The Film Experience

by Nathaniel R

Founded in 1935 the New York Film Critics Circle remains one of the two most important film critics organizations in the country (the other being the Los Angeles Film Critics Association). They might not have the influencing power they once had when there weren't 30+ similar organizations but people still hear them out each year before the "critics named this the best" accolades start sounding like ambient noise. Last year they were heavy on Oscar frontrunners or presumed runners up in virtually every single category. Will their winners be such Oscar favorites this year. Time will tell.

It was quite a day for A24 with two of their films being the only multiple winners: Lady Bird (Best Picture and Best Actress) and The Florida Project (Best Director and Best Supporting Actor). Complete list of winners including interesting statistics follow after the jump...

Picture LADY BIRD by Greta Gerwig

Last year they honored La La Land though Moonlight won the most of their prizes. This year Lady Bird and Florida Project, both A24 films, are the only films to win more than one prize with two each. Oscar has only given Best Picture once to a film directed by a woman (Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker) but NYFCC has done it thrice now: Lady Bird (Gerwig) and The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty (both Bigelow).

Director Sean Baker for THE FLORIDA PROJECT

Last year they went Barry Jenkins for Moonlight. Their winners in this category aren't always Oscar nominated unfortunately (recent great choices that weren't include Todd Haynes for Carol and Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty) since Baker is such a surprising / smart choice given how difficult this project must have been to pull off.

Screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson for PHANTOM THREAD

Last year they went with Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea. Incredibly this is P.T. Anderson's first prize with NYFCC since he didn't win their first film, director or screenplay prizes in the past.

Actress Saoirse Ronan for LADY BIRD

Last year Isabelle Huppert took this prize for both Elle & Things to Come. Saoirse Ronan is 23 but she already won this prize at only 21 for Brooklyn (2015). But she is not the youngest ever winner of NYFCC Best Actress. That would be Isabelle Adjani for The Story of Adele H (1975) who was 20 years old. Which other actresses have won Best Actress twice or more from NYFCC? Only true legends. They are:

4 times
Meryl Streep (1982, 1988, 2009, 2011)
3 times
Julie Christie (1965, 1997, 2007)
Sissy Spacek (1980, 1986, 2001)
Joanne Woodward (1968, 1973, 1990)
Liv Ullman (1972, 1974, 1976)
Ingrid Bergman (1945, 1956, 1978)
2 times
Saoirse Ronan (2015, 2017)
Holly Hunter (1987, 1993)
Jane Fonda (1969, 1971)
Deborah Kerr (1957, 1960)
Audrey Hepburn (1953, 1959)
Olivia de Havilland (1948, 1949)
Vivien Leigh (1939, 1951)
Greta Garbo (1935, 1937)

Actor Timothée Chalamet for CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

The youngest male winner ever for NYFCC in this category. The record was previously held by Albert Finney in Tom Jones (1963) who won when he was 27. Related post: Youngest Best Actor Nominees in Oscar History. Last year the prize went to Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea.

Supporting Actress Tiffany Haddish for GIRLS TRIP

Last year they chose Michelle Williams for multiple films. There aren't a lot of obvious patterns in their voting for this particular award. Their last three winners were Oscar nominated (Michelle Williams), Oscar ignored (Kristen Stewart), and Oscar winning (Patricia Arquette) and it tends to hop around like that but this is a fun get for Haddish, especially since they almost never go for purely comic performances in this category... (i.e. not dramedic work) the last was Joan Cusack in In & Out (1997)

Supporting Actor Willem Dafoe for THE FLORIDA PROJECT

Last year the winner was Mahershala Ali for Moonlight. Their last four winners in this category also won the Oscar. But their winners sometimes go on to become the shocking snubbee (like, oh, Albert Brooks in Drive, Dennis Quaid in Far From Heaven, or John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich)

Cinematographer Rachel Morrison for MUDBOUND

Unless I have my genders wrong on a couple of Asian DPs years ago who won this marks the first time they've ever awarded a female DP. Oscar has yet to even nominate a woman in this category. Last year's NYFCC winner was James Laxton for Moonlight. Aside from an unusual three year stretch 2006-2008 (Pan's Labyrinth, There Will Be Blood, Slumdog Millionaire), their winner almost never wins the Oscar.

Animated Film COCO by Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina

The NYFCC started their animated feature category one year before Oscar started theirs with Chicken Run (2000) as their first winner. So it's an easy line-up comparison. In the entire history of that Oscar category the Academy has agreed with the New York critics 6 of 15 times. But the film's NYFCC chose have always gone on to be Oscar-nominated except for The Lego Movie (2014).

Non-Fiction Film FACES PLACES by Agnes Varda & Jr

It's surprising but wonderful how many prizes this "light" documentary has been winning since usually awards bodies prefer super heavy documentaries for prizes. At any rate I'm just glad we aren't in a year where people are pretending that TV miniseries like OJ Made in America, which won NYFCC & Oscar last year, are feature films.

Foreign Language Film BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) by Robin Campillo

The last French film to win was Blue is the Warmest Color (2013). Last year they chose Toni Erdmann.Only five of their winners in the past 20 years have gone on to win the Oscar. Lately they've been mostly choosing Oscar submitted foreign films but that was less common in the past.

First Film GET OUT by Jordan Peele

We wonder if Greta Gerwig was declared ineligible due to co-directing Nights and Weekends (2008)? It took them 45 minutes to announce this first prize. Last year it was a tie between Edge of Seventeen and Krisha.

Special Award Critic Molly Haskell

This year's upcoming ceremony will be dedicated to the late film critic Richard Shickel.