‘Moonlight’ Shines Brightest With National Society of Film Critics

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was the big winner today from the National Society of Film Critics, the last major critical body of the 2016 awards season. The coming of age drama – and critical darling – earned four prizes from the critics organization including Best Picture. As has been the case for nearly the entirety of the season, the National Society of Film Critics were particularly fond of not just Moonlight but also Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land and Isabelle Huppert’s screen dominance of 2016. All factored into the National Society of Film Critics either with first place votes or in runners-up placements.

The National Society of Film Critics was founded in 1966 and includes in its membership many of the most prominent film critics of the nation (Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times is the current chair of the group).

Check out the full list of winners below. Numbers represent the number of votes received.

BEST PICTURE

1. Moonlight (54)
2. Manchester by the Sea (39)
3. La La Land (31)

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (53)
2. Damien Chazelle, La La Land (37)
3. Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea (23)

BEST ACTOR

1. Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea (65)
2. Denzel Washington, Fences (21)
3. Adam Driver, Paterson (20)

BEST ACTRESS

1. Isabelle Huppert, Elle and Things to Come (55)
2. (tie) Annette Bening, 20th Century Women (26); Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann (26)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Mahershala Ali, Moonlight (72)
2. Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (18)
3. Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals (14)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea (58)
2. Lily Gladstone, Certain Women (45)
3. Naomie Harris, Moonlight (25)

BEST SCREENPLAY

1. Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan (61)
2. Moonlight – Barry Jenkins (39)
3. Hell or High Water – Taylor Sherdian (16)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

1. Toni Erdmann (52)
2. The Handmaiden (26)
3. (tie) Elle (19); Things to Come (19)

BEST NON-FICTION FILM

1. O.J.: Made in America (64)
2. I Am Not Your Negro (36)
3. 13th (20)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Moonlight – James Laxton (52)
2. La La Land – Linus Sandgren (27)
3. Silence – Rodrigo Prieto (23)

SPECIAL CITATION: for a film awaiting American distribution: Sieraneda (Romania) – Cristi Puiu

FILM HERITAGE AWARD: Kino Lorber’s 5-disc collection “Pioneers of African-American Cinema