The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is celebrating this year its 50th anniversary. Of the various critics groups (NYFCC, LAFCA), the NSFC is the last to vote–in the first weekend of January–the best achievements of the year.
(Disclosure: I have been a member of NSFC since 1995).
Photo: Blow-Up, first Best Picture winner from NSFC, 1966
Year Winner Director Director Nationality
1966 Blow-Up M. Antonioni Italian (in English)
1967 Persona I. Bergman Swedish
1968 Shame I. Bergman Swedish
1969 Z Costa-Gavras Greek (in French)
1970 MASH R. Altman US
1971 Claire’s Knee E. Rohmer France
1972 Discreet Charm L. Bunuel Spanish (in French)
of Bourgeoisie
1973 Day for Night F. Truffaut France
1974 Scenes from a I. Bergman Swedish
Marriage
1975 Nashville R. Altman US
1976 All the President’s A. Pakula US
Men
1977 Annie Hall W. Allen US
1978 Get Out Your B. Blier France
Handkerchiefs
1979 Breaking Away P. Yates US (British director)
1980 Melvin and Howard J. Demme US
1981 Atlantic City L. Malle US (French director)
1982 Tootsie S. Pollack US
1983 The Night of the Taviani Brothers Italy
Shooting Stars
1984 Stranger Than Paradise J. Jarmusch US
1985 Ran A. Kurosawa Japan
1986 Blue Velvet D. Lynch US
1987 The Dead J. Huston US
1988 The Unbearable P. Kaufman US
Lightness of Being
1989 Drugstore Cowboy G. Van Sant US
1990 GoodFellas M. Scorsese US
1991 Life Is Sweet M. Leigh UK
1992 Unforgiven C. Eastwood US
1993 Schindler’s List S. Spielberg US
1994 Pulp Fiction Q. Tarantino US
1995 Babe C. Noonan US
1996 Breaking the Waves L. Von Trier Danish (in English)
1997 L.A. Confidential C. Hanson US
1998 Out of Sight S. Soderbergh US
1999 Tie Being John Malkovich S. Jonze US
Topsy-Turvy M. Leigh UK
2000 Yi Yi (A One and a Two) E. Yang Taiwan
2001 Mulholland Drive D. Lynch US
2002 The Pianist R. Polanski Polish (in French)
2003 American Splendor R. Pulcini/S. Springer US
2004 Million Dollar Baby C. Eastwood US
2005 Capote B. Miller US
2006 Pan’s Labyrinth G. del Toro Mexican (in Spanish)
2007 There Will Be Blood P.T. Anderson US
2008 Waltz With Bashir A. Folman Israel
2009 The Hurt Locker K. Bigelow US
2010 The Social Network D. Fincher US
2011 Melancholia L. Von Trier Danish (in English)director)
2012 Amour M. Haneke Austrian (in French)
2013 Inside Llewyn Davis J. and E. Coen US
2014 Goodbye Language J.L. Godard France
2015 Spotlight Tom McCarthy US
TRENDS:
*Only one director, the late Ingmar Bergman, had won the Best Picture Award three times: in 1967, 1968, and 1974.
*Six directors had won the top award twice: Robert Altman, in 1970 and 1974; David Lynch in 1986 and 2001; Mike Leigh in 1991 and 1999 (in a tie), Clint Eastwood, in 1992 and 1994, and Lars von Trier, in 1996 and 2011.
*In 50 years, there has been only one tie, in 1999, when Mike Leigh ans Spike Jonze shared the top award.
*Only 6 of the 50 winning films (voted in early January) went on to win the Best Picture Oscar (voted in late March before switching to late February):
Woody Allen’s Annie Hall in 1977;
Eastwood’s Unforgiven in 1992;
Spielberg’s Schindler’s List in 1993;
Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby in 2004;
Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker in 2009;
Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight in 2015
*The number of Best Picture winners from the NSFC is much higher (about half) among the nominees of the Best Picture Oscar.
*Five winners of the NSFC Best Picture went on to receive the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar:
Z in 1969;
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie in 1972;
Day for Night in 1973;
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs in 1978;
Amour in 2012.
*Only one animated films had won the Best Picture of the NSFC:
Waltz with Bashir by the Israeli director Ari Folman in 2008.
*Of the 50 films that had won the NSFC Best Picture, 8 were foreign-language, most recently Amour, a French production directed by Austrian-born filmmaker Michael Haneke.
Nonetheless, several English-speaking films were helmed by foreign-born or foreign-based directors, such as Louis Malle’s Atlantic City in 1981, or Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves in 1996 and Melancholia in 2010.
*Only one woman had won the top award, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, in 2009.
*French productions (often by non-French directors, such as Bunuel or Polanski or Haneke) dominate the foreign language films that won the NSFC Best Picture, and the foreign directors who helmed English-speaking films.
*More than half (30 out of 50) of the NSFC top pictures were made by American directors, though in the first decade of the group, only two US films had won the top award, both by Altman, MASH in 1970 and Nashville in 1975.
*The strongest domination of US films among the top NSFC winners was in the 1990s, when six of the ten winners were helmed by American filmmakers. The exceptions were Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet, Chris Noonan’s Babe, and Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves. It should be noted that all three films were in English, by British, Australian, and Danish.
*Of the 30 US films, about half were independent features, made and/or distributed outside of the mainstream Hollywood studios, such as Stranger Than Paradise, Mulholland Drive, American Splendor, and There Will Be Blood.
