Return to Seoul Wins In Boston


Last year, the Boston Society of Film Critics named Drive My Car the best film of 2021.

This year, they honored another international film by giving the award to Return to Seoul, a French-German-Belgian coproduction.  The film is also known as All The People I’ll Never Be and is being distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classic.  

Here are all the winners from Boston:

Best Picture
Return To Seoul

Best Engligh-Language Film
The Banshees Of Inisherin

Best Director
Todd Field – TÁR

Best Ensemble
Jackass Forever & Women Talking (TIE)

Best Actor
Colin Farrell – The Banshees Of Inisherin

Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actress
Kerry Condon – The Banshees Of Inisherin

Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Adapted Screenplay
After Yang

Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees Of Inisherin

Best New Filmmaker
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Best Documentary
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

Best Animated Feature
Turning Red

Best Cinematography
Pearl (With a special mention for X)

Best Editing
Aftersun & Decision To Leave (TIE)

Best Score
RRR

Boston isn’t the most influential of the precursor groups, which is a shame because their awards are always so wonderfully interesting.  Who would have guessed the Jackass crew would figure into the discussion?  In other words …. LOVE YOU, BOSTON!

 

Boston Honors Drive My Car!


The Boston Society of Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2021 today.  For the first time since 1985, the best-picture award went to a film not in the English language, Drive My Car!

Here are the winners in Boston:

Best Picture  – Drive My Car

Best Actor – Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car

Best Actress – Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza

Best Supporting Actor – Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best Supporting Actress – Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter

Best Director -Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

Best Screenplay – Ryūsuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car

Best Cinematography – Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog

Best Documentary – Summer of Soul (or… When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Best English Language Film  – The Power of the Dog (This award is only given out when the winner for Best Film is a not in the English language.  The last time a film won this was award was when Prizzi’s Honor won in 1985.  That year Best Film went to Akira Kurosawa’s Ran.)

Best Animated Film – Flee

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) – Affonso Gonçalves & Adam Kurnitz, The Velvet Underground

Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) – Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter

Best Ensemble Cast – Licorice Pizza

Best Original Score – Jonny Greenwood, Spencer

The Boston Society of Film Critics Honors Nomadland


Like all things this year, 2020’s Awards Season is a bit strange.  Because the Academy foolishly decided to extend the Oscar-eligibility window to February, several groups sold out and moved their annual awards back as well.  The National Board of Review, for instance, won’t be giving out their awards until February or something stupid like that.

Fortunately, some groups — like the Boston Society of Film Critics — are continuing to honor the best of 2020 at the end of 2020.  I love these groups because they’re reminding us that these awards are supposed to be about the movies and not about influencing the Academy.  I mean — seriously, the best films of 2020 should be films that came out in 2020, not films that came out in 2020 and the first two months of 2021.

On that note, earlier today, the Boston Society of Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2020.

And here they are:

Best Picture
Nomadland
Runners Up: First Cow

Best Foreign Language Film
La Llorona
Runner Up – The Painted Bird

Best Director
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Runner Up: Kelly Reichardt – First Cow

Best Ensemble
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner Up: Minari

Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Runner Up: Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Best Actress
Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
​Runner Up: Julia Garner – The Assistant

Best Supporting Actor
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Runner Up: Brian Dennehy – Driveways

Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung – Minari
Runner Up: Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Best Screenplay
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things
​Runner Up: First Cow

Best New Filmmaker
Florian Zeller – The Father
Runner Up: Autumn de Wilde – Emma.

Best Documentary
Collective
​Runner Up: The Painter & The Thief

Best Animated Feature
The Wolf House
​Runner Up: Wolfwalkers

Best Cinematography
Nomadland
Runner Up: Lover’s Rock

Best Editing
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things
Runner Up: Nomadland

Best Score
Minari
Runner Up: Mank

The Boston Society of Film Critics Names Little Women As The Best of 2019!


The Boston Society of Film Critics today named their picks for the best of 2019 and they did not pick Parasite or The Irishman for best picture.  Nor did the pick Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, 1917, or Knives Out.  Instead, the BSFC picked Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, which has — so far — been flying a bit under the awards season radar.

Will this provide a boost to Little Women’s chances or will this be an outlier?  We’ll find out soon enough!  For now, here are the winners:

Best Picture: LITTLE WOMEN
Runner-up: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Best Director: Bong Joon Ho, PARASITE
Runner-up: Greta Gerwig, LITTLE WOMEN

Best Actor: Adam Sandler, UNCUT GEMS
Runner-up: Joaquin Phoenix, JOKER

Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan (LITTLE WOMEN)
Runners up: TIE – Elisabeth Moss (HER SMELL) and Mary Kay Place (DIANE)

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD)
Runner up: Joe Pesci (THE IRISHMAN)

Best Supporting Actress LAURA DERN (MARRIAGE STORY)
Runner up: Florence Pugh for (LITTLE WOMEN)

Best Ensemble Cast: LITTLE WOMEN
Runners-up: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD and PARASITE

Best Screenplay: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Runners-up: MARRIAGE STORY and LITTLE WOMEN

Best Cinematography: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Runner up: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Best Editing: THE IRISHMAN
Runner-up: UNCUT GEMS

Best Original Score: LITTLE WOMEN
Runner-up: THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

Best Foreign Language Film: PARASITE
Runner-up: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Best Animated Film: I LOST MY BODY
Runner up: TOY STORY 4

Best Documentary: HONEYLAND
Runners-up: APOLLO 11 and HAIL, SATAN?

Best New Filmmaker: Joe Talbot for THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Runner up: Mati Diop for ATLANTICS

The Boston Society Of Film Critics Honors If Beale Street Could Talk and Lynne Ramsay!


Earlier today, the Boston Society of Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2018.  Along with selecting If Beale Street Could Talk as best picture, they also gave best director to You Were Never Really Here‘s Lynne Ramsay.

Best Film: If Beale Street Could Talk
Runner-up: Shoplifters

Best Director: Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)
Runner-up: Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)

Best Actor: John C. Reilly (Stan & Ollie)
Runner-up: Ethan Hawke (First Reformed)

Best Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Runner-up: Sakura Ando (Shoplifters)

Best Supporting Actor: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Runners-up (tie): Brian Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Steven Yeun (Burning)

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Runner-up: J. Smith-Cameron (Nancy)

Best Ensemble: Shoplifters
Runner-up: The Favourite

Best Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Runner-up: Tamara Jenkins (Private Life)

Best Documentary: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Runner-up: Three Identical Strangers

Best Animated Film: Isle of Dogs
Runner-up: Ralph Breaks the Internet

Best Foreign Language Film: Shoplifters
Runner-up: Cold War

Best New Filmmaker: Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade)
Runner-up: Ari Aster (Hereditary)

Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón (ROMA)
Runner-up: Lukasz Zal (Cold War)

Best Editing: Tom Cross (First Man)
Runner-up: Bob Murawski and Orson Welles (The Other Side of the Wind)

Best Original Score: Nicholas Britell (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Runner-up: Justin Hurwitz (First Man) and Jonny Greenwood (You Were Never Really Here)

The Boston Society of Film Critics Discover Phantom Thread


For a film that didn’t even have a definite title for most the year, Phantom Thread is starting to look like a strong Oscar dark horse.  Yesterday, the Boston Society of Film Critics selected it as the best film of the year!

Here’s a full list of the Boston winners:

Best Film
PHANTOM THREAD
Runner-up: The Shape of Water

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, PHANTOM THREAD
Runner-up: Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER

Best Actor
Daniel Kaluuya, GET OUT
Runner up: Timothée Chalamet, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, THE SHAPE OF WATER
Runner up: Vicky Krieps, PHANTOM THREAD

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Runner up: Sam Rockwell, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf, LADY BIRD
Runner-up: Allison Janney, I, TONYA

Best Ensemble
THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED)
Runner-up: BPM

Best Screenplay
LADY BIRD
Runner up: GET OUT

Best Foreign Language Film
THE SQUARE
Runner-up: BPM

Best Documentary
DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
Runner up: FACES PLACES

Best Animated Film
COCO
Runner up: LOVING VINCENT

Best New Filmmaker
Jordan Peele (GET OUT)

Best Cinematography
DUNKIRK
Runner-up: BLADE RUNNER 2049

Best Original Score
PHANTOM THREAD
Runners-up: DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME and THE SHAPE OF WATER

Best Editing
A GHOST STORY
Runner up: I, TONYA

The Boston Society of Film Critics Announce Their Picks For The Best of 2016!


la-la-land

The Boston Society of Film Critics also announced their picks for the best of 2016 today!

Who did Boston pick?

Moonl…oh wait, sorry.  No, Boston picked La La Land!

Here are the winners and the runner-ups at Boston!

Best Picture: LA LA LAND
Runner-up: MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Best Actor: Casey Affleck, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Runner-up: Joel Edgerton, LOVING

Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert, ELLE and THINGS TO COME
Runner-up: Natalie Portman, JACKIE

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, MOONLIGHT
Runner-up: Michael Shannon, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

Best Supporting Actress: Lily Gladstone, CERTAIN WOMEN
Runner-up: Michelle Williams, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Best Director: Damien Chazelle, LA LA LAND
Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Best Screenplay: MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Runner-up: PATERSON

Best Cinematography: THE HANDMAIDEN
Runner-up: MOONLIGHT

Best Score: JACKIE
Runner-up: LA LA LAND

Best Documentary: O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA
Runner-up: CAMERAPERSON

Best Foreign-Language Film: THE HANDMAIDEN
Runner-up: THINGS TO COME

Best Animated Film: TOWER
Runner-up:

Best Film Editing: LA LA LAND
Runner-up: HACKSAW RIDGE and CAMERAPERSON

Best New Filmmaker: Robert Eggers, THE WITCH
Runner-up: Kirsten Johnson, CAMERAPERSON

Best Ensemble Cast: MOONLIGHT
Runner-up: CERTAIN WOMEN