Florida Film Critics and Boston Online announce their prizes
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 9:30PM by Nathaniel R
Florida Film Critics Circle is the fourth major critics group to announce prizes and they've handed First Cow the top honor. For the curious when we say "major" we mean critics groups that existed before the absolute explosion of awards bodies -- which took place all throughout the Aughts and into the 2010s as well -- since they have a solid awards history and are unlikely to suddenly vanish as occassionally happens with smaller regional critics groups. Plus they are never a spin-off or offshoot of an already existing much longer-running critics prize from the same locale. ANYWAY... there hasn't been as much variety as we were expecting in this strange year. Among single films (excluding LAFCA's "collection" curveball) Only First Cow and Nomadland have picked up Best Picture prizes. Nobody but Chloe Zhao has won Best Director. Florida stays very closely in line with what we've heard so far but since they have a few additional craft categories we get a couple of new winners, too...
BEST PICTURE First Cow
Runner up: Nomadland/Trial of the Chicago 7/Minari
BEST ACTOR Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Runner up: John Magaro, First Cow
BEST ACTRESS Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Runners up: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom/Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Runner up: Brian Dennehy; Driveways
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Runner up: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
The winner and runner up here are the only two winners from critics groups thus far.
BEST ENSEMBLE Mangrove
Runner up: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Steve McQueen's Small Axe anthology continues to do well with critics prizes, reminding us that being released late in the year is always a boon for awardage! It's not just the Oscar voters who like new toys best.
BEST DIRECTOR Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Runner up: Kelly Reichardt, First Cow, Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Though there hasn't been much variety in critics prizes yet, this is the category where there's the least variety. Zhao has won every Best Director prize thus far.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Runner up: Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Runners up: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland/ Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Erik Messerschmidt, Mank
Runner up: Shabier Kirchner, Lovers Rock
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Murray Barber, Possessor
Runner up: Andrew Jackson, Tenet
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION Donald Graham Burt, Mank
Runner up: Helen Scott, Lovers Rock
BEST SCORE Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross/Jon Batiste, Soul
Runner up: Ludwig Göransson, Tenet
Soul seems popular in this category. But Reznor and Ross have competition from themselves for a Best Score nomination since they also composed for Mank.
BEST DOCUMENTARY You Don’t Nomi
Runner up: Dick Johnson is Dead
Fun choice.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Los Fuertes
Runner up: Minari
Los Fuertes, also known as The Strong Ones is a Chilean film. It's mostly been limited to queer film festivals. Strange to have Minari be a runner up for Best Film (when this one is not) but not win this but these oddities often happen in critics awards since the voting is generally done by either discussions or voting rounds and on a category by category basis.
BEST ANIMATED FILM Soul
Runner up: Wolfwalkers
BEST FIRST FILM Promising Young Woman
Runner up: The Father
BREAKOUT AWARD Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Runner up: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
THE GOLDEN ORANGE AWARD ENZIAN Theater
MEANWHILE...
The Boston Online Film Critics Awards (BOFCA), which began in 2012 and should not to be confused with the long running famous Boston Society of Film Critics (which we already covered) have also announced their Nomadland-loving prizes which go like so.
Best Picture NOMADLAND
Best Director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND
Best Actor Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS
Best Actress Frances McDormand, NOMADLAND
Best Supporting Actor Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL
Best Supporting Actress Maria Bakalova, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
Best Screenplay Charlie Kaufman, I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
Best Ensemble MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM
Best Score Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, SOUL
Best Cinematography Joshua James Richards, NOMADLAND
Best Editing Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND
Best Documentary THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF
Best International Film BACURAU
Best Animated Film WOLFWALKERS
1. NOMADLAND 2. FIRST COW 3. DA 5 BLOODS 4. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS 5. MINARI 6. LOVERS ROCK 7. I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS 8. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN 9. MANK 10. DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
Reader Comments (36)
Important to note Dennehy won't be eligible for the Spirits this year, as the Driveways team submitted the film for 2019 as a festival title and Hong Chau got nominated.
Other than Raci, likely supporting actor nominations there include Michael Stuhlbarg for Shirley, Orion Lee for First Cow....and from there I'm not there. the One Night in Miami guys? Richard Jenkins in Kajillionaire?
Remember 2010 when Social Network won most of the critics awards and then King's Speech took over at the end? Maybe that happens here too. History tends to repeat itself.
i suspect critics are rewarding the screenplay of ‘...ending things’ to make us believe they are clever enough to work out whatever the hell was going on
Wow... more love for NIN! Everyone... listen to the following: The Fragile, Still, Year Zero, Ghosts I-VI, Not the Actual Events, Add Violence, Bad Witch, and Hesitation Marks. It is proof that Trent Reznor has been extremely active since The Downward Spiral with help from Atticus Ross as well as NIN cohorts Josh Freese, Ilan Rubin, Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Charlie Clouser, and Alessandro Cortini plus Adrian Belew, Josh Freese, and Brian Viglione.
Small Axe's success with critics has gotten Nathaniel's panties in a bunch.
so exciting to see the all the love for Raci and Bakalova, who are so remarkable and really need this kind of notice in order to get any attention at all in their categories.
Maria Bakalova is steamrolling these awards!!!
So nothing for Winslet or Close, but I'm very excited for Carey Mulligan , I hope she gets a nomination.
Bakalova is NOT SUPPORTING.
Also, your note is wrong, as Seyfried has won/been runner-up.
Jonathan -- what did i miss? Where did she win?
par -- yeah. it's kind of uneccesary given the plethora of other options that were very strong.
Never mind, I think I misunderstood you. I thought you meant those were the only two names cited at all, when Seyfried has been runner-up at LA and Boston. I guess she hasn't won yet though.
I don't understand what is happening with Small Axe. Can someone explain, please?
Looking good for Sound of Metal,Promising Young Woman,Nomadland,Ma Rainey and Da 5 Bloods so far.
True confessions: I can’t stand another McDormand Season but I’m ready for a Bakalova’s Fest. Plus: I hated Dick Johnson is Dead.
Go get that third, Frances! You'll have three great wins which is more than Bergman and Streep can say.
I understand critics want to vote their heart, and Bakalova is an inspired, deserving choice, but I think its okay to acknowledge earlier groups have secured her place in the spotlight and look elsewhere. Especially when there's time to elevate another worthy low-profile performance in a wide-open year.
How about Essie Davis's phenomenal work in Babyteeth? Or what everyone agreed was MVP work from Candice Bergen? Or Odessa Young for being excellent prey in Shirley? These are all names that are going to fall off the radar without a boost.
Florida is always one of my favorite groups and their awards this year are pretty impeccable. I'm really happy to see the runner-up citation for Brian Dennehy, who is wonderful in Driveways, a film that has stayed with me since early summer.
Now I have to put You Don't Nomi on my watchlist...
Bakalova is slowly but confidently becoming the frontrunner to win Supporting Actress.... and she deserves it, sooooo much.
Anthony Hopkins 2nd and Frances McDormand 3rd - that's why I'm here. 🍪☕
While they’re both deserving, it’s interesting to see Viola Davis competing in lead and Maria Bakalova competing in supporting when you could easily argue that should be reversed.
I read on the net that Maria Bakalova - what a great name! - is the new Jennifer Lawrence. Jesus! Do we need another one?
The Oscar doesn't see most of these films. At the time of nominations they come with the same suspects as usual and everyone complains that this or that was snubbed. We never learn, year after year.
Does Bakalova get what it takes to get an Oscar nom?
They are real snobby after all
I tried watching "First Cow" and fell sleep but I do want to check out "Los Fuertes"
Have First Cow on my DVR queue but somehow cannot bring myself to push play...
If Bakalova gets nom'd at BAFTA (really likely, given the influence of Sacha Baron Cohen in the UK, and he's heavily campaigning for her) and the Golden Globes (I'd say they will place her as lead so she can even win in the Comedy/Musical department), I'd say she very much becomes the frontrunner not only for the nom, but for the win. Doubt was if the Film Critics were going to remember her and... now we know, she's almost sweeping.
Dominance in Film Critics + BAFTA nom + GG win in Comedy should equal Oscar nom, regardless of what happens in SAG.
First Cow was wonderful! I was worried about it being boring and slow too but it was honestly a joy from start to finish. Beautiful looking, great score and a moving story of friendship.
Thanks John!
Is Mcdormand really winning her third Oscar in a year when Best Actress doesn't have an obvious acting showcase ? I'd much prefer a Mulligan win but she'll probably be the film's only nomination - and that has notoriously not worked for some recent cases.
We have to wait for the industry and "Oscar-wannabe" awards to weigh in. I just remember 2017 when the critics were practically unanimous choosing Willem Dafoe/Laurie Metcalf and the industry and O-W awards were just as unanimous choosing Sam Rockwell/Alison Janney. We saw who won the Oscars.
I think McDormand has enough Oscars already.
I think McDormand has enough Oscars already.
I would love to see John Magaro start winning a few awards - and not just runner-ups - to put him in the conversation for an Oscar nomination. Such a beautiful performance.
Shouldn't Sidney Flanagan be moved out of 4th tier into, at least 3rd tier in the rankings. Her award have to be causing some Oscar voters to stream the film.
Streep has more than three great films (including The Deer Hunter, The Post, Little Women, Kramer vs. Kramer, Doubt, Silkwood, etc.). Why do people take any opportunity to attack her?
@James - the likes of Peggy Sue have always been snarky about Streep and a few other actresses. Best to just ignore.