The Rider, Chloe Zhao’s low-budget indie debut feature, and Roma, Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white period piece made by Netflix, won big at the National Society of Film Critics Awards on Saturday.
The Rider earned the top prize, best picture, while director Zhao was a runner-up in the best director category. Roma won the most accolades, three in total, including best director and best cinematography for Cuaron, as well as best foreign film; it was also a runner-up for best picture. Every other film won just one prize, not including runner-up slots.
Acting Awards
Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite) won best actor and best actress, respectively.
Steve Yeun of the Korean film Burning and Regina King of If Beale Street Could Talk won supporting actor and actress prizes.
Best Screenplay
The writing award went to Armando Iannucci’s historical satire The Death of Stalin.
Best Non-Fiction:
The best nonfiction film was given to Bing Liu’s skateboarding docu, Minding the Gap.
As the group’s 64 members deliberated at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center, NSFC chair Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times tweeted the winners and runners-up live.
Last year, Lady Bird won big, earning four wins, including for best picture, best director and best screenplay for Greta Gerwig and best supporting actress for Laurie Metcalf.
Founded in 1966, the NSFC elects its critics from papers and prominent online outlets across the U.S., including The New Yorker, The Boston Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate and Buzzfeed, among others. This year’s awards vote marked the society’s 53rd edition; it does not host an awards party.
Best picture: The Rider
| Runners-up: Roma, Burning
Best actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed | Runners-up:
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate; Ben Foster, Leave No Trace; John C. Reilly, The Sisters Brothers and Stan & Ollie
Best actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite | Runners-up: Regina Hall, Support the Girls; Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best supporting actress:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk | Runners-up: Elizabeth Debicki, Widows; Emma Stone, The Favourite
Best supporting actor: Steve Yeun, Burning
| Runners-up: Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Brian Tyree Henry, Widows and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best director:
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma | Runners-up: Lee Chang-dong, Burning; Chloe Zhao, The Rider
Best screenplay: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, The Death of Stalin | Runners-up: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Best cinematography: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma | Runners-up: James Laxton, If Beale Street Could Talk; Lukasz Zal, Cold War
Best foreign-language film: Roma | Runners-up: Cold War; Burning; Shoplifters
Best non-fiction film: Minding the Gap | Runners-up: Shirkers, Amazing Grace
Special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution: A Family Tour (Ying Liang, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Singapore/Malaysia)
Best experimental film: Good Luck
Film heritage award: The team behind the release of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind
Film heritage award: The Museum of Modern Art for its restoration of Ernst Lubitsch’s Rosita