The 72nd Annual Directors Guild of America Awards ceremony will take place Saturday, January 25th, 2020.

As I have been doing for a few years, as we get into the awards season, I’ll post the fictional ballots for some of the guild awards, showing what my vote would be if I had one. I will, as a rule, abstain from my fictional vote if I haven’t seen at least half of the nominees. And to be perfectly clear, I’m not a member of any of these guilds and organizations.

The list of nominees can be seen here.

Here it goes:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: abstain (Not seen: The Cave, Maiden, Honeyland.)

---

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: abstain (Not seen: Honey Boy, Queen & Slim, The Peanut Butter Falcon, The Last Black Man in San Francisco.)

---

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film: Bong Joon-ho, for Parasite

Bong Joon-ho touches base on all accounts: his actors, without exception, give great performances; the film is wonderfully paced, entertaining, thrilling. It is also visually very interesting, with two very distinctive and memorable sets, all well-shot. The award would also be in excellent hands if it went to Sam Mendes, but Parasite is a more creative and risky film. (Not seen: Jojo Rabbit.)