The National Society of Film Critics anointed Nickel Boys as the best film of the year on Saturday, adding some needed luster to a movie that is considered to be on the Oscar bubble.
Based on Colson Whitehead‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Nickel Boys tells the story of two teenage boys who struggle to survive at a violent, oppressive reform school in Florida. It has been feted by critics all season, scoring 90 on Metacritic and 87 percent freshness on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also named one of the top 10 movies of the year by the American Film Institute and earned Best Picture noms from the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes, but this is the highest-profile Best Picture win for the film so far from a critics group. However, according to Gold Derby’s latest odds, it is currently predicted not to make the Best Picture field when Oscar nominations are announced in two weeks.
Nickel Boys also won Best Cinematography for Jomo Fray, and was a runner-up for Best Director (RaMell Ross) and Best Supporting Actress (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor).
Hard Truths prevailed in two acting races: Best Actress for Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Best Supporting Actress for her on-screen sister, Michele Austin. Jean-Baptiste has swept Los Angeles, New York, and now National Society prizes, and she was nominated by the Critics Choice Awards, though she missed out on a bid from the Golden Globes. Meanwhile, Austin had previously flown under the radar, but she did score a British Independent Film Award nomination.
Colman Domingo claimed Best Actor honors for Sing Sing to go along with his Gotham Award and his regional wins from critics in St. Louis, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and more.
Rounding out the acting winners was Kieran Culkin, named Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain. Like Jean-Baptiste, Culkin has been dominant at critics’ awards across the country. He was previously awarded for his performance by Los Angeles and New York critics as well as the National Board of Review. His costar and director, Jesse Eisenberg, was also a winner at the NSFC Awards, claiming Best Screenplay.
Payal Kapadia was honored as Best Director for All We Imagine as Light, which was also the NSFC’s Best Film Not in the English Language. Kapadia was a surprise nominee for Best Director at the Golden Globes. Another double winner was No Other Land, which claimed Best Nonfiction Film as well as a Special Citation award for films still awaiting distribution in the U.S.
Anora and The Brutalist — two critical darlings expected to be major Oscar players — were shut out of the awards, but they did appear as runners-up in various categories. Anora was in the running for Best Picture, Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Actress (Mikey Madison), and Best Screenplay (Baker). The Brutalist came close to Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Supporting Actor (Guy Pearce), and Best Cinematography honors.
Voting for these awards was conducted via a weighted ballot system. On the first ballot, members voted for their top three choices with their first choice getting three points, their second choice getting two points, and their third choice getting one point. The nominee that received the most points and appeared on a majority of ballots was the winner. Voting continued for as many ballots as needed until a nominee received the most points and appeared on a majority of ballots. The more than 60 critics who make up the NSFC voted in-person in Los Angeles and New York, and also virtually from across the country.
Best Picture: Nickel Boys (47 points)
Runners-up:
Anora and All We Imagine as Light (34 points)
Best Director: Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light (49 points)
Runners-up:
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (42 points)
Sean Baker, Anora (33 points)
Best Actor: Colman Domingo, Sing Sing ( 60 points)
Runners-up:
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (51 points)
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave (45 points)
Best Actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (79 points)
Runners-up:
Mikey Madison, Anora (35 points)
Ilinca Manolache, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (32 points)
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (52 points)
Runners-up:
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (50 points)
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown, and Adam Pearson, A Different Man (41 points)
Best Supporting Actress: Michele Austin, Hard Truths (55 points)
Runners-up:
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys, and Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters (39 points)
Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain (47 points)
Runners-up:
Radu Jude, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (46 points)
Sean Baker, Anora (45 points)
Best Cinematography: Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys (80 points)
Runners-up:
Lol Crawley, The Brutalist (38 points)
Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu (21 points)
Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light (44 points)
Runners-up:
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (41 points)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (28 points)
Best Nonfiction Film: No Other Land (70 points)
Runners-up:
Dahomey (50 points)
Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat (24 points)
Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: No Other Land
Best Experimental Film: The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire
Film Heritage Award: To Save and Project: The MoMa International Festival of Film Preservation, for more than two decades of superb restorations and diverse programming from all over the world, in collaboration with archives, foundations, studios and other organizations.
Film Heritage Award: IndieCollect, which, since its founding in 2010 by Sandra Schulberg, has met the challenge of preserving independent films with a rare sense of artistic responsibility.
Film Heritage Award: Scott Eyman, for his outstanding books on film artists and epochal shifts in moviemaking, most recently with Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided (2023), a revelatory study of the nexus of American politics and American pop culture.
