The winners of the first “big” critics group awards of the Oscar season has been announced. In the first of what is expected to be many awards, ‘Manchester By the Sea’ has been named Best Film of the Year by the National Board of Review (NBR). The Board named Casey Affleck as Best Actor and Kenneth Lonergan took the original screenplay award. Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks won the Screenplay Adaptation for ‘Silence’ which was also named one of the years best films
Amy Adams took Best Actress for ‘Arrival’, while Jeff Bridges won Supporting Actor for ‘Hell or High Water’, Naomi Harris won Best Supporting Actress for ‘Moonlight’ which also won Directing honors for Barry Jenkins.
Two very clear signs are emerging out of today’s announcement.
First, ‘Manchester by the Sea’ and ‘Moonlight’ are going to be critical darlings, and in all likelihood will sweep most, if not all, of the critics awards. That doesn’t mean much in terms of their Oscar prospects — as past few years have shown — though it does guarantee that they will remain in conversation.
Second, ‘Silence’, which has been seen by NBR critics, seems to be at least a respectable effort from Scorsese. How well it does with other critics group, we will have to wait and see.
Here’s the full list of awards:
Best Film: Manchester by the Sea
Best Director: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Best Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Best Actress: Amy Adams, Arrival
Best Supporting Actor: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Best Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese, Silence
Best Animated Feature: Kubo and the Two Strings
Breakthrough Performance (Male): Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Breakthrough Performance (Female): Royalty Hightower, The Fits
Best Directorial Debut: Trey Edward Shults, Krisha
Best Foreign Language Film: Asgahr Farhadi‘s The Salesman
Best Documentary: Ezra Edelman‘s O.J.: Made in America
Best Ensemble: Hidden Figures
Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg
Top 10 Films
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hail, Caesar!
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Moonlight
Patriot’s Day
Silence
Sully
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Elle
The Handmaiden
Julieta
Land of Mine
Neruda
Top 5 Documentaries
De Palma
The Eagle Huntress
Gleason
Life, Animated
Miss Sharon Jones!
Top 10 Independent Films
20th Century Women
Captain Fantastic
Creative Control
Eye in the Sky
The Fits
Green Room
Hello, My Name is Doris
Krisha
Morris from America
Sing Street
