by Nathaniel R
The New York Film Critics Circle have spoken, delivering their verdict on the Best of 2020. The only films which scored multiple awards were Da 5 Bloods and Never Rarely Sometimes Always. But the top prize went to First Cow (which is the only prize it won). This year featured the most female directors they've ever honored simultaneously with female-helmed films winning Best Film, Best First Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (all four of them different films, too!). Their honors for 2020 go like so...
BEST FILM First Cow
BEST DIRECTOR Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST ACTRESS Sidney Flanagan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
BEST ACTOR Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Small Axe (all films)
Strange that they didn't credit the cinematographer when they first announced this so I assumed it was different people but it turns out Shabier Kirchner shot all five of the films. We hadn't heard of him so we looked up the filmography. His debut feature was Throuple (2015) and he shot well received festival features like Sollers Point (2017) and Bull (2019) previously.
BEST SCREENPLAY Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
BEST ANIMATED FILM Wolfwalkers
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM Bacurau
BEST NON-FICTION FILM Time
BEST FIRST FILM The 40 Year Old Version
SPECIAL AWARD: Spike Lee
...for inspiring the New York community with his short film “New York New York” and for advocating for a better society through cinema.
SPECIAL AWARD: Kino Lorber
...for their creation of Kino Marquee, a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them.
Hear hear.