The night before Chappell Roan won Best New Artist at the 2025 Grammys, I was at my high-school best friend Heather’s wedding. Already moved to tears by how beautiful she looked walking down the aisle, later in the evening I was hit by a second emotional cricket bat: I asked the DJ if he could play ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’ by Chappell Roan, and he replied, “Who?”

To any DJ reading, I realize it’s annoying to field requests, but this one came directly from the bride, who delegated the asking to me because she didn’t want to seem too demanding. And anyway, it was a humbling way to be yanked out of my echo chamber, and realize the artist who dominated the brain space of almost everyone I currently know might not have reached as far as the suburbs of New Zealand I grew up in.

When I trawled through your Chappell Roan-related Letterboxd lists this week, I was reminded that actually, there are no losers in a situation like that. (Except me and Heather for four minutes last Saturday, unable to dance to Chappell.) What I mean is: anyone who hasn’t heard of your favorite artist’s favorite artist only has a transcendent experience awaiting them. Equally, it may be a hard truth to learn that people have never heard of your favorite film of the year, but that’s why we’re here on Letterboxd, and that’s what awards are for—to make sure people find out.

So without further ado, let’s jump into this week in awards, starting with the Grammys, before taking stock of the Emilia Pérez controversy ahead of the Critics Choice Awards on Friday, then welcoming a dispatch from Marianne Jean-Baptiste on how to recover from a breakdown.

The 2025 Grammys had a much earlier eligibility window than we’re used to in film, encapsulating releases from September 16, 2023, to August 30, 2024—which is why the other film winners felt like they were releases from another lifetime (AKA, last year’s awards season). Matthew Heineman’s documentary on Jon Batiste, American Symphony, won Best Music Film, while its original song ‘It Never Went Away’ took Best Song Written for Visual Media. (Ella Kemp, our UK and Europe editorial lead, spoke to Batiste for last year’s Best in Show podcast.) Best Compilation Album for Visual Media went to Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, for its accompanying compilation of Leonard Bernstein’s work from musicals and compositions from Gustav Mahler and Beethoven.

Back in the world of film and across the Atlantic, the London Film Critics’ Circle on Sunday selected The Brutalist as its Best Picture. With Brady Corbet’s film now releasing wider in the US and across the world, you can take a spoiler-filled dive into the monumental new Journal story from our erstwhile head of video Brian Formo, guided by your reviews and insights from the cast and crew (including Corbet on why he’s drawn to making films about “the promise of the American Dream” and the “dark side of the capitalist experiment”).

In the acting categories, the London Critics gave Best Actor to Conclave’s Ralph Fiennes and Best Actress to Hard Truths’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste (more from her below). Our correspondent Rafa Sales Ross recently spoke to Jean-Baptiste and Mike Leigh about making films with freedom, “in the same way people write novels, paint pictures, make music, write poetry, and make sculptures,” as Leigh says.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the AACTAs—Australia’s leading film and television awards—are taking place this Friday; Better Man leads with sixteen nominations and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has fifteen, including a ing Actor nod for Chris Hemsworth that I know serves sweet justice for many of you.

While Coralie Fargeat was left off the Césars’ Best Directors list, The Substance, largely produced outside of , is up for Best Foreign Film alongside Anora and The Seed of the Sacred Fig. The Césars also include some worthy nominations for Cannes premieres that deserve to be seen much more widely, such as Souleymane’s Story, Wild Diamond and the brilliant Ghost Trail, an underseen but masterful political thriller.

But with the Césars comes the elephant in the room, or should I say: how do you solve a problem like Emilia? Emilia Pérez continues to garner wall-to-wall nominations from awards bodies around the world, including twelve at the Césars, but that continues to feel miles away from the snowballing controversy around the movie (and its continually declining Letterboxd rating, now at 2.2).

That’s come to a head most evidently with the resurfacing of several racist tweets by Karla Sofía Gascón, which she posted very recently—including one in which she weighed in on diversity at the Oscars in 2021. Among other tweets, that perhaps is the most frustrating, given Gascón’s nomination itself is a milestone for transgender performers.

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It’s hard to take your eyes off Marianne Jean-Baptiste through the duration of Hard Truths, much as you might want to. Throughout the film—now out in US and UK cinemas—Pansy (Jean-Baptiste), a lonely, short-tempered mother carrying years of unresolved trauma, hurricanes her way through the world, yelling at her son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) and husband Curtley (David Webber), picking fights with retail staff in department stores and rebuffing the kindness of her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin).

She’s unfathomably rude and impatient, but a mesmerizing Jean-Baptiste—who won Best Actress at the British Independent Film Awards, and is up for a BAFTA next week—is able to deliver each line with a tonal control that’s somehow completely hilarious and utterly heartbreaking all at once.

Pansy’s rage and pain all spills over in one unbelievable scene at a Mother’s Day lunch that cements Jean-Baptiste’s status as one of our greatest living performers. Pansy has just confided in her sister that she is convinced Moses and Curtley hate her, but when she discovers Moses bought her flowers for Mother’s Day, she begins to laugh. Director Mike Leigh holds a sustained shot on Jean-Baptiste’s face as this laughter soon turns into tears, which then turns into full-body, convulsing sobs, as Pansy unleashes every emotion she has kept bottled under her brash exterior.

Watching at home, I scrolled back and rewatched the scene three times just to try to understand what sort of acting alchemy Jean-Baptiste was tapping into. Our agree: Oliver says the scene is “propelled by her non-speaking presence, dominating the centre of the frame until she breaks down in laughter and then floods of tears.” Kat calls her “phenomenal” in the scene, speaking “directly to her audience, reaching into every chest and taking their heart”, while Rachel simply calls it “next-level acting”.

Speaking to Letterboxd on the BIFAs red carpet in December, Jean-Baptiste says that the scene was the culmination of weeks of rehearsal and sitting with Pansy’s pain for that entire time. “It’s all the stuff that went in, all the disappointments, the heartbreaks, and stuff that just culminates. Obviously she’s suppressing all those feelings, so it just culminates in that scene.”

In of how to cool off after such an emotionally draining scene, Jean-Baptiste recommends “wine, and a lot of laughter—we laughed a lot,” she says. “We went out afterwards, [to] really decompress.”

Her co-star Michele Austin, who also received a Best ing Actress nomination at the BIFAs, told us on the red carpet that she was immensely proud to be part of a small, independent film. “This is a very particular portrait of Black British life, which we don't see on the big screen,” she says. “So I am thrilled that we’re [at the BIFAs] and that we are able to push people towards seeing our film.” With Jean-Baptiste up for Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday—after winning a slew of other critics group awards—let’s hope that continues.

It’ll be particularly interesting to see how those categories pan out, given the last major ceremony, the Golden Globes, doesn’t hand out awards in the aforementioned categories. The day after that, the Annie Awards, Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards and Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards all take place simultaneously, and the Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards are next Tuesday. It’s pretty much all go till the Oscars from here, so strap in.

To celebrate the big-screen arrival of Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s unforgettable crying scene, I used your lists to some of the best tears that have come before. Colderinnashv has a solid list of ten, with only “weep, sobs, whole body cries” eligible, “no single tears or small cries”. Nosferatu makes it in there, but I also appreciate the inclusion of the miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble, in which Claire Danes delivers one of the most upsetting on-screen cries I’ve ever seen.

Meron’s got a small-but-immaculate collection of films in which a character applies makeup looking into a mirror while crying (I, Tonya among them, of course), and my gay little heart is obsessed with the three masterpieces on Nati’s list titled “Movies where the ending scene is a gay crying”. For those of you battling seasonal depression in the Northern Hemisphere, you’re welcome/I’m sorry.

In lieu of seeking out Chappell’s Letterboxd , which she deserves to keep to herself, I went down a rabbit hole of related lists, and the community delivered. Lexi’s movie recommendations inspired by Chappell Roan is immaculate, and comes with detailed notes on how Lexi feels each film relates to Chappell; she makes use of the way ‘Naked in Manhattan’ references both Mean Girls and Mulholland Drive, but the positioning of But I’m a Cheerleader at number one is an inspired pick.

Celine has a masterpiece on her hands with if you like this Chappell Roan song try this film, with detailed notes on the song and lyrics that pair best with the movie (matching ‘Picture You’ to In the Mood for Love is a stroke of genius). But my absolute favorite has to be Xavier’s movies whose titles you can sing to the tune of Chappell Roan’s ‘HOT TO GO’, which includes Vertigo, Chicago and Memento. And with that, I’m off to learn to DJ, so I can stop bothering professionals and start playing Chappell Roan at weddings myself.

Kevin on Wicked:

“The musical numbers are allowed to breathe with the extended runtime, letting their emotional impact and energy shine. Cynthia Erivo is the sturdy anchor here, quietly carrying so much emotional weight without needing to go big or theatrical. And Ariana Grande? She surprised me in the best way. Her comedic timing is sharp, she’s fully present in every moment, and she moves through her choreography like she was born to float as Glinda. Consider me officially on board with her future in acting.”

Faith on Better Man:

“Robbie’s love story is tender, beautifully choreographed and, naturally for one so young, completely doomed. And his resulting storm of self-aware fury is couched in grassroots failure, poignant creativity and as much cheeky-chappie vaudeville japes as the ringmaster will allow. But why do I rate it? Because his evolution was tough and had peaks of real, humble musicianship. And because his absolute secondary status to the Northern Scum lads Oasis warms my jaded Britpop heart.”

Troy on Memoir of a Snail:

“I don’t think there is a filmmaker that intimately understands mental illness quite as profoundly as Adam Elliot. Memoir of a Snail is a gorgeous film, brimming with trauma and tribulation, underpinned by hope and healing. As snails move forward they leave behind a glistening trail—when we look backward at our life with the narrative of who we are and where we’ve come from, reclaimed; we can see the lessons we’ve learned, the growth we’ve undergone and the beauty we’ve left behind. A message I will hold onto tightly, like a snail in its shell and a woman emerging from hers.”