The 2013 awards season is in full swing as we enter the end of the year derby to see which film(s) and performances appear on their way to Oscar gold. The New York Film Critics Circle, the one of the oldest and most venerable film critics societies (they were founded in 1935) announced their picks for the best of the year yesterday and the National Board of Review, which is headed not by film critics but by film teachers and academics, announced their prizes this morning. The takeaway of the two announcements may just be that the 2013 film year may be one the most competitive in recent years as the two bodies made widely different choices across the field.
The NYFCC named David O. Russell’s American Hustle the Best Picture of the 2013, a film that just recently started screening for critics and members of the industry, but one that is still currently under critical embargo (that’s why no official reviews for the film have been published as of yet), while the NBR choose Spike Jonze’s sci/fi romantic comedy Her as their Best Picture. Interestingly, Steve McQueen’s slavery epic 12 Years a Slave, while mentioned on both lists, was snubbed from the major award despite it’s overwhelming critical acclaim and assumed frontrunner status. The film also failed to win at the Gotham Awards two nights ago despite earning the most nominations.
Suggesting the competitive nature of this year’s slate, the two groups only agreed on three prizes. Here are all the winners for both:
2013 NYFCC WINNERS:
BEST PICTURE: American Hustle
BEST DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
BEST ACTOR: Robert Redford, All is Lost
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
BEST SCREENPLAY: American Hustle, written by Eric Singer & David O. Russell
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: The Wind Rises
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Stories We Tell
BEST FOREIGN FILM: Blue is the Warmest Color
BEST FIRST FILM: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
SPECIAL AWARD: Frederick Wiseman, documentarian
2013 NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW WINNERS:
BEST PICTURE: Her
BEST DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze, Her
BEST ACTOR: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
BEST ACTRESS: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Will Forte, Nebraska
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inside Llewyn Davis, written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Wolf of Wall Street, written by Terence Winter
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: The Wind Rises
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell
BEST FOREIGN FILM: The Past
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: Prisoners
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (male): Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (female): Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Ryan Cooger, Fruitvale Station
CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKER AWARD: Gravity
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD: Wadjda
SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD: George Stevens, Jr.
TOP TEN OF 2013 (in alphabetical order):
- 12 Years a Slave
- Fruitvale Station
- Gravity
- Inside Llewyn Davis
- Lone Survivor
- Nebraska
- Prisoners
- Saving Mr. Banks
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- The Wolf of Wall Street
TOP FIVE FOREIGN FILMS OF 2013
- Beyond the Hills
- Gloria
- The Grandmaster
- A Hijacking
- The Hunt
TOP FIVE DOCUMENTARIES OF 2013
- 20 Feet From Stardom
- The Act of Killing
- After Tiller
- Casting By
- The Square
TOP TEN INDEPENDENT FILMS OF 2013
- Aín’t Them Bodies Saints
- Dallas Buyers Club
- In a World…
- Mother of George
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Mud
- The Place Beyond the Pines
- Short Term 12
- Sightseers
- The Spectacular Now
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