The New York Film Critics Online announced its winners for the best films and performances of the year, with A24’s “Minari” at the top of the best film category. This is the third consecutive year that the group recognizes a foreign language film after “Parasite” 2019 and “Roma” 2018.
Lee Isaac Chung’s portrait of a Korean family immigrating to Arkansas in the 1980s won three awards in total, including a foreign language and Yuh-Jung Youn for best supporting actress. Youn shared was not the only winner in her category, tying with other aspiring Ellen Burstyn prizes for her turn in Netflix’s “Pieces of a Woman” by Kornél Mundruczó.
Also winning three awards, “Focus Promising Young Woman” won Best Actress awards for Carey Mulligan, script and debut director, both for Emerald Fennell. Marking Mulligan’s 11th win this season, and is closing the gap for critic leader Frances McDormand for “Nomadland”.
Speaking of “Nomadland”, Chloé Zhao has more than three dozen victories as a manager this season, adding another one from NYFCO. She becomes the fifth woman to be recognized in the category, following Kathyrn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”) and Dee Rees (“Mudbound”).
Riz Ahmed’s performance in Amazon Studios’ “Sound of Metal” took home the best actor, his tenth prize this precursor season. He has just two more wins than his closest competitors, Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”). Also from Amazon Studios, Leslie Odom Jr’s role as Sam Cooke in Regina King in “One Night in Miami” was voted best supporting actor, still remaining as the second most recognized in a category where Paul Raci ran away with him in the last. weeks.
Dawn Porter’s “The Way I See It”, a beautiful reflection of Barack Obama through the eyes of his photographer Pete Souza, won his first victory this season for the documentary.
The eligibility period for films was from January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021. This left films such as “Cherry”, “French Exit”, “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Ineligible for recognition Due to the coronavirus pandemic, members voted virtually for the first time in the group’s 21-year history.
The full list of winners and the group’s top 10 films of the year are below. You can see all the winners so far on Table of winners of the prize circuit (2020-2021).
Best photo: “Minari” (A24)
Best director: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Best actor: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Best actress: Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Best Supporting Actor: Leslie Odom Jr, “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
Best supporting actress: Ellen Burstyn, “Pieces of a Woman” (Netflix) and Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari” (A24) – *NECKTIE*
Best Screenplay: “Promising young woman” (Resources in focus) – Emerald Fennell
Best Animation: “Alma” (Pixar)
Best Cinematography: “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures) – Joshua James Richards
Better use of music: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix) – Branford Marsalis
Best Documentary: “The way I see it” (focus features)
Best Foreign Language: “Minari” (A24)
Best Premiere Director: Emerald Fennell, “Promising young woman” (Resources in focus)
Revolutionary Performer: Kingsley Ben-Adir, “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios) and Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios) – *NECKTIE*
Best Ensemble Cast: “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
The top 10 films (in alphabetical order)
- “The Assistant” (Bleecker Street)
- “First Cow” (A24)
- “I’m thinking about ending things” (Netflix)
- “Minari” (A24)
- “Never, rarely, sometimes, always” (focus features)
- “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
- “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Pictures)
- “Promising young woman” (resources in focus)
- “Tommaso” (Kino Lorber)
- “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)