The awards race is a marathon, not a sprint.  Although during this part of the year, it can seem more like a bloodbath, as critics groups huddle together to debate the best of the year in cinema and arguments rage over what films and performances are “in the lead.” It may still be too early to commit anything to stone, but Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is starting to make a grand impression. In the span of barely over a day, Linklater’s intimately-scaled passion project has been named the Best Film of the Year by four separate critics groups – Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Online, and the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association. 

This is quite the haul for a tiny movie from IFC Films, a distributor who’s never been a major awards player previously. The film, which Linklater and his team filmed intermittently over the span of twelve years, chronicles the coming of age of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he ages in real time from child to young adult. Linklater premiered the film at the Sundance Film Festival (nearly one year ago), where it was just about deemed the critical sensation of the year, and followed it with a screening at the Berlin Film Festival, where he (of Before Sunrise and Dazed and Confused fame) won the Best Director prize. While the awards season is definitely a marathon, the campaign for Boyhood has been particularly long in the making – it’s basically been near the top of the awards conversation for a year. Just last week, Boyhood was named Best Picture by the lofty New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC).

While Boyhood charged the conversation with the many announcements held this past weekend, other films made striking impressions as well. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, established in 1975, is one of the oldest and most well respected critics groups in the nation.  Last year they picked Gravity and Her as twin Best Film champs, and the year before chose Michael Haneke’s Amour. Idiosyncratic choices like that make LAFCA one of the more interesting stops of the awards season tour. This year, the boldest choice for the group was arguably the selection of Tom Hardy as the Best Actor champ for his acclaimed turn in the little-seen one man show Locke.

Tom Hardy, a surprise winner at LAFCA for ‘Locke’

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION WINNERS:

• FILM: Boyhood   (runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel)
• DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood   (runner-up: Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
• ACTOR: Tom Hardy, Locke  (runner-up: Michael Keaton, Birdman)
• ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood   (runner-up: Julianne Moore, Still Alice)
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash  (runner-up: Edward Norton, Birdman)
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Agata Kulesza, Ida  (runner-up: Rene Russo, Nightcrawler)
• SCREENPLAY:
• ANIMATED FEATURE: The Tale of The Princess Kaguya   (runner-up: The LEGO Movie)
• DOCUMENTARY: Citizenfour  (runner-up: Life Itself)
• FOREIGN FILM: Ida  (runner-up: Winter Sleep)
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman   (runner-up: Mr. Turner)
• PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel   (runner-up: Snowpiercer)
• EDITING: Boyhood  (runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel)
• SCORE: (tie) Inherent Vice and Under the Skin
• EXPERIMENTAL FILM: The David Whiting Story – Walter Reuben
• NEW GENERATION AWARD: Ava DuVernay
• CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Gena Rowlands

The Boston Society of Film Critics, formed in 1981, also fell for Boyhood. They awarded the film four prizes, the same number they handed out to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman. A bigger story out of Boston, and one that may become a part of the larger narrative during this awards season, was that Marion Cotillard was honored for Best Actress for her two 2014 films – Two Days, One Night and The Immigrant. That same occurrence caused a bit of a stir last week during the NYFCC announcement, particularly since Two Days is a film from Belgium and The Immigrant was a little-seen period drama that opened quietly last May, nearly a year after the film made its official world premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Emma Stone takes Boston honors for ‘Birdman’

BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS WINNERS:

• FILM: Boyhood   (runner-up: Birdman)
• DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood   (runner-up: Clint Eastwood, American Sniper)
• ACTOR: Michael Keaton, Birdman   (runner-up: Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner)
• ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night   (runner-up: Hilary Swank, The Homesman)
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash   (runner-up: Edward Norton, Birdman)
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Emma Stone, Birdman   (runner-up: Laura Dern, Wild)
• SCREENPLAY: (tie) Birdman and Boyhood
• ANIMATED FEATURE: The Tale of The Princess Kaguya    (runner-up: The LEGO Movie)
• DOCUMENTARY: Citizenfour   (runner-up: Jodorowsky’s Dune)
• FOREIGN FILM: Two Days, One Night   (runner-up: Ida)
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman   (runner-up: Mr. Turner)
• FILM EDITING: Boyhood   (runner-up: American Sniper)
• USE OF MUSIC: Inherent Vice   (runner-up: Whiplash)
• NEW FILMMAKER: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

The New York Film Critics Online, not to be confused with the older and more august NYFCC, was founded in 2000 with a membership consisting of internet-based film critics. The dominance for Boyhood continued, as did the kudos for Linklater’s directing. Another significant honor that was agreed upon nearly unanimously was J.K. Simmons, whose performance in Whiplash was cited by all the critics groups this past weekend. This along with his NYFCC mention make Simmons a force in the Best Supporting Actor category at the upcoming Oscars.

Eddie Redmayne impresses New York Film Critics Online

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE WINNERS:

• FILM: Boyhood
• DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
• ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• SCREENPLAY: Birdman
• ANIMATED FEATURE: The LEGO Movie
• DOCUMENTARY: Life Itself
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman
• USE OF MUSIC: Get On Up
• ENSEMBLE CAST: Birdman
• DEBUT DIRECTOR: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
• BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER: Jack O’Connell, Starred Up and Unbroken

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association was founded in 2002 and consists of 55 film critics in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. They went with the usual suspects of the moment, with one major curveball in the form of Gone Girl taking a prize for Adapted Screenplay. It’s still a bit uncertain how David Fincher’s darkly satirical thriller will be assessed down the road. However, it’s worth noting that Fincher’s 2011 film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – which just as dark and uneasy – ended up netting five Oscar nominations at the end of the day, and won a surprising trophy for Film Editing. With Gone Girl vastly more popular in ticket sales and sparking a larger cultural debate, it will interesting to see how far the film can eventually go.

J.K. Simmons has received much critical favor for his role in ‘Whiplash’

WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA FILM CRITICS WINNERS:

• FILM: Boyhood
• DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• ACTOR:
• ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Birdman
• ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Gone Girl
• ANIMATED FEATURE: The LEGO Movie
• DOCUMENTARY: Life Itself
• FOREIGN FILM: Force Majeure
• ART DIRECTION: The Grand Budapest Hotel
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman
• FILM EDITING: Birdman
• ORIGINAL SCORE: Under the Skin
• ACTING ENSEMBLE: Birdman
• YOUTH PERFORMANCE: Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood
• JOE BARBER AWARD FOR BEST PORTRAYAL OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: Captain America: The Winter Soldier