"The Irishman" takes NYFCC
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 7:14PM
Another day, another prize for The Irishman. Following its NBR win, the Martin Scorsese epic takes the much more prestigious top prize from the New York Film Critics Circle. This is Scorsese’s second movie to win the NYFCC. The first was Goodfellas (1990).
Here are the winners and a few comments...
Best Picture: The Irishman
Solidifying it’s place as a frontrunner for Oscar glory… though the race is far from sewn up.
Best Director: Benny and Josh Safdie, Uncut Gems
Uncut Gems continues a surprisingly robust awards season run. Still early stages but you know...
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
This is a major get for Antonio given how much of a bloodbath Best Actor is in the Oscar race. If he can also secure a Globe nomination soon he’ll be positioned very well for his first Oscar nomination.
Best Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, Us
We recently rescreened this huge hit and whaddyaknow. Her inventive performance is even more breathtaking the second time. Totally inspired and thorough character work.
Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Tarantino won this prize once before for Pulp Fiction.
Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci, The Irishman
The NYFCC tends to have terrific taste in this category.
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story and Little Women
It is a bit strange to group these two as a package deal Little Women isn’t particular special as Dern performances go.
Best Animated Film: I Lost My Body
We recently began predicting this for an Oscar nomination so it’s nice to see it picking up a major prize since an Oscar field of just big studio sequels would be very disheartening.
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
An interesting choice here. I’ll confess for the first half of Portrait, I wasn’t particular impressed with the cinematography which has a kind of stagey flat quality but the longer the film goes on the more perfect the aesthetic reveals itself to be.
Best First Film: Atlantics
Female directed films scoring pretty well with NYFCC this year between Portrait, Atlantics, Little Women and Honeyland.
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite
Looking like a sweeper in this category everywhere
Best Nonfiction Film: Honeyland
Special Award 1: Indie Collect
Special Award 2: Randy Newman
MORE SOON. What do you think of the New York Film Critics Circle choices this time around?
NYFCC, film critics
Reader Comments (55)
Kathy Bates was robbed
Lupita is an awesome pick. My two favorite leading performances came from early early early in the year -- Julianne in GLORIA BELL would have been my first-ballot vote but Lupita is a close second. Hoping she can hold on and make the AMPAS 5.
Is it bad to want Kathy Bates to win knowing that Laura Dern is still Oscarless?
So so happy for basically everyone cited here. Hard to even choose the most inspired pick between Atlantics, Honeyland, Banderas, and Nyong'o, but all four were just delightful. And I'll be happy to hear as many citations for The Irishman and Parasite as these awards groups want. Sad Alfre missed out, but otherwise this was just stellar.
Yes yes yes yes yes Joe Pesci! Now if Julia Butters can get some awards attention ...
This blog has been so quiet on Portrait of a Lady on Fire. I honestly like it (almost) as much as Carol. Wish people were as obsessed with it as they seem to be about Parasite and Pain & Glory.
I thought maybe NYFCC might go for someone like Zhao Shuzhen in BSA, or even refreshingly oddball choices like Fernanda Montenegro in Invisible Life or Marianne Jean-Baptiste in In Fabric, but that may be more like LAFCA, yes?
I am one of the very few who hasn't seen Pain & Glory and although I don't usually (over)expect from films receiving critical acclaim or media-hype, I am hoping I will be able to watch Antonio Banderas' lauded work before all critics bestow him the year's best male lead performance.
I thought this year's best male performance came from Tom Mercier in Synonymes and Félix Maritaud in Sauvage but maybe the César Award might find their immersive works more compelling.
Lupita Nyong'o is an inspired choice, methinks. However, the combined talents of Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant in Portrait of a Lady on Fire still haunt me up to now.
Yay for Joe Pesci's quiet work in The Irishman although I wish Jonathan Majors gets some award love as well.
Maybe I should watch Us again. Definitely impressed with her but didn't see it quite at that level (was maybe taking it in).
She's fast as hell tho.
Just saw the trailer for Portrait of a Lady on Fire last night during Parasite..makes me want to know more.
Lupita!!!
I was expecting a Marriage Story lovefest so I'm disappointed. I don't love any of the winners, but I think that they did what they had to. Hope smaller groups learn from them.
It's choices like this that are the reasons why I love the NYFCC.
So happy for the Lupita pick.
This is great for Lupita. It's pretty rare that the NYFCC winner doesn't make it as a Best Actress nominee - about once or twice a decade. And typically, that happens to actresses who haven't been in the awards conversation/previous nominees before (e.g., Cameron Diaz, Regina Hall, etc.). Unless she's shut out of the Globes, SAG, and BAFTA, I suspect Lupita will make it in this year.
I like most of these choices, especially Lupita, but I'm disappointed with the pick for Dern. I get she's the frontrunner but they had an opportunity to pick someone more exciting. One of the actresses from Parasite or Zhao Shuzhen or maybe Pugh would've been cool to see.
Also I know I'm in the minority but I don't think Dern is even good in Marriage Story.
NOT ME
I'm so happy for Antonio.
Mostly like these winners a lot. Wish J.Lo had won. Happiest for HONEYLAND, Banderas, ATLANTICS, Pesci
I love Lupita but "a second win when she hasn't had much of a career since her first seems excessive." I kid, I kid!
Bombshell is a question mark in this race. I haven't seen it on top 10 lists and it's not popping up in critics prizes, yet. Lately it feels like the marketing has gotten more arch, in a tabloidy, too-trashy-to-be-true way. I'm getting more "I, Tonya" than "Vice."
Naturally I, Tonya did pretty solidly in the Oscar race so that doesn't rule it out.
To whoever is using my nick:
You're not going to kick me out of this site, you little piece of shit. You're a bully and you're not even funny. Now go jerk yourself a soda.
I do wish this site would transition into some sort of log-in posting system. It would solve, I would say, 99.9% of its comments problems.
Max, I’m with you on not loving Laura Dern in Marriage Story. It’s a small role without much range, broadly written and performed. But she’s a beloved veteran actress in a showy part, and has been having a hot streak in her career. I’m predicting an Allison Janney-style sweep for her.
@cal roth. Yes. Yes it is bad.
Laura Dern deserved a Oscar 28 years ago and she deserves one again now. A world in which Kathy Bates (who I really like) has two but Dern has zero is not a world I want to live in.
Now that Pesci is starting to steal Pacino’s thunder for the Irishman I think Pitt is going to run away with supporting. I thought Pacino might be the one guy to ruin Pitt’s party, and I don’t think Pesci can go the distance. The Pitt clean sweep of big awards is coming.
V classy n inspired choices if u compare it nex to NBR. 😂
Hapi for all for acting winners!! 😁 Lupita esp need this much needed boast rite now!! But statistically, thr will be at least one acting winner fr NYFCC who will miss a nom, n among the four, she still seems the most vulnerable one.
I tink The Irishman is the film to beat now. I can totally see AFI naming it as Best film of their top 10 too.
I saw Honeyland in Vancouver this year and I sobbed. It’s an astonishing piece of documentary filmmaking so I’m very happy it won a prize from NYFCC.
Michael Troutman: do you mean nominations? Dern has a Best Actress nomination for Rambling Rose, while Bates won for Misery and was nominated in supporting for Primary Colors and About Schmidt.
@ Max and Mike- I tend to agree with you. All the performances in Marriage Story seem very grounded but Dern is very broad and almost cartoonish. Maybe that is her character but it didn't match the tone of the other actors.
That said- I could hear people verbally agreeing with her during her Virgin Mary speech. That resonated with people. Sometimes it's not about how good the performance is but about how it made people feel.
The added little women to Dern’s award because they agreed another performance was technically better, but they personally like Dern more and desired to award her. If Irishman was another win for Zellweger you would have called the race already. Animated would be prime for an international win if voters had to prove they same all nominees, but which sequel will win this year.
Dern's broad performance fit in perfectly with the other broad performances given by Ray Liotta, Alan Alda, Julie Hagerty, etc. Not sure where you see the "groundedness" other than in the two leads.
"I love Lupita but "a second win when she hasn't had much of a career since her first seems excessive." I kid, I kid!"
Excessive is an understatement.
@Daniella Isaacs
I haven't seen Rambling Rose but you really think Dern is more deserving than Foster? Or even Davis or Sarandon?
Also, as Alfred noted, Bates only has won one Oscar (two additional nominations).
No one is pulling for Lupita to win. A nomination is the goal. Still a second win would be more earned than Renee.
After 2013, NYFCC decides to drop the runners up citation, which i tink is a waste!
It wld've been so thrilling to kno who almost win! We will never kno if Lupita wins over Afre Woodard or Mary Kay Place by a scissor cut! 😂
Such a good list of winners, even if Dern seems like a lazy choice. Some concessions no doubt had to be made in the voting circles to get Lupita or Antonio the award. That’s how these things work. They’re like tribal councils on Survivor.
Would be nice if PORTRAIT could rally in cinematography since it clearly isn’t getting anywhere else. Owen, I suspect it had to do with the film not being out yet and it only playing major festivals.
I was surprised J Lo and Elisabeth Moss didn’t pull off a victory since I know Richard Lawson was pushing for them. Nice to see them influence the race in smart and useful ways, as opposed to last year with Regina Hall, which was very trying too hard.
Lupita is an interesting case. It’s a great performance but not one that makes you forget how mediocre Us was. I wonder if she’d be in the conversation had Get Out not happened.
Remember when people said Marriage Story would be the new Kramer vs Kramer? Sure, Jan...
@Adam
I would like to know how you're defining certain choices as "smart and useful" and "trying too hard". Trying too hard for what? We don't need critics group trying to be Oscar predictors.
As for Us being mediocre, you could say the same or worse for Judy...or Harriet...or Joker...or Bombshell...or Richard Jewell.
I love Laura Dern to bits but was not impressed with her in Marriage Story. It was Renata 2.0.
So wonderful for Antonio !
As well done as "Irishman" is - I think all performances from the former Oscar winners bring nothing - absolutely nothing - new to the table, including Pacinos overacting - is this why everyone thinks he steals the show? DeNiro is the most subtle for my taste, but if I compare to the much more innovative "Departed" (such a great rewatch!) it is such a sin that DiCaprio(one of his best!), Damon & Farmiga where not nominated - but the loud Wahlberg was ???
Long story short - as much as I love honouring outstanding careers (Pitt, Banderas, Dern & Johansson would be an absolute dream come true) - new academy please consider new cinema!
Given that Banderas, N'yongo and Pesci are my MVPs of this year (so far) on their respective categories, I think NYFCC had an excellent taste on performers.
On Screenplay... not so much. Inglorious Basterds 2: The Sharon Tate edition, is technically a good film, even if too bloated with ego, to be considered a masterpiece. And certainly Pitt is just repeating again his Fight Club / Inglorious Basterds performance... you know, the one that leads everyone to think he is like that, in real life. It works, but it doesn't feel challenging enough for any awards consideration.
Banderas on LAFC could do well (and Pain and Glory itself) given that LA is a city with a huge percentage of spanish speakers, and I guess that translates well, into the body of voters for that award... there is a thing to consider Banderas (and the film) with subtitles, but when you directly do not need subtitles, Pain and Glory (and Banderas) just blow you away. This is the ONLY Critics group where I think Pain and Glory can win anything beyond Banderas, it could take Picture, Director, Foreign Language, Screenplay or even a Supporting win or runner up of Asier Etxeandía (Oscar worthy) or Penelope Cruz. Even cinemtography could be cited.
Sorry for threepeating... (no edit function)...
At the Oscar page you cite Banderas with Cannes win and EFA nom... to be exact...
Wins: Cannes, Hollywood Film Awards (the winners are all Oscar frontrunners), NYFCC (New)
Nominations: EFA, Satellite, Goya (I know, not important for the Oscar race)
So far, if I am not mistaken, it is the most celebrated performance of the year (TIME magazine's #1) so far. It is true that SAG, Globes and BAFTA will end deciding his future, but I think that Driver aside, he is the stronger candidate for the win.
First we see Oscar warm to Olivia Colman last year as Queen Anne and her rabbits.
Now we see NYFCC favor Lupita Nyong'o as Adelaide Wilson and her rabbits.
Perhaps Cynthia Erivo would have fared better if Harriet Tubman has captured a wild rabbit and cooked it for her fellow travelers on the Underground Railroad.
I do not know which NYFCC choice I like the most.
(Well, I actually know: anything that could lead to Laura Dern getting that Oscar that she should have received for 'Inland Empire' --she was not even nominated!-- is more than welcome)
Jesus, I do not think that the need or not for subtitles can make any difference on a wonderful film/performance for blowing you away. It is not that I was blown away by 'Pain and Glory' (even if I liked it very much), but just generally speaking.
YASSSS, Lupita! That's all that really matters here anyways, but I'm generally thrilled for Banderas proving people wrong and all the love for foreign films this year. Of course, they had to predictably default to Scorsese, yawn, but all of these titles I've yet to explore like "Atlantics," "I Lost My Body," and "Honeyland" that I've never heard of is exciting! Go NYFCC!
bonobo, I think Jesus is talking about knowing the rhythms and subtleties of a particular language. To say that couldn't boost a performance with extra nuances is quite moronic.
Nat: I get that a field mostly of studio sequels is disheartening, but I would NOT be someone banging the drum for I Lost My Body. I saw it. It balances out to...okay. About a third of it is excellent. The other two thirds are about Naoufel. WOOF. What happens when you mix equal parts Spider-Man 2's and Shark Tale's romance subplots? This. You get this.
Saying Lupita is more deserving of a second Oscar than Renee is just dumb.
Sorry. Many of us instinctively recoil at yet another actress getting a nomination for yet another feat of necromancy. Besides, even if Judy Davis hadn't already played Judy Garland better than Zellweger, there remains the fact that Judy Garland played Judy Garland exquisitely enough to turn the idea of watching yet another airheaded, torpid biopic into an exercise in projectile vomiting.
I think Best Actress has been on good behavior this decade RE: mimicry. Streep is the only person who truly mimicked her way to an Oscar.
Last decade you had Edith Piaf, Queen Elizabeth, June Carter Cash, Aileen Wuornos—not to mention Erin Brockovich and Sandra Bullock’s character if those woman can be considered famous or mimickable.
There are other real life people in the mix (Queen Anne this year, Virginia Woolf in 2002). But since we don't have footage of those women they feel like original creations.
All to say let’s not give Renee a hard time for Judy when that’s not a *huge* issue in Best Actress and we know it. If you want to stand on an anti-mimicry soapbox, take it to Best Actor.