“The Wild Robot,” an animated adventure about a machine that becomes a protector of forest animals, is the best movie of 2024, according to the Utah Film Critics Association.
Utah critics also chose “The Wild Robot” as the year’s best animated film.
Members of the UFCA, who review movies for various outlets around the state, made their selections Saturday in their annual meeting at the Megaplex Jordan Commons in Sandy.
Other multiple winners were:
• The drama “Sing Sing,” with Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin winning both for lead and supporting male performances, portraying inmates in a maximum-security prison’s theater program.
• The thriller “September 5,” set in the ABC Sports control room during the 1972 Munich Olympics when terrorists hold the Israeli team hostage, won for its editing and its ensemble cast. (It opens in Utah theaters Friday.)
• “The Substance,” a body horror drama, won for Demi Moore’s leading performance as an aging actress who finds an extreme beauty treatment, and for its visual effects. It also was runner-up for best picture.
The award for best director went to Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist,” a 3½-hour epic about an immigrant architect (played by Adrien Brody) battling his benefactor and his demons to create his masterpiece. (The movie also opens in Utah theaters on Friday.)
Danielle Deadwyler won for female supporting performance for her portrayal of a woman protecting her family’s legacy in “The Piano Lesson,” an adaptation of August Wilson’s play (now streaming on Netflix).
Another robot in a movie, David Jonsson’s performance in the science-fiction thriller “Alien: Romulus,” won the critics association’s Vice/Martin Award — given to the best performance in a science-fiction, fantasy or horror film. (The award is named for two deceased members of the UFCA.)
Here are the winners and runners-up for the UFCA awards:
• Picture: “The Wild Robot”; runner-up: “The Substance.”
• Achievement in Direction: Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”; runner-up: Denis Villeneuve, “Dune: Part Two.”
• Lead Performance, Male: Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”; runner-up: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist.”
• Lead Performance, Female: Demi Moore, “The Substance”; runner-up: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, “Hard Truths.”
• Supporting Performance, Male: Clarence Maclin, “Sing Sing”; runner-up: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain.”
• Supporting Performance, Female: Danielle Deadwyler, “The Piano Lesson”; runner-up: Ariana Grande-Butera, “Wicked.”
• Ensemble Cast: “September 5″; runner-up: “His Three Daughters.”
• Vice/Martin Award (for best performance in a science-fiction, fantasy or horror film): David Jonsson, “Alien: Romulus”; runner-up: Demi Moore, “The Substance.”
• Screenplay: Azazel Jacobs, “His Three Daughters”; runner-up: Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain.”
• Cinematography: Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”; runner-up: Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu.”
• Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “Challengers”; runner-up: Robin Carolan, “Nosferatu.”
• Film Editing: “September 5″; runners-up: (tie) “Nickel Boys” and “The Substance.”
• Visual Effects: “The Substance”; runner-up: “Better Man.”
• Documentary Feature: (tie) “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” and “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.”
• Animated Feature: “The Wild Robot”; runner-up: “Flow.”
• Non-English Feature: “Red Rooms” (Canada); runner-up: “Flow” (Latvia).
Editor’s note • Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune’s deputy enterprise editor, is a voting member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Means was The Tribune’s full-time movie critic from 1993 to 2018, and continues to review movies at The Movie Cricket (moviecricket.net) and for X96′s “Radio From Hell” show on Fridays.