The Atlanta Film Critics Circle, a group I’m proudly a founding member of, announced its award winners for the year this morning. And while the full list is below, there’s a few thoughts I figured worth sharing:
- Anora winning Best Film is a great outcome given that it seemed like maybe that movie’s earlier awards momentum might have been sagging in recent weeks. But, between our awards and the critics awards over the weekend, Neon’s big hope for Best Picture is now back in the running, if not the outright driver’s seat. It’s my second favorite movie of the year, so I’m very happy with this choice from our membership.
- Brady Corbet winning Best Director is such a gimme. For my money, The Brutalist is an achievement on par with other “important man” films like There Will Be Blood and Citizen Kane and genuinely one of the best things I’ve ever seen in a theater. It was my number one, easily, but Corbet winning our Director award is a tremendous recognition of his achievement here.
- A very good top 10 overall. I wasn’t fond of Wicked Part One and I wish Nickel Boys hit me the same way it did my colleagues, but how can I find fault in a list that found room for the dreamy, gorgeous I Saw The TV Glow? One of this year’s under heralded releases.
- Brody is back, baby! Did he go anywhere? I dunno, but he’s back nevertheless! Also, what a rise for Mikey Madison, the gal I used to know as “iCarly but gets set on fire all the time.”
- The Ariana Grande win is fine. It’s a very weak category once again this year, and while I would have preferred Danielle Deadwyler from The Piano Lesson or Tilda Swinton in Problemista, I get the impulse.
- I’m going to take a tiny victory lap on the Best International Award going to Kneecap. I was privately and publicly pushing members to watch that one, and like it happened a couple of years ago with Drive My Car, my advocacy paid off. Make your voices heard, people! You never know what will happen.
- And yes, we have a Best Dog award. Something else Hannah and I have been pushing for, at first jokingly and then seriously. And now it’s real. Congrats Peggy, you’re a very good doggo. They all are though, ain’t they?
Here’s the full list:
BEST FILM:
Anora
TOP 10 FILMS (ranked):
1. Anora
2. Challengers
3. Nickel Boys
4. The Brutalist
5. Conclave
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Sing Sing
8. Wicked: Part One
9. The Wild Robot
10. I Saw the TV Glow
BEST LEAD ACTOR:
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
BEST LEAD ACTRESS:
Mikey Madison, Anora
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Ariana Grande, Wicked
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST:
Sing Sing
BEST DIRECTOR:
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Sean Baker, Anora
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Sugarcane
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE:
Kneecap (Ireland)
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
The Wild Robot
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Nickel Boys
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers
BEST STUNT WORK:
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER:
Mikey Madison, Anora
BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM:
Josh Margolin, Thelma
BEST VOICE PERFORMANCE:
Lupita Nyong’o, The Wild Robot
BEST DOG:
Peggy as Dogpool, Deadpool & Wolverine