eda for Shoplifters

Chloé Zhao for The Rider

Braddie best actor nominee Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You. Photograph: Allstar/Cinereach

Best actor

Rupert Everett for The Happy Prince (dir Rupert Everett)

Marcello Fonte for Dogman (dir Matteo Garrone)

Justin Salinger for Crowhurst (dir Simon Rumley)

Daniel Day Lewis for Phantom Thread (dir Paul Thomas Anderson)

Joaquin Phoenix for You Were Never Really Here (dir Lynne Ramsay)

Ethan Hawke for First Reformed (dir Paul Schrader)

John David Washington for BlacKkKlansman (dir Spike Lee)

Lakeith Stanfield for Sorry to Bother You (dir Boots Riley)

Steve Coogan for Stan & Ollie (dir Jon S Baird)

John C Reilly for Stan & Ollie (dir Jon S Baird)

Tim Blake Nelson as the title character in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Photograph: Netflix

Best supporting actor

Tim Blake Nelson for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (dirs Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart for BPM: 120 Beats Per Minute (dir Robin Campillo)

Sam Elliott for A Star Is Born (dir Bradley Cooper)

Craig Robinson for An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin (dir Jim Hosking)

Brian Tyree Henry for Widows (dir Steve McQueen)

Daniel Kaluuya for Widows (dir Steve McQueen)

Gérard Depardieu for Let the Sunshine In (dir Claire Denis)

Jonathan Pryce for The Wife (dir Björn Runge)

Paul Bettany for Journey’s End (dir Saul Dibb)

Benicio Del Toro for Sicario 2: Soldado (dir Stefano Sollima)

Best actress Toni Collette in Hereditary. Photograph: Reid Chavis/AP

Best actress

Yalitza Aparicio for Roma (dir Alfonso Cuarón)

Toni Collette for Hereditary (dir Ari Aster)

Glenn Close for The Wife (dir Björn Junge)

Lady Gaga for A Star Is Born (dir Bradley Cooper)

Viola Davis for Widows (dir Steve McQueen)

Carey Mulligan for Wildlife (dir Paul Dano)

Daniela Vega for A Fantastic Woman (dir Sebastián Lelio)

Joanna Scanlan for Pin Cushion (dir Deborah Haywood)

Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (dir Martin McDonagh)

Juliette Binoche for Let the Sunshine In (dir Claire Denis)

Michelle Yeoh in Crazy Rich Asians.

Best supporting actress

Cynthia Erivo for Widows (dir Steve McQueen) and Bad Times at the El Royale (dir. Drew Goddard)

Allison Janney for I, Tonya (dir Craig Gillespie)

Elisabeth Moss for The Square (dir Ruben Östlund)

Michelle Yeoh for Crazy Rich Asians (dir Jon M Chu)

Siobhan Finneran for Apostasy (dir Daniel Kokotajlo)

Michelle Pfeiffer for Ant-Man and the Wasp (dir Peyton Reed)

Ana Ivanova for The Heiresses (dir Marcelo Martinessi)

Kirin Kiki for Shoplifters (dir Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Adele Haenel for BPM: 120 Beats Per Minute (dir Robin Campillo)

Zoe Kazan for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (dirs Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Greta Gerwig, writer and director of Lady Bird, at the Oscars in March. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock

Best screenplay

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (dirs Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Hirokazu Kore-eda for Shoplifters (dir Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Nick Park, Mark Burton and James Higginson for Early Man (dir Nick Park)

Brian Kehoe and Jim Kehoe for Blockers (dir Kay Cannon)

Liz Hannah for The Post (dir Steven Spielberg)

Carla Simón for Summer 1993 (dir Carla Simón)

Lucinda Coxon for The Little Stranger (dir Lenny Abrahamson)

Lucrecia Martel for Zama (dir Lucrecia Martel)

Jim Hosking and David Wike for An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin (dir Jim Hosking)

Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird (dir Greta Gerwig)

Trailer for Arcadia, directed by Paul Wright.

Best documentary

The Shall Not Grow Old (dir Peter Jackson)

Faces Places (dirs Agnès Varda, JR)

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (dir Alexandra Dean)

The Rape of Recy Taylor (dir Nancy Buirski)

The Eyes of Orson Welles (dir Mark Cousins)

A Northern Soul (dir Sean McAllister)

Nothing Like a Dame (dir Roger Michell)

That Summer (dir Göran Hugo Olsson)

Arcadia (dir. Paul Wright)

Voyageuse (dir May Miles Thomas)

Trailer for Mandy, with colourful cinematography by Benjamin Loeb.

Best cinematography

Alfonso Cuarón for Roma (dir Alfonso Cuarón)

Benjamin Loeb for Mandy (dir. Panos Cosmatos)

Benoît Debie for Climax (dir Gaspar Noé)

Laurie Rose for The Escape (dir Dominic Savage) and Journey’s End (dir Saul Dibb)

Rachel Morrison for Black Panther (dir. Ryan Coogler)

Agnès Godard for Let the Sunshine In (dir. Claire Denis)

Charlotte Bruus Christensen for A Quiet Place (dir John Krasinski)

Linus Sandgren for First Man (dir Damien Chazelle)

Rui Poças for Zama (dir Lucrecia Martel)

Andrew Dunn for The Children Act (dir Richard Eyre)

Jake Gyllenhaal in Wildlife, the directorial debut of Paul Dano. Photograph: Allstar/June Pictures

Best directorial debut

Paul Dano for Wildlife

Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias for Cocote

Marcelo Martinessi for The Heiresses

Michael Pearce for Beast

John Trengove for The Wound

Coralie Fargeat for Revenge

Léonor Serraille for Jeune Femme

Carla Simón for Summer 1993

Daniel Kokotajlo for Apostasy

Kogonada for Columbus

Special Braddie award

… for the quirky film overlooked by the complacent MSM gatekeeper-establishment which might be a future cult classic:

Every Day (dir Michael Sucsy)



