The National Board of Review named Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” the best film and set of the year. Lee also won the director’s award, becoming only the second black director to receive the honor, following Barry Jenkins in 2016’s “Moonlight”.
For the past 30 years, the winner of the best film has received an Oscar nomination for best film, with exceptions once every decade – “A more violent year” in 2014, “Quills” in 2000 and “Gods and monsters” in 1998. In the 1980s, there were technically two losses with “Empire of the Sun” in 1987 and “Betrayal” in 1983, which tied with “Terms of Tenderness”. The last selections of NBR’s best films were Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” and George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road”.
In performance races, the group has on average two of its winners moving on to Oscar nominations. In the main categories of film, director, acting and script, the group never had a complete departure. It can be argued that 1994 was a complete game when “Pulp Fiction” and “Forrest Gump” won the best film, but they gave William Goldman a career achievement award in his best script category. 1996 is another debatable year, as no script awards have been given, and Edward Norton won for “Everybody Says I Love You”, but ended up being nominated for an Oscar for “Primal Fear”.
Carey Mulligan won the NBR best actress award for her performance in “Promising young woman”, marking her second group victory after “An education” in 2009, for which she was also nominated for an Oscar. The last winner of the best NBR actress to not attract the attention of the Academy was Amy Adams in “Arrival” 2016.
Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci won for their participation in “Sound of Metal” as the main actor and supporting actor, respectively. The two actors are currently leading the critics’ awards. While it helps, you will never be too comfortable with an NBR win on your resume. It was last year when Adam Sandler won for “Uncut Gems” and failed to get nominations for Globes, SAGs and Oscars. In the category of supporting actor, you have to go back a little further to 2013, when Will Forte was recognized by “Nebraska” and did not get broad support from the guilds and award programs.
After getting a nomination for the Spirit Awards on Tuesday morning, Yuh-Jung Youn won the award for best supporting actress from NBR – his biggest win for his work on “Minari”. With the LAFCA trophy on her resume, she is heading well for a possible nomination on March 15 and is considered an Oscar winner. The last NBR winner to fail to gain recognition from the Academy was Jessica Chastain in 2014 for “A More Violent Year”. “Minari” went well overall, also yielding the best original script for Lee Isaac Chung.
Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” and George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky” are among the films called “best films” that need awards. Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” and Paul Greengrass’s “News of the World” received additional accolades, most notably the last that won the best adapted script. Major omissions include the Netflix films “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by George C. Wolfe, “Mank” by David Fincher and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” by Aaron Sorkin. All were not able to enter the list of the top 10 (in fact, the top 11) and did not get any of the respective categories. Despite winning the best film with “Da 5 Bloods” it certainly helps to contain the pain of Netflix.
They have also been hit by hits “The Father” by Florian Zeller, “On the Rocks” by Sofia Coppola and “Tenet” by Christopher Nolan.
Below is the complete list of winners.
Best movie: “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Best director: Spike Lee, “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Best actor: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Best actress: Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Best supporting actress: Youn Yuh-Jung, “Minari” (A24)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies, “News of the World” (Universal Pictures)
Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari” (A24)
Innovative performance: Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (Resources in focus)
Best directorial debut: Channing Godfrey Peoples, “Miss Juneteenth” (vertical entertainment)
Best Animation: “Alma” (Pixar)
Best Foreign Film: “La Llorona” (Guatemala)
Best Documentary: “Time” (Amazon Studios)
NBR Icon Award: Chadwick Boseman
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
NBR Spotlight Award: Radha Blank for writing, directing, producing and starring “The Forty-Year-Old Version” (Netflix)
Best Set: “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Notable achievement in cinematography: Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Main films (in alphabetical order):
- “First Cow” (A24)
- “The forty-year-old version” (Netflix)
- “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros.)
- “The Midnight Sky” (Netflix)
- “Minari” (A24)
- “News of the World” (Universal Pictures)
- “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
- “Promising young woman” (resources in focus)
- “Soul” (Pixar)
- “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
The top 5 foreign language films (in alphabetical order):
- “Apples” (Greece)
- “Collective” (Romania)
- “Dear comrades (Russia)
- “The Agent Mole” (Chile)
- “Noite dos Reis” (Ivory Coast)
The top 5 documentaries (in alphabetical order):
- “All In: The Fight for Democracy” (Amazon Studios)
- “Boys State” (A24 / Apple TV Plus)
- “Dick Johnson is Dead” (Netflix)
- “Miss Americana” (Netflix)
- “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics)
The 10 best independent films (in alphabetical order):
- “The Climb” (Sony Pictures Classics)
- “Driveways” (FilmRise)
- “Farewell Amor” (IFC Filmes)
- “Miss Juneteenth” (vertical entertainment)
- “The Nest” (IFC Films)
- “Never, rarely, sometimes, always” (focus features)
- “The Outpost” (Chicken Soup for Entertainment of the Soul)
- “Relic” (IFC Filmes)
- “Saint Frances (Labotories Oscilloscope)
- “Wolfwalkers” (Apple TV Plus / GKIDS)