At the end of one of the longest voting sessions in recent history, lasting over 5.5 hours, the New York Film Critics Circle named A24 on Friday. First cow as his best picture of 2020.
The drama, directed by Kelly Reichardt and produced by Scott Rudin, follows a skilled cook who has traveled west and joins a group of fur trappers in Oregon. He finds a real connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two collaborate on a successful business.
The selection for Best Picture is not surprising given the organization’s penchant for independent films (or streamer titles). Even though Netflix won the award for best film two years in a row in 2019 and 2018 with Irish and Rome, respectively, previous independent feature film winners over the past decade include Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig (2017), La La Land (2016), Carole (2015), Childhood (2014) and The artist (2011). When it comes to a big, traditional film studio winning Best Picture at NYFCC, it’s Sony with american unrest (2013), Dark zero thirty (2012) and Social network (2010).
Stepping out the door this morning, Netflix appeared to be on a hot streak with Spike Lee Da 5 bloods come up with a Best Supporting Actor victory for the late Chadwick Boseman and a Best Actor victory for Delroy Lindo.
Focus Features’ Sundance feature also stands out with two wins – for Best Actress Sidney Flanigan and Best Screenplay for Eliza Hittman. Never Rarely Sometimes Always, about a pair of rural Pennsylvania teenage girls traveling to New York City for medical help after an unwanted pregnancy.
Amazon
Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who became an overnight Hollywood hit on Amazon’s Next movie Borat, was named Best Supporting Actress.
The best foreign film went to Brazil Bacurau; this film was in the running for the country’s Oscar nomination last year, and was rejected in favor of Karim Ainouz The invisible life of Euridice Gusmao.
With screening rooms closed due to Covid-19 and voters and critics rewarded at home, many have received virtual invitations and links to filters. It makes for a very different rewards season.
Last year, NYFCC gave Netflix Irish an extra boost to the New York area rewards circuit (this voting session lasted about 3.5 hours), creating heat ahead of the Golden Globes. Many believed earlier this year that the HFPA price was at stake for Netflix. But this is where Martin Scorsese’s $ 200million gangster flick lost its momentum with Universal / Amblin’s. 1917 taking the best dramatic feature film. But then at the Oscars it was Bong Joon-ho Parasite which surprisingly won the award for best film.
Although the NYFCC benchmark rate for best Oscar film is over 40%, the last time AMPAS and NYFCC compared each other was in the 2011-12 season, when ‘they both awarded first prize to the ode to Hollywood silent film by Michel Hazanavicius. The artist. While it’s common for many NYFCC winners to go on as potential Oscar nominees, last year the only two categories where AMPAS and NYFCC lined up for winners were Laura Dern for Best. supporting actress in Marriage story and Parasite for the best foreign film.
Five years ago, the NYFCC predicted a surprise that no one expected at the Oscars: Mark Rylance winning Best Supporting Actor for Steven Spielberg Bridge of Spies.
Here is the list of the 2020 winners:
Best film : First cow
Best Director: Chloé Zhao for Nomadic country
Best first film: The 40-year-old version
Best actor: Delroy Lindo – Da 5 bloods
Best Actress: Sidney Flanigan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Best Supporting Actor: Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 bloods
Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova – Borat Post Moviefilm
Best screenplay: Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Best photography: Small Ax (all movies)
Best Foreign Language Film: Bacurau (Brazil)
Best Non-Fiction Film: At Garrett Bradley’s Time
Best Animated Feature: Wolf walkers (Apple)
Special prices: Kino Lorber, for their creation of Kino Marquee, a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them. Spike Lee for inspiring the New York community with his short film “New York New York” and for advocating for a better society through cinema.
