As always, The New York Film Critics Circle took hours to determine their year-end awards for 2017. By the time it was all said and done, Greta Gerwig‘s “Lady Bird” took home two of the biggest honors, Best Picture and Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan. Both wins not only help solidify nominations in both Oscar categories, but likely put Gerwig square in the mix for a Best Director nomination as well.
Speaking of Best Director, the NYFCC gave Sean Baker a huge lifeline for his own Oscar hopes with a win here. The “Florida Project” helmer also saw his star Willem Dafoe take Best Supporting Actor, his second win this week after the National Board of Review on Tuesday.
Timothee Chalamet deservedly took Best Actor for “Call Me By Your Name” and, in the biggest surprise of the day, Tiffany Haddish won Best Supporting Actress for “Girls Trip.” If Haddish can land a SAG nomination she might be the unexpected Supporting Actress nominee come January.
The winners will be celebrated in a ceremony in January in New York City.
Here’s a quick rundown of all the winners as well as some initial thoughts on their triumphs.
Best Picture: “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
Lowdown: O.K, NYFCC. Guess you’re leaving LAFCA to pick “Call Me By Your Name”?
Best Director: Sean Baker, “The Florida Project”
Lowdown: Can we get an amen? A huge, huge win for Baker. Spoiler alert: “The Florida Project” is my no. 1 film of the year.
Best Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread”
Lowdown: A second surprising win considering the competition. The film is good, but the idea that Anderson’s script is better than a slew of others this year is head scratching. We’ll see where LAFCA goes, but there’s no guarantee this script even gets a WGA nomination.
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Lowdown: Huge win for Ronan although, honestly, not that unexpected (it was likely between her and Frances McDormand here).
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me By Your Name”
Lowdown: More than anything this win helps solidify Chalamet’s Oscar nomination chances. It has to be a major concern for Focus, however, that Gary Oldman has now been overlooked twice.
Best Supporting Actress: Tiffany Haddish, “Girls Trip”
Lowdown: Universal better get those trade ads ready.
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Lowdown: Two wins in a row for Dafoe is huge. Still shocking Sam Rockwell hasn’t taken one of these.
Best Cinematography: “Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison
Lowdown: Happy for Morrison, but having seen the film projected twice this seems a strange choice.
Best Animated Film: “Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina
Lowdown: It’s gonna win a lot of these. Pixar can breathe easy.
Best Nonfiction Film: “Faces Places,” Agnes Varda
Lowdown: Critics want Agnes Varda at their dinners! They want selfies with Varda! Please come back to the U.S. Agnes!
Best Foreign Language Film: “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” Robin Campillo
Lowdown: This is a major lifeline for “BPM’s” chances of a committee save for Foreign Language Film. Major.
Best First Time Film: “Get Out,” Jordan Peele
Lowdown: Well, looks like the New York crew decided the best way to get one contender out of the way was to honor Peele here. Sigh.