In a typical left-wing selection, the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Japanese Oscar entry Drive My Car as best film, while heavyweight The Power Of The Dog received three top awards.
The results of this season’s first awards from a major US critique saw Jane Campion Best Director, Benedict Cumberbatch Best Actor, and Kodi Smit-McPhee Best Supporting Actor for what looked like Netflix’s The Power Of The Dog Get the main prize as the NYFCC announced its winners on Twitter on Friday (December 3rd).
This film, and its individual winners, will be among the front-runners from the Academy and other awarding bodies as the season progresses, but for now the spoils will go to Hamaguchi’s widely admired drama, which premiered in Cannes and led the Screen jury.
Lady Gaga was named Best Actress for House Of Gucci and reiterated the notion – in case a reminder was needed – that after her Oscar-nominated debut in A Star Is Born in 2018, she will be a formidable performer on the big screen. Kathryn Hunter was named Best Supporting Actress with the only win that day for Joel Coen’s New York Film Festival opener The Tragedy Of Macbeth.
The NYFCC picks come a day after the National Board of Review named Licorice Pizza Best Picture and the Gothams awarded their Best Picture Award to The Lost Daughter earlier this week. Both films also received NYFCC recognition for screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson and Best First Motion Picture for Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Other awards went to Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Danish animated film Flee as best non-fiction film and Joachim Trier’s Norwegian drama The Worst Man in a Foreign Language.
West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, won the NYFCC Cinematography Award for Janusz Kaminski and is a rising force in the awards season after receiving rave reviews this week.
In recent years, NYFCC has been switching between conservative and left wing selections for best film winner. Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow won last year and was an admired drama that otherwise barely gained any prominence among award voters, while Netflix’s generally more robust rivals The Irishman and Roma won in 2019 and 2018, respectively. Among the group’s more eccentric picks in recent years has been Tiffany Haddish, who was named Best Supporting Actress for Girls Trip in 2017.
All New York Film Critics Circle winners:
Best movie: Drive my car
Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best script: Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Actress: Lady Gaga, home of Gucci
Best actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
The best supporting actress: Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best supporting actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best camera: West Side Story, Janusz Kaminski
Best non-fiction film: Escape
Best Foreign Language Film: The worst person in the world
Best animated feature: The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Best debut film: The prodigal daughter Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Special awards:
- Marshall Fine for his years of service as NYFCC General Manager and decades of experience in the NY film scene.
- Diane Weyermann, posthumous award for supporting daring and impactful filmmakers at Sundance and Participant.
- Maya Cade for building the Black Film Archive.
