The 2020 film slate was dominated by Netflix, which was already stingy on their theatrical releases, yet they were largely ignored by the first major film critics organization to announce. Boston selected only three of their films to recognize. Mank was left out of all but one runner-up citation while Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom secured a single prize for its ensemble cast while I’m Thinking of Ending Things was their biggest with two awards for Original Screenplay and Film Editing. Beyond that, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland came out best with three awards while Anthony Hopkins is the biggest name among the acting winners having won for a film that might not meet the 2020 release guidelines for most other critics awards. Will this hinder others like French Exit? We’ll see. This is a rather unusual start to film critic awards season as we usually get awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Board of Review by this point in the season. Hopefully, things return to normal this year since it’s almost impossible to know what will or what won’t be announcing in the next month or even when.

Award Tallies

(3) Nomadland
(2) The Father, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Minari

The Awards

Best Picture

Nomadland (Runner-Up: First Cow)

Best Animated Film

The Wolf House (Runner-Up: Wolfwalkers)

Best Director

Chloe Zhao – Nomadland (Runner-Up: Kelly Reichardt – First Cow)

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 Original Score

Minari

Best Film Editing

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Runner-Up: Nomadland)

Best Cinematography

Nomadland (Runner-Up: Lovers Rock)

Best Non-English Language Film

La Llorona

Best Documentary

Collective (Runner-Up: The Painter and the Thief)

Best New Filmmaker

Florian Zeller – The Father (Runner-Up: Autumn de Wilde – Emma)

Best Ensemble Cast

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Runner-Up: Minari)

Boston Society of Film Critics Data

Year Founded: 1981
First Awards: 1980 (41)