Precursor: 84th New York Critics Awards (2018)

Roma, which had until now seemed to be an also-ran for Best Picture leaps back into the forefront of consideration with its award from the New York Film Critics Circle. Alfonso Cuaron black-and-white feature picked up three awards, including a rare Picture-Director victory suggesting support for the film was strong. Ethan Hawke gets a jolt in the arm for his campaign for Best Actor while Richard E. Grant begins what could be a solid run towards a Best Supporting Actor win at the Oscars. The same is true of Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk The big surprises, however, are the Best Actress award to Regina Hall whom no one really saw as a competitor this year and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated feature that didn’t seem like a threat until now. Hall’s win, however, is bittersweet as the NYFCC. While the group has put forth a number of contenders for Best Actress, they’ve also shown a tendency to award obscure choices that have no Oscar chances like Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant, Isabelle Huppert in Things to Come, Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea, and most notoriously Cameraon Diaz for There’s Something About Mary. While this award will certainly put Hall into the race, her chances are probably similar to that of Diaz, minimal.

Award Tallies

(3) Roma
(2) First Reformed

The Awards

Best Picture

Roma

Best Animated Film

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Roma

Best Actor

Ethan Hawke – First Reformed

Best Actress

Regina Hall – Support the Girls

Best Supporting Actor

Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Supporting Actress

Regnia King – If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Screenplay

First Reformed

Best Cinematography

Roma

Best Foreign Film

Cold War

Best Non-Fiction Film

Minding the Gap

Best First Film

Eighth Grade

Special Award

Kino Classics Box Set “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers”
David Schwartz, stepping down as Chief Film Curator at the Museum of the Moving Image after 33 years