Less than 12 hours after a surprise Best Feature win for “A Different Man” at the 2024 Gotham Awards, the first major critics group began voting for their own annual honors. The New York Film Critics Circle had many candidates to choose from for their own Best Film of the Year and went with Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.” The movie’s star, Adrien Brody, also took the Best Actor honor.
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For those looking for Oscar trends, it should be noted the NYFCC winner has not won Best Picture since “The Hurt Locker” almost 15 years ago. That being said, only one winner since, “First Cow” in 2020, hasn’t earned an eventual Best Picture nomination.
In a nice acknowledgment for a film that needs as much awards love as it can get, RaMell Ross took Best Director for “Nickel Boys.” Jomo Fray also won Best Cinematography for the Amazon MGM Studios release.
Overall, the 89-year-old organization spread the love picking winners from a number of different releases. The exquisite “Flow,” Latvia’s entry for the International Film Oscar, took Best Animated Film while “No Other Land,” which triumphed at the Gothams, won Best Non-Fiction Film. “All We Imagine Is Light,” which also won at the Gothams after being snubbed as India’s International Film entry for the Academy Awards, won this group’s International Film award.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste took Best Actress for her thunderbolt of a performance in Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths.” Carol Kane won Best Supporting Actress for her turn in a very New York City movie, “Between the Temples.”
Kieran Culkin took his first major precursor for an expected Oscar nomination (and potential win) in Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain.”
Annie Bakers’ exquisite “Janet Planet,” which we reviewed at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival and made our top 10 of last year, won Best First Film.
Sean Baker, who previously won Best Director for “The Florida Project” in 2017, took the Best Screenplay honor this time around for “Anora.”
In regards to the other major critics groups, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association will vote for their annual winners on Sunday, December 8. The somewhat dubious National Board of Review will make their selections on Wednesday, December 4.
This year’s NYFCC honorees will be feted at a ceremony on January 8 in Manhattan.
The complete list of this year’s winners is as follows:
BEST FILM: The Brutalist
BEST DIRECTOR: RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys
BEST ACTRESS: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
BEST ACTOR: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Carol Kane, Between the Temples
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
BEST SCREENPLAY: Sean Baker, Anora
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: No Other Land
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys
BEST ANIMATED FILM: Flow
BEST FIRST FILM: Janet Planet
STUDENT PRIZES: Alexander Swift (Undergraduate, Vassar) and Drew Smith (Graduate, NYU)