Boston Honors The Holdovers


The Boston Society of Film Critics have announced their picks for the best of 2023.  I believe this is the first best picture award to be picked up by The Holdovers.

Best Picture
Winner: The Holdovers
Runners Up: The Zone Of Interest & May December

Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: The Zone Of Interest

Best Director
Winner: Jonathan Glazer – The Zone Of Interest
Runners Up: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer & Todd Haynes – May December

Best Ensemble
Winner: Oppenheimer
Runners Up: Asteroid City, The Iron Claw & Killers Of The Flower Moon

Best Actor
Winner: Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Runners Up: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer & Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days

Best Actress
Winner: Lily Gladstone – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runners Up: Emma Stone – Poor Things, Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall & Natalie Portman – May December

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Runners Up: Charles Melton – May December, Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things & Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: The Zone Of Interest
Runners Up: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. & Killers Of The Flower Moon

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Holdovers
Runners Up: May December & You Hurt My Feelings

Best New Filmmaker
Winner: Celine Song – Past Lives
Runners Up: Cord Jefferson – American Fiction & A.V. Rockwell – A Thousand and One

Best Documentary
Winner: Geographies of Solitude
Runners Up: 20 Days in Mariupol, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, Kokomo City & Menus-Plaisirs les Troisgros

Best Animated Feature
Winner: The Boy And The Heron
Runners Up: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Robot Dreams & The Peasants

Best Cinematography
Winner: The Taste Of Things
Runners Up: Poor Things & Asteroid City

Best Editing
Winner: Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runner Up: Oppenheimer

Best Score
Winner: Killers Of The Flower Moon
Runner Up: The Zone Of Interest

Los Angeles Honors The Zone of Interest


The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), which is one of the bigger critical associations, has announced their picks for the best of 2023!  For best picture, they picked The Zone of Interest, which should boost the film’s chances in the Oscar race.

Here are the winners from Los Angeles:

Best Film
Winner: THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Runner-Up: OPPENHEIMER

Best Foreign Film
Winner: ANATOMY OF A FALL
Runner-Up: TOTEM

Best Director
Winner: Jonathan Glazer – THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Runner-Up: Yorgos Lanthimos – POOR THINGS

Best Documentary Film
Winner: MENUS-PLAISIRS — LES TROISGROS
Runner-Up: THE ETERNAL MEMORY

Best Screenplay
Winner: Andrew Haigh – ALL OF US STRANGERS
Runner-Up: Samy Burch – MAY DECEMBER

Best Leading Performance
Winners: Sandra Hüller – ANATOMY OF A FALL & THE ZONE OF INTEREST & Emma Stone – POOR THINGS
Runners-Up: Andrew Scott – ALL OF US STRANGERS & Jeffrey Wright – AMERICAN FICTION

Best Supporting Performer
Winners: Rachel McAdams – ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. & Da’Vine Joy Randolph – THE HOLDOVERS
Runners-Up: Lily Gladstone – KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON & Ryan Gosling – BARBIE

Best Animated Film
Winner: THE BOY AND THE HERON
Runner-Up: ROBOT DREAMS

Best Editing
Winner: Laurent Sénéchal – ANATOMY OF A FALL
Runner-Up: Jonathan Alberts – ALL OF US STRANGERS

Best Production Design
Winner: Sarah Greenwood – BARBIE
​Runner-Up: Shona Heath & James Price – POOR THINGS

Best Music/Score
Winner: Mica Levi – THE ZONE OF INTEREST (With special recognition of the contribution of sound designer Johnnie Burn)
Runner-Up: Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt – BARBIE

Best Cinematography
Winner: Robbie Ryan – POOR THINGS
Runner-Up: Rodrigo Prieto – BARBIE & KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

New Generation
Celine Song – PAST LIVES

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film
Wang Bing – YOUTH (SPRING)

The New York Film Critics Circle Honors Killers Of the Flower Moon!


Today, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their picks for the best of 2023, with Oppenheimer picking up awards for Cinematography and Direction while Killers of the Flower Moon won both Best Picture and Best Actress.

I guess the most unexpected result of the voting was Franz Rogowski’s victory for Best Actor.  Over the next few days, we’ll see if that’s an outlier or if Rogowski is going to emerge as a legitimate Oscar contender.

Here are the winners!

Best Film: “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Actor: Franz Rogowski, “Passages” (Mubi)

Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)

Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, “May December” (Netflix)

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)

Best Screenplay: “May December” (Netflix) — Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik

Best Animated Film: “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids)

Best Cinematography: “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures) — Hoyte van Hoytema

Best First Film: “Past Lives” (A24) — dir. Celine Song

Best International: “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon)

Best Non-Fiction Film: “Menus-Plaisirs-Les Troisgros” (Zipporah Films) — dir. Frederick Wiseman

Special mention: The NYFCC awarded cash prizes to two regional students — Mick Gaw (New York University, undergraduate) and Katherine Prior (Brooklyn College, graduate) — focusing on film criticism and journalism.

Special Award: Karen Cooper for her five decades of creative leadership as director of Film Forum.