2019 New York Film Critics Circle Award Winners

Yesterday the first major critics group announced their annual winners for current edition and there is no clear trend after Gotham and NBR announcemnts as winners are very dispersed, except for Parasite in foreign-language and The Irishman in best film.

Group is know for both honoring major Oscar players and also making unconventional and beloved choices; examples of the later is this year selecting Lupita Nyong'o for best actress or two-years ago selecting Tiffany Haddish for best supporting actress.

Below there is a quite interesting group of honorees as for example last year among the winners there were only two foreign language films (Roma and Cold War) while this year there are six films and all except two (Portrait of a Lady on Fire and I Lost My Body) are submission to Oscars International Feature Film category; as well as, one (Honeyland) is also for consideration in the Oscars Documentary category and another (I Lost My Body) in the Animated Film category.  Group honored submissions from Senegal, Atlantique; South Korea, Parasite; North Macedonia, Honeyland; and, Spain, Pain and Glory.  Interesting and unexpected but I'm glad these movies are being honored by members of the American market as stimulates its local viewership.

Besides Parasite in foreign-language category and The Irishman in best film there are NO clear trends, even if is so early last year was easy to see possible trends; but, now that east coast major groups and awards have announced their winners, clarity could come with west coast major group selecting their awards.  It's surprising Renée Zellwegger was not honored by group as much as the absence of an Oscar favorite, Joaquin Phoenix among those who already announced their selections.  After all perhaps this season could have several categories with interesting and unexpected trends, like best actor, best director and even, best actress.

On the very positive side, there was one element that help me to watch The Irishman and so glad it gets the recognition he deserves as Joe Pesci is magnificent in this so-so movie.

The 2019 Winners list

Best Picture: The Irishman
Best First film: Atlantique (Atlantics),  Mati Diop
Best Foreign-Language Film: 기생충 Gisaengchoong (Parasite), Bong Joon-ho
Best Non-Fiction Film: Медена земја Medena Zemja (Honeyland), Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov
Best Animated Film: J'ai Perdu mon corps (I Lost My Body), Jérémy Clapin

Best Director: Benny and Josh Safdie for Uncut Gems

Best Actress: Lupita Nyong'o in Us
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern in Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas in Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory)
Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci in The Irishman

Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood
Best Cinematography: Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Special Award: Indie Collect
Special Award: Randy Newman

The 85th awards ceremony will be held on January 7, 2020.  Winners were announced via twitter of one of the group members, Falco Ink, check twitter if you wish or wait until group posts their winners at the official site here.