Critics Groups Round 7 - That point in the year when we begin to lose our minds

by Nathaniel R

JK Simmons picks up his first prize for Being the Ricardos

Another week. Another crowded list of critics associations announcing their "Bests". There's still a lot of repetition but there are a couple of minor points of interest, some annoying and some delightful in this particular roundup. Here are the 12 latest critics groups to announce after the jump...

DFCS
Denver Film Critics Society. Founded in 2009 (?). 15 members.
The usual winners with the exception of a screenplay prize for Pig (it's one a couple here and there) and a shoutout to JK Simmons in the very unpopular (online) Being the Ricardos

Film Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actress Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Supporting Actor JK Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Original Screenplay Pig
Adapted Screenplay  Power of the Dog
Animated Feature Flee
International Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
SciFi/Horror Film Dune
Comedy The French Dispatch
Visual Effects Dune
Score Power of the Dog
Song No Time To Die

AAFCA
African American Film Critics Association. Founded in 2009. ??? members. 
They had a clear favourite this year in Jeymes Samuel's debut The Harder They Fall which took four of their prizes. This is the first Best Picture prize this season for the stylish western. It joins a group of 11 other films that have been named the very best by just a single organization (critics awards season would be so much more exciting if we got that many different winners in each acting category!)

Film The Harder They Fall
Director Jeymes Samuels, The Harder They Fall
Actress Jennifer Hudson, Respect
Actor Will Smith, King Richard
Supporting Actress Aunjanie Ellis, King Richard
Supporting Actor Corey Hawkins, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Breakout Actor Saniyya Sidney, King Richard
Ensemble The Harder They Fall
Emerging Director  Reinaldo Marcus Green, King Richard
Music  The Harder They Fall
Indie Film Who We Are: A Chronicle of Race in America
Documentary Summer of Soul

NDFCS 
North Dakota Film Society. Founded in 2019. 25 Members.
They fully embraced Power of the Dog to the tune of 8 (!!!) awards. It's nice to see Flee pick up two prizes since it's underperformed with critics awards given the rave reviews all year. 

Film The Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actress Kirsten Dunst, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, Power of the Dog
Screenplay Licorice Pizza
Animated Feature Encanto
International Film Flee
Documentary Flee
Cinematography The Power of the Dog
Costume Design Cruella
Production Design The French Dispatch
Editing Power of the Dog
Makeup and Hair Eyes of Tammy Faye
Visual Effects Dune
Sound Dune
Score Power of the Dog
Song No Time To Die

SFCS 
Seattle Film Critics Society. Founded in 2016. 36 Members
They jumped on the Drive My Car bandwagon. And, in a nice change of pace, they gave The Green Knight multiple awards

Film Drive My Car
Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Actress Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Actor Nicolas Cage, Pig
Supporting Actress Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Supporting Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, Power of the Dog
Ensemble Mass
Screenplay Drive My Car
Animated Feature Flee
International Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography The Green Knight
Score Dune
Editing Dune
Costume Design The Green Knight
Production Design The Green Knight
Visual Effects Dune
Youth Performance Emilia Jones, CODA
Villan of the Year Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch), Power of the Dog
Action Choreography In the Heights

TFCA
Toronto Film Critics Association. Founded in 1997. 40 Members
It's funny how no rarely Hamaguchi has won Best Director prizes even for groups that prefer Drive My Car to Power of the Dog. This group really liked The Lost Daughter. The winner of their Canadian film prize each year (announced at their actual gala) gets $100,000 which is a nice purse! 

Film Drive My Car
Canadian Film (nominees: Beans, Night Raiders, Scarborough)
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Actor  Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Supporting Actor Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Screenplay Drive My Car
First Feature The Lost Daughter
Animated Feature Flee
International Feature Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul

KCFCC
Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Founded in 1966. 26 Members
They're the second oldest film critics organization in the US. They went with the general consensus critics award frontrunners in every category except most of the acting prizes and adapted screenplay where they mixed it up a bit if still staying in firm Oscar-seeking wheelhouse. 

Film Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Actor  Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actress Ann Dowd, Mass
Supporting Actor Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Original Screenplay Licorice Pizza
Adapted Screenplay  West Side Story
Animated Feature The Mitchells Vs the Machines
Foreign Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography The Tragedy of Macbeth
LGBT Film Flee
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/ Horror Film The Green Knight

SDFCSA
San Diego Film Critics Society. Founded in 1997. 15 Members
How's this for super weird: A group that saw/loved/awarded Mass but somehow thought Don't Look Up had better "ensemble" acting (*head explodes*)

Film Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress [TIE] Caitríona Balfe Belfast and Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers 
Actor Nicolas Cage, Pig
Supporting Actress Ruth Negga, Passing
Supporting Actor Jason Isaacs, Mass
Comedic Performance Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Youth Performance Jude Hill, Belfast
Breakthrough Emilia Jones, CODA
Ensemble  Don't Look Up
Body of Work  Jonny Creenwood (Spencer, Licorice Pizza, Power of Dog)
Original Screenplay  Mass
Adapted Screenplay  Power of the Dog
Animated Feature Luca
Foreign Language Film Parallel Mothers
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography  Dune
Costumes  Cruella
Production Design   Nightmare Alley
Sound  Dune
Use of Music Last Night in Soho
Editing In the Heights
Visual Effects  Dune

GFCA
Georgia Film Critics Association. Founded in ???. ??? Members
They went Licorice Pizza wild giving it 6 prizes including 3 for Alana Haim (Actress, Breakthrough, Ensemble)

Film Licorice Pizza
Rest of their top ten alphabetically: Belfast, CODA, Dune, Flee, Green Knight, Power of the Dog, tick tick BOOM!, West Side Story, Worst Person in the World
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Alana Haim Licorice Pizza
Actor Nicolas Cage, Pig
Supporting Actress Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Supporting Actor Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Original Screenplay  Licorice Pizza
Adapted Screenplay  Power of the Dog
Ensemble Licorice Pizza
Breakthrough Award  Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Animated Feature Mitchells vs the Machines
International Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
Production Design   Dune
Score  Dune
Song  No Time To Die
Excellence in Georgia Cinema  Spider-Man No Way Home

HFCS
Hawaii Film Critics Society. Founded in ???. 7 Members
They strangely have both a "new filmmaker" and "first film" award so they essentially give out two debut prizes. Weird. But the thing that's really throwing us this year is that CODA, a film that has been widely talked about for an entire year, cited on numerous top ten lists, and received nominations from multiple televised awards groups and probably on its way to a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars is their winner for "Overlooked Film". Say what? We like CODA but words have meaning! It would be like giving Nicole Kidman a prize for "Breakthrough Actress" in 2022.

Film Last Night in Soho
Director Guillermo del Toro, Nightmare Alley
Actress Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Actor Nicolas Cage, Pig
Supporting Actress Marlee Matlin, CODA
Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur, CODA
Vocal/Motion Capture Performance Kelly Marie Tran, Raya and the Last Dragon
Original Screenplay  Belfast
Adapted Screenplay  CODA
Overlooked Film  CODA
New Filmmaker  Michael Sarnoski, Pig
First Film  Lin Manuel Miranda, tick tick BOOM!
Animated Feature Mitchells vs the Machines
Foreign-Language Film The Hand of God
Documentary Summer of Soul
Horror Film  Last Night in Soho
Comic Book Movie  Shang-Chi
Sci-Fi Film  Dune
Hawaiian Film  Our Makawao
Cinematography   Dune
Art Direction  Dune
Costume Design  House of Gucci
Makeup  Cruella
Editing Last Night in Soho
Visual Effects  Spider-Man No Way Home
Score  The Harder They Fall
Song No Time To Die
Sound Last Night in Soho
Stunts  Shang-Chi
Worst Film Space Jam: A New Legacy

AFCA
Austin Film Critics Association. Founded in 2005. 41 Members
In a very strange situation they released a RANKED top ten where Pig was at #1 shortly before they released their award winners where Power of the Dog (which was at #2) took their Best Picture prize. WHAT???? I mean I personally prefer Power of the Dog (by a ridiculous margin) but still -- that is really shady behavior towards Pig. 

Film Power of the Dog
Their previously released top ten:  1) Pig 2) Power of the Dog 3) Licorice Pizza 4) Dune 5) Drive My Car 6) The Green Knight 7) Titane 8) Tragedy of Macbeth 9 TIE) Paralllel Mothers and Worst Person in the World
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Agatha Rousselle, Titane
Actor Nicolas Cage, Pig
Supporting Actress Kirsten Dunst, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, Power of the Dog
Original Screenplay  Pig
Adapted Screenplay  Drive My Car
Ensemble The French Dispatch
First Film  Pig
Animated Feature Mitchells vs the Machines
International Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography   The Green Knight
Editing Dune
Score  Power of the Dog
Stunts  No Time To Die
Breakthrough Award Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Special Award for the best film made in Austin by a non-Austin filmmaker - Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern

CIC
Chicago Indie Critics. Founded in ???. 20 Members. 
Some of the usual winners but we definitely thank them for giving both Passing actresses prizes since Tessa Thompson has been all but ignored. 

Film Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Tessa Thompson, Passing
Actor Andrew Garfield, tick tick...BOOM!
Supporting Actress Ruth Negga, Passing
Supporting Actor Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch
Original Screenplay  Pig
Adapted Screenplay  The Power of the Dog
Ensemble The French Dispatch
Indie Film CODA
Animated Feature Mitchells vs the Machines
Foreign Film Parallel Mothers
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography   The Green Knight
Production Design Nightmare Alley
Costume Design  Cruella
Makeup  The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Editing West Side Story
Score  Dune
Song  "No Time To Die"
Visual Effects  Spider-Man No Way Home
Stunts  Shang-Chi

Trailblazer Lin-Manuel Miranda
Impact Award Ryan Oestreich, General Manager of the Music Box Theatre

SFBAFCC
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle. Founded in 2002. 47 Members. 
As strange as this is to realize this was the first critics group this year to give Olivia Colman a Best Actress win. It took until mid January. Then a few others followed suit.

Film Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Actress Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actress Kirsten Dunst, Power of the Dog
Supporting Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee Power of the Dog
Original Screenplay  Cmon Cmon
Adapted Screenplay  The Power of the Dog
Animated Feature Encanto
International Film Drive My Car
Documentary Summer of Soul
Cinematography   The Tragedy of Macbeth
Production Design Nightmare Alley
Editing Power of the Dog
Score  Power of the Dog

Independent Cinema [TIE]  Test Pattern and Kuessipan 
Marlon Riggs Award (to a Bay Area filmmaker)  Rita Moreno

best picture scorecard for those who haven't been paying attention (and who could blame you since it's so much info!)
17 films have been cited as "Best" by one group or another. If only we could get this much variety in ANY other category (acting categories, documentary, foreign, animated, cinematography, whatever... ) where we NEVER get anywhere close to this much breadth of opinion. That's unfortunate considering multiple hundreds of films are released each year and among those films are thousands of performances. (*sigh*)

18 for Power of the Dog (Philadelphia, NY Online, Boston Online, Chicago, SEFCA, Florida, OAFCC, Utah, Phoenix, Dublin, Dallas, Austin, Columbus, Denver, North Carolina, DiscussingFilm, Chicago Indie, Bay Area)

6 for Drive My Car (NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC, Boston, Seattle, Toronto)

5 for Licorice Pizza (Atlanta, Georgia, St Louis, NBR, Oklahoma)

2 for Belfast (DC, Las Vegas)
2 for The Green Knight  (Portland, North Texas)

1 each for twelve more films: CODA (Nevada), Cyrano (Detroit), Dune (Sunset Circle),
The Harder they Fall (AAFCA), King Richard (BFCC), Last Night in Soho (Hawaii), 
The Lost Daughter (Gothams), Mass (IFJA), Pig (Greater New York),
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Central Florida) and West Side Story (New Mexico)

Major awards-seeking movies that have won zero Best Picture awards:
tick tick BOOM!, Nightmare Alley, Spencer, Being the Ricardos, Don't Look Up, and all non-English language movies (with the exception of Japan's Drive My Car).

Comments

[Kate]

Also, the most important critics group (in my mind): International Cinephile Society (ICS)

[Dan H]

I honestly don't quite get how, for instance, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle has 26 Members. When I was a critic in Salt Lake City in the 1990s, there were like 9, 10 of us. Two daily papers, two weekly "alternative" rags, the LGBTQ monthly (my perch), and, maybe three or four radio people--the two tv stations that broadcast film reviews used the newspaper critics, which gave a couple of lucky guys extra income. I know there's the internet now, but seriously... Wasn't there a death list in 2008 when, due to the economic downturn over half the professional film critics in the US lost their jobs? Are most of these folks bloggers? Not being confrontive. Just curious.

[NATHANIEL R]

Kate -- unless i missed it they haven't announced their winners yet.

Dan H -- i believe most critics these days outside of the big legacy outlets work for various websites or sometimes their own. So... yes?