2023 New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Winners: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Named Best Film, Charles Melton Wins Again

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), the first major critics’ group of the season, have named Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon the best film of 2023. This marks the third Martin Scorsese film, after Goodfellas and The Irishman, to win Best Film from New York and puts him on par with Fred Zinnemann, Elia Kazan, David Lean and William Wyler for the most Best Film wins in the 88 years of the NYFCC.

Christopher Nolan was named Best Director for helming the box office biopic behemoth Oppenheimer.

Lily Gladstone was named Best Actress for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone won the Gotham for her work in The Unknown Country and as part of a special tribute honor for Killers. Franz Rogowski won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of a devilish bisexual caught between Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos in Passages. Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a lunch lady in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers who stays back during the holidays with ornery teacher Paul Giamatti and tempestuous student Dominic Sessa.

Charles Melton, hot off his Gotham win earlier this week, won Best Supporting Actor for May December, which also won the org’s prize for Best Screenplay for Samy Burch. Melton is only the second Asian winner in his category, after Ke Huy Quan last year, who won his bid for the Academy Award as part of his sweeping season.

Frederick Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros won Best Non-Fiction Film. Wiseman was previously awarded by the NYFCC in 2015. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s lensing of Oppenheimer won him the Best Cinematographer award and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron won Best Animated Film while Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall won Best International Film, repeating its Gotham win in that category.

It was a quiet day for Barbie, The Zone of Interest, Poor Things and All of Us Strangers, all of whom earned no mentions today.

2022 winners included Todd Field’s TÁR as the Best Film and its star, Cate Blanchett, as Best Actress. The film, Field and Blanchett all went on to earn Oscar nominations in their respective categories.

The NYFCC also awarded cash prizes to two students focusing on film criticism/journalism attending college in the region. This year’s winners are: Undergraduate, Mick Gaw (NYU). Graduate, Katherine Prior (Brooklyn College).

In their 88th year, the group comprises more than 50 journalists is led by chair Matt Singer of Screen Crush and Vice Chair David Sims of The Atlantic and features critics like Richard Brody from The New Yorker, Tomris Laffly, David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter, Esther Zuckerman, Siddhant Adlakha, and Jason Bailey among its 40+ membership.

Here is the full list of New York Film Critics Circle winners.

Best Film: Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)

Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Screenplay: May December (Samy Burch, story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik)

Best Actor: Franz Rogowski (Passages)

Best Actress: Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton (May December)

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Animated Film: The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki)

Best International Film: Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)

Best Non-Fiction Film: Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman)

Best Cinematographer: Hoyte Van Hoytema (Oppenheimer)

Best First Film: Past Lives (Celine Song)

Special Award: Karen Cooper for her five decades of creative leadership as director of Film Forum

Photo: François Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix