New York Film Critics Choose KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON for Best Picture

New York Film Critics Announce Winners

The New York Film Critics Circle have declared Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon Best Picture while Scorsese lost for Best Director.

The New York Film Critics have chosen former NYU student, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon as the best movie of the year. With its three hour-plus epic running time, this news comes as no surprise. In an upset, Christopher Nolan nabbed Best Director for his work on another epic, Oppenheimer.

The acting awards were all over the map. The leading acting categories were unusually divided between a serious Oscar contender and an independent film darling. Lily Gladstone predictably represented Killers of the Flower Moon by taking Best Actress honors from the NYFCC. Franz Rogowski bested Oppenheimer‘s Cillian Murphy for Best Actor, something that has almost zero chance at happening at the Oscars. Leonardo DiCaprio was also snubbed for Killers of the Flower Moon. Rogowski gave a tremendous performance but this win was unprecedented from prior awards buzz.

Robert De Niro and Robert Downey Jr. lost Best Supporting Actor to Charles Melton (May December). This has almost no chance at happening at the Oscars though Melton is now probably guaranteed an Oscar nod for his tremendous work in Todd Haynes’ May December.

In two categories, things went down pretty much as was anticipated. Best Supporting Actress went to an actress who will probably sweep the major awards this season for her work in The Holdovers: Da’Vine Joy Randolph. The Boy and the Heron took Best Animated Film which is absolutely no surprise because of the tremendous reviews it has been receiving lately.

Past Lives took Best First Film honors and that movie is certainly headed to Oscar nomination glory. It’s a true New York movie so it’s no surprise the NYFCC chose to recognize it. Anatomy of a Fall took Best International Film honors. In wins that will certainly help their chances at Academy Award nods were Oppenheimer for Best Cinematography and May December for Best Screenplay.

This prestigious award is sometimes a precursor to the Oscars but, last year, Cate Blanchett won Best Actress and ultimately lost the Oscar to Michelle Yeoh. It will still be interesting to see how the results will play out this year. Oppenheimer may ultimately take the gold home for Best Picture from the Academy but Killers of the Flower Moon will put up one heck of a fight to take the statue out from under Oppenheimer.  In a surprising snub, Air was not mentioned in these NYFCC awards but that is not really an east coast movie by traditional standards despite its overwhelming positive qualities.

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