‘Nickel Boys’ Wins Best Film from National Society of Film Critics

“Nickel Boys,” the Colson Whitehead adaptation from director RaMell Ross, won best film from the prestigious National Society of Film Critics on Saturday. Jomo Fray’s cinematography was also honored by the organization.

The drama of two young men incarcerated at an inhumane school for boys in Florida, filmed almost entirely in first person, comfortably won the top award over runners-up “Anora” and “All We Imagine as Light.”

“All We Imagine as Light” picked up the best director prize for Payal Kapadia, who emerged victorious over RaMell Ross and “Anora” filmmaker Sean Baker, and also won the prize for best film not in the English language.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste took the best actress prize with a commanding ballot lead over her competition. The Brit won for her role as an irascible Londoner in Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” completing her trifecta of critics awards (after victories from New York and Los Angeles groups), bringing her back into the awards conversation nearly 30 years after her Oscar nomination for Leigh’s 1996 drama, “Secrets & Lies.”

Michele Austin, who plays Jean-Baptiste’s gentle sister in “Hard Truths,” won the best supporting actress award. Austin and Jean-Baptiste also appeared as best friends in “Secrets & Lies.”

In a tight best actor contest among three likely Oscar contenders, Colman Domingo emerged a winner for his performance as a prison inmate participating in a theater group in Greg Kwedar’s “Sing Sing.” Domingo, an Oscar nominee last year for “Rustin,” won over Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”).

For best supporting actor, Kieran Culkin extended his near-sweep of critics’ prizes with another win for his performance in Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain.” His victory was the closest of all the acting categories, only two ballot points higher than Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”) and Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”).

The winners or runners-up lineup did not include such acclaimed titles as “The Substance,” Wicked,” “Emilia Perez,” “Dune: Part Two” or “The Room Next Door.”

Sean Baker’s “Anora” did not win any awards, but was a second-place finisher in multiple categories, including best film and best actress for Mikey Madison. Radu Jude’s Romanian dark comedy “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” made a surprisingly strong showing, with runner-up citations in three categories, including for lead actress Ilinca Manolache.

The National Society of Film Critics consists of more than 60 critics from the United States. It has been giving out awards since 1966, and in that time, its choice for the year’s best movie has gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar nine times. But the two organizations have agreed more often in recent years: “Spotlight,” “Moonlight,” “Parasite” and “Nomadland” all won both awards within a six-year stretch between 2015 and 2020.

Last year’s best film winner, “Past Lives,” went on to be among the ten movies nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but lost to Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Among last year’s other winners, only supporting actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) scored a victory at the Oscars.

The full winners and runners-up list, with point totals. Winners are still updating live:

BEST PICTURE
1. “Nickel Boys” (47 points)
2. “Anora,” “All We Imagine as Light” (34 points)

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Payal Kapadia, “All We Imagine as Light” (49 points)
2. RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys” (42 points)
3. Sean Baker, “Anora” (33 points)

BEST ACTRESS
1. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, “Hard Truths” (79 points)
2. Mikey Madison, “Anora” (35 points)
3. Ilinca Manolache, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (32 points)

BEST ACTOR
1. Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing” (60 points)
2. Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist” (51 points)
3. Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave” (45 points)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Michele Austin, “Hard Truths” (55 points)
2. (tie) Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “Nickel Boys,” and Natasha Lyonne, “His Three Daughters” (39 points)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” (52 points)
2. (tie) Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist,” and Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown “(50 points)
3. Adam Pearson, “A Different Man” (41 points)

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain” (47 points)
2. Radu Jude, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (46 points) 3. Sean Baker, “Anora” (45 points)

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
1. “All We Imagine as Light” (44 points)
2. “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (41 points)
3. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (28 points)

BEST NONFICTION FILM
1. “No Other Land” (70 points)
2. “Dahomey” (50 points)
3. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” (24 points)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys” (80 points)
2. Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist” (38 points)
3. Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu” (21 points)

SPECIAL CITATION FOR A FILM AWAITING U.S. DISTRIBUTION
“No Other Land”

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
“The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire”

FILM HERITAGE AWARDS

To Save and Project: The MoMa International Festival of Film Preservation, for more than two decades of superb restorations and diverse programming from all over the world, in collaboration with archives, foundations, studios and other organizations.

IndieCollect, which, since its founding in 2010 by Sandra Schulberg, has met the challenge of preserving independent films with a rare sense of artistic responsibility.

Scott Eyman, for his outstanding books on film artists and epochal shifts in moviemaking, most recently with “Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided,” a revelatory study of the nexus of American politics and American pop culture.

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