Are you writing a thesis on cultural psephology? Then look no further, we have a fascinating case study for you.
Here is the news. Inside Out, the most mainstream of our suggestions for best picture, romped home comfortably in that race. Hooray! Pixar is unquestionably back at the top of its game. Mad Max Fury Road, currently cleaning up at awards ceremonies and with critics' circles, took the prize for best franchise picture and motored on towards an increasingly likely Oscar nomination for best picture.
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There was further happy evidence that audiences will, when offered a sufficiently delicious example, enjoy off-centre, avant-garde material. Yorgos Lanthimos’s
The Lobster
, a brilliant glob of romantic absurdity, took two Ticket Awards.
Farrell, Colman, Weisz, Whishaw and the rest got a nose ahead of the Straight Outta Compton posse to win best ensemble. Lanthimos beat Todd Haynes, director of the lovely Carol, comfortably in the best director category.
When The Lobster emerged, pessimists predicted mass exoduses on date night, but the word of mouth has been hugely positive and the film has stubbornly hung around in cinemas.
A few hundred of our voters made the effort to vote for the eternal Duck Soup as best reissue. Despite its disappointing box-office figures, Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs romped home in the race for best screenplay. Michael Fassbender, star of that film, had more of a challenge beating Jordanne Jones, the brilliant protagonist of Frank Berry's haunting socio-realist piece I Used to Live Here.
The domestic sphere
It was in the domestic sphere that this year's awards really kicked up some interest. Perusing our suggestions for best Irish film, many educated observers would have argued that the race was over before it began. John Crowley's Brooklyn scored the biggest domestic opening yet for an Irish drama and has continued to scare up buckets of dosh. At time of writing, the adaptation of Colm Tóibín's novel has a running total of €2.4 million in these territories. There were other fine films on our starting grid –Terry McMahon's searing Patrick's Day and Conor Horgan's celebratory Queen of Ireland among them – but none had the broad appeal of Brooklyn.
It didn't even come close. Brooklyn ended up with about half the votes that went the way of Patrick's Day. There's more.
Supporters of McMahon's film secured the first across-the- board "write-in" triumph here. Patrick's Day was added to the best-film ballot and beat A Girl Walks Home at Night into second place. Moe Dunford, the titular Patrick, came fifth in best performance as a write-in candidate. McMahon ended up at number four in best director. Patrick's Day is the SNP and Terry is Nicola Sturgeon.
Patrick's Day won the argument. A beautifully acted piece that incorporates social commentary with intimate drama, the film has been picking up raves since it premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2014, but Patrick's Day also won the campaign. This is the first time since the inception of the Ticket Awards that I have noticed significant amounts of canvassing on social media. There is nothing wrong with that. I can't imagine anybody voted for Patrick's Day who didn't wish the film well. "Getting the vote out" has always been the most important weapon in fighting elections. It looks as if few Patrick's Day supporters failed to make it to the polling centre.
As Irish films continue to boss awards season, it made sense that domestic releases scored so well in international categories. Song of the Sea managed to get past Inside Out in the best animation category.
Was there a surprise in best documentary? Despite receiving the best reviews of any film this year, Conor Horgan's Queen of Ireland, a study of Panti Bliss, couldn't quite get past Alex Fegan's Older than Ireland.
That film on the nation's centenarians has been playing steadily and successfully since its release in September. Both documentaries comfortably beat Oscar favourite Amy and confirmed the nation's continuing taste for strongly told factual films on domestic issues.
The affection for these films – see also A Place that Used to Be, Fortune's Wheel and A Doctor's Sword – and the enthusiasm for Brooklyn confirm that Irish film is finally winning on the home front. The future looks bright.
Let us end with the least. Overly tolerated due to the pseudonymous involvement of Steven Soderbergh, the meandering Magic Mike XXL was a deserved, if unexpected, winner of worst release. Then there were the weird titles that voters suggested as write-in candidates for best picture. Somebody mentioned the already notorious The Dressmaker. Two people nominated Gaspar Noe's Love.
One person nominated The Aviator, 11 years after its release. Then there was the person who went for Jurassic World. Get out of here, pal.
- Click here to see if you are one of this year's prize-wininers
THE TICKET AWARDS 2015 - FILM
BEST FILM
Winner - Inside Out
2 Patrick's Day
3 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
4 It Follows
5 45 Years
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner - Yorgos Lanthimos for The Lobster
2 Todd Haynes – Carol
3 Anna Odell – The Reunion
4 Terry McMahon – Patrick's Day
5 Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov – The Lesson
BEST IRISH FILM
Winner - Patrick's Day
2 Brooklyn
3 I Used to Live Here
4 Queen of Ireland
5 Glassland
BEST PERFORMANCE
Winner - Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
2 Jordanne Jones – I Used to Live Here
3 Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
4 O'Shea Jackson jnr – Straight Outta Compton
5 Moe Dunford – Patrick's Day
BEST ANIMATION
Winner - Song of the Sea
2 Inside Out
3 Big Hero 6
4 Shaun the Sheep Movie
5 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner - Older than Ireland
2 Queen of Ireland
3 Amy
4 Cobain: Montage of Heck
5 The Wolfpack
BEST SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin – Steve Jobs
BEST ENSEMBLE
The Lobster
BEST REISSUE
Duck Soup
BEST MUSIC
Straight Outta Compton
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Edward Lachman – Carol
WORST FILM
Magic Mike XXL
