The New York Film Critics Circle Awards announced the best of the best of the year and it took a bit of a different approach from the picks of the National Board of Review.
The New York Film Critics Circle named Roma best picture of the year and gave best director to its helmer, Alfonso Cuarón. This is a big win for the streaming title which is in a limited four-wall theatrical release and drops on Netflix on December 14. To date, most critics groups have overlooked Roma following its Golden Lion win at the Venice Film Festival although it did end up in the top ten of the National Board of Review.
Keeping in line with previous years, the NYFCC went indie with its best picture choice. Previous indie best pic winners include last year’s Lady Bird from Greta Gerwig, La LaLand (2016), Carol (2015), Boyhood (2014), The Artist (2011), The Hurt Locker (2009) and Milk (2008). When it comes to big studio best picture wins, they’ve all belonged to Sony with American Hustle (2013), Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Social Network (2010).
On the acting front, Ethan Hawke landed best actor for First Reformed while Regina Hall took home best actress for Support the Girls. Hall was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role in the film and was also noticed at the Gothams. Regina King is walking away with another best-supporting actress win after her National Board of Review win for If Beale Street Could Talk. She’s also nominated for a best-supporting-actress at Spirits. NYFCC followed the Gotham Awards in recognizing Richard E. Grant for his turn in Fox Searchlight’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? and he also landed a nomination for the role at the Spirit Awards.
Here is the full list of winners:
Best Film: Roma (Netflix)
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma (Netflix)
Best First Film: Eighth Grade, dir. Bo Burnham (A24)
Best Actor: Ethan Hawke for First Reformed (A24)
Best Actress: Best Actress, Regina Hall, Support the Girls (Magnolia Pictures)
Best Supporting Actor: Richard E. Grant for Fox Searchlight’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
Best Screenplay: First Reformed (Paul Schrader) (A24)
Best Cinematography: Roma, Alfonso Cuaron (Netflix)
Best Foreign Language Film: Cold War (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski) (Amazon)
Best Documentary: Minding the Gap (dir. Bing Liu)
Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (dirs. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman)
Special Awards: David Schwartz, Chief Film Curator at Museum of the Moving Image (who will be stepping down after 33 years) and Kino Classics Box Set “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers.
