Did the Bafta awards go to deserving films?

So how did last night’s Bafta awards tie in to Alan in Belfast’s favourite films of 2006 and the handful viewed already this year.

Of my top three films of 2006, two picked up multiple awards.

• Children of Men well deserved to win the Cinematography award – remember that ten minute single shot near the end? And it picked up a trophy for Production design too.
• Pan’s Labyrinth won Best film not in the English Language, beating Black Book which was shortlisted. It topped the poll for Costume design and Make up and hair … getting the faun’s barnet just right!

And two of this year’s best films so far were successful too.

• The Last King of Scotland did well, winning Best British Film, and Forest Whitaker picked up a gong for his portrayal of Idi Amin. It also won the Adapted screenplay category, and narrowly missed out on Best Newcomer’s Blog.
• Babel won the Achievement in Film Music category … it so wasn’t going to win Best Film!

A real surprise (to me, at least) was Casino Royale which won the Bafta for Sound category. Why? The opening theme was unmemorable and the string and brass stabbing orchestration wasn’t anything special. (Eva Green won the Rising Star award for her portrayal of the intelligent Bond Girl, Vesper Lynd.)