The National Society of Film Critics, of which I am a proud and active member, has selected Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird as best film of 2017.
The organization also handed “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya and Sally Hawkins, of “The Shape of Water,” top acting honors Saturday.
Willem Dafoe (“The Florida Project”) and Laurie Metcalf (“Lady Bird”) received supporting prizes, keeping them way out in front in their respective categories.
Gerwig won the screenplay award for “Lady Bird,” surpassing Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” by one vote.
Gerwig’s film also won the top overall honor over Peele’s by just two votes.
In previous years, NSFC members who could not attend the meeting in New York were not able to vote beyond the first ballot in each category. Last year the group instituted live voting throughout the process, allowing more members to vote in each round for the first time ever. Proxy votes, however, are still only admissible on the first ballot.
Recent winners of the group’s top prize include “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Goodbye to Language” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
This year’s awards are dedicated to the late film critic Richard Schickel.
Best Film: “Lady Bird”
Runners-up: “Get Out”;
“Phantom Thread”
Best Director: Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”
Runners-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread”;
Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Best Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Runners-up: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Runners-up: Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”;
Cynthia Nixon, “A Quiet Passion”;
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Best Supporting Actor:
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Runners-up: Michael Stuhlbarg, “Call Me by Your Name,” “The Shape of Water” and “The Post”;
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Best Supporting Actress:
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Runners-up: Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Best Screenplay:
Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”
Runners-up: Jordan Peele, “Get Out”;
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread”
Best Foreign Language Film:
Best Non-Fiction Film:
Best Cinematography:
Roger Deakins, “Blade Runner 2049”
Runners-up: Hoyta van Hoytema, “Dunkirk”;
Alexis Zabe, “The Florida Project”