Boston Society embraces "The Father" and "Nomadland"
Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 8:00PM by Nathaniel R
The Boston Society of Film Critics, generally one of the best critics organizations (in that they have good taste and aren't afraid to go their own way) announced their prize winners today. They've given multiple prizes to four pictures: Nomadland, Minari, i'm thinking of ending things, and The Father. With the exception of prizes for American indie Never Rarely Sometimes Always, the Guatemalan film La Llorona, and Charlie Kaufman's I'm thinking of ending things, Boston almost exlusively went with films that have not yet opened to the public or that just barely "opened" so it's a "Best of December 2020 through February 2021" kind of list.
The complete list of winners is after the jump...
Best Picture – Nomadland
runner up: First Cow
Best Director – Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
runner up: Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) – Florian Zeller, The Father
runner up: Autumn deWilde, Emma
Best Actor – Anthony Hopkins, The Father
runner up: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Best Actress – Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
runner up: Julia Garner, The Assistant
Best Supporting Actor – Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
runner up: Brian Dennehy, Driveways
Best Supporting Actress – Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
runner up: Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Best Screenplay – Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Kelly Reichard and Jonathan Raymond, First Cow
Best Cinematography – Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
Shabier Kirchner, Lovers Rock
Best Documentary – Collective
runners up: The Painter and the Thief
Best Non-English Language Film (awarded in memory of Jay Carr) – La Llorona
Best Animated Film – The Wolf House
This one is a 2018 Chilean stop motion drama that finally made it to the US just as cinemas closed. It's now available to rent online.
runner up: Wolfwalkers
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) – Robert Frazen, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
runner up: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Best Ensemble Cast – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
runnr up: Minari
Best Original Score – Emile Mosseri, Minari
Reader Comments (26)
With runner ups:
Best Film: Nomadland
– Runner up: First Cow
Best Director: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
– Runner up: Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)
Best Non-English Language Film: La Llorona (directed by Jayro Bustamante)
Best Ensemble Cast: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
– Runner up: Minari
Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
– Runner Up: Riz Amed (Sound of Metal)
Best Actress: Sidney Flanigan Never Rarely Sometimes Always
– Runner Up: Julia Garner (The Assistant)
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
– Runner Up: Brian Dennehy (Driveways)
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)
– Runner-up: Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Best Screenplay: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
– Runner-up: First Cow (Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond)
Best Animated Feature: The Wolf House
– runner-up: Wolfwalkers
Best Cinematography: Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)
– runner-up: Lover’s Rock (Shabier Kirchner)
Best Editing: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Robert Frazen)
– runner-up: Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
Best Score: Minari (Emile Mosseri)
– runner-up: NA
Best Documentary: Collective (Alexander Nanau)
– runner-up: The Painter and the Thief (Benjamin Ree).
Best First Film: The Father (Florian Zeller)
– runner-up: Emma (Autumn de Wilde)
Go Paul Raci! May this be the first accolade of many leading up to Oscar.
I'm onboard with Jonathan...hooray for Paul Raci! It would be so incredible if his wonderful performance stayed in the conversation these next months!
Riz and Paul just have to be nominated this year for Sound of Metal.
That is incredible. I always liked the Boston Film Critics Society except for the time they gave Best Supporting Actress to Cameron Diaz for Vanilla Sky with Scarlett Johansson as runner-up for Ghost World.
The only solid frontrunner we got but April feels so far far away.
Boston Critics are consistently surprising.. Their naming Juliette Lewis as Supporting Actress in CONVICTION was wildly inspired.
(I think Cameron Diaz was brilliant as Julie Gianni, and never was she more deserving of Academy love.)
Beautiful choices. I'd like to see Hopkins win the Oscar and Kaufman and Youn Yuh-Jung nominated.
I'd love to see Ahmed and Raci get traction in this race. Also wondering if Nomadland is on its way to becoming a heavy favorite. Of the three supposed front runners (along with Chicago 7 and Mank), I think it's the most accessible.
I am happy with all these wins but especially Raci and Never Rarely Sometimes Always in actress. It is a performance I feared wwould be overlooked.
This could just be me but having most of the obvious Oscar bait moved to 2021 has freed up the critics groups to make refreshingly left-field decisions. Paul Raci was really fabulous in Sound of Metal and a total surprise.
I'm a little annoyed that I won't get to see Nomadland until February or thereabouts. Some things don't change...
Sidney Flanigan and Julia Garner are both great choices for Actress.
It's exciting to have some critics' prizes to discuss!
Adding to the love for Paul Raci. All if these acting picks and runners up are worthy.
Great list Boston! And thank you for sticking to the calendar year.
Paul Raci is a particularly inspired choice for BSA. It is my favorite performance I have seen all year. I think the passion is there for his performance to sneak in to the final five on Oscar nomination morning. Just beautiful work.
Anthony Hopkins for his 3rd! Yessss!
Why are critics groups announcing now? There's still 2 more months left in the expanded season. I'm surprised they didn't push their awards back like other awards bodies.
Good wins all around. I would be happy if this were the Oscars' slate! What a strange year... I hope that it will provide for an unusual and refreshing awards season, but I have just no idea.
One of the few critics' groups with its own unique taste. Love it.
I love these awards. The BSFC has always been one of my favorite critics' groups. Last year, they were the one major critics' group that really embraced Little Women, and in 2018, they gave their Best Actress prize to Melissa McCarthy, with Sakura Ando from Shoplifters winning runner-up.
I'm especially happy for Hopkins, as he's the one conventional choice among the acting winners - he must have had really strong support. Youn Yuh-Jung is great, too, and would be a wonderful nominee.
I’m not surprised that Nomadland won here. I expect it will win a ton of critics films. However, I’m a bit surprised by the reviews and love. Chloe Zhou is a strong visual director and with actors, but there’s something that feels missing from the films emotional impact. However, McDormand is incredibly strong, and I’m looking forward to her next nomination!
Cheers to Boston for sticking to their own calendar. I'm excited for LA and NYFCC, too, and appreciate that they haven't adjusted their prize-giving to fall into line with the Oscar chase. Oscar is still the main prize, but I think some of these critics' prizes take on extra meaning for this year.
I am most happy for Sidney Flanigan and Paul Raci. Flanagan ws a marvel in every
way. Hope she goes on to Oscar Nomination.... and win!!!
I stand with the critics group that honor the calendar year, not Oscar's anti-Gregorian calendar!
Any film critics group that awards/nominates what I think are this year's best films is great in my book of books.
First Cow
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
Minari
May Sidney Flanigan land more character-driven roles. May Youn Yuh-jung be given more roles.
Rest in power, Ann Reinking. You created pluriverses when you dance, when you move.
Best Actor is heating up.