National Board of Review (NBR) Winners – THE POST wins Best Film, Actor, Actress; Gerwig is Best Director
The Post, Steven Spielberg’s timely journalism drama about the Washington Post picking up from The New York Times’ posting of The Pentagon Papers, has won the first major prize of awards season, the National Board of Review’s Best Film. Not just that, it also nabbed Best Actor and Best Actress wins for Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Each Oscar-winning stars had only one lead win from the NBR before today, and for their most iconic roles; Hanks for Forrest Gump and Streep for Sophie’s Choice. The film is set for limited release on December 22 by 20th Century Fox.
Their top 10 list managed to cover multiple genres, box office successes and films yet to be released, including Downsizing, Phantom Thread. Missing out, not just in the Top Films list but entirely, were The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I, Tonya. The group’s Top Ten Independent Films were a truer sense of the phrase with titles like Beatriz at Dinner, Menashe and Wind River among them.
Call Me By Your Name‘s Timothée Chalamet won Breakthrough Performance, which begs the question – will he be seen in the same realm as Best Actor contenders as we move through awards season?
The two director prizes went to Jordan Peele for Get Out in Directorial Debut and Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird for Best Director.
Jane captured the Best Documentary prize, while Israel’s Oscar entry Foxtrot won Best Foreign Language Film. Coco won Best Animated Film.
Best Film
THE POST
Top Ten Films
BABY DRIVER, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, THE DISASTER ARTIST, DOWNSIZING, DUNKIRK, THE FLORIDA PROJECT, GET OUT, LADY BIRD, LOGAN, PHANTOM THREAD
Best Director
Greta Gerwig – LADY BIRD
Best Directorial Debut
Jordan Peele – GET OUT
Best Actor
Tom Hanks – THE POST
Best Actress
Meryl Streep – THE POST
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe – THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf – LADY BIRD
Best Breakthrough Performance
Timothée Chalamet – CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Best Ensemble Cast
GET OUT
Best Original Screenplay
PHANTOM THREAD
Best Adapted Screenplay
THE DISASTER ARTIST
Best Foreign Language Film
FOXTROT
Best Documentary
JANE
Best Animated Feature
COCO
Top Ten Independent Films
BEATRIZ AT DINNER, BRIGSBY BEAR, A GHOST STORY, LADY MACBETH, LOGAN LUCKY, LOVING VINCENT, MENASHE, NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER, PATTI CAKE$, WIND RIVER
Top Five Foreign Language Films
A FANTASTIC WOMAN, FRANTZ, LOVELESS, SUMMER 1993, THE SQUARE
Top Five Documentaries
ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL, BRIMSTONE & GLORY, ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS, FACES PLACES, HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS
Spotlight Award
Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot – WONDER WOMAN
Freedom of Expression Award
FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER, directed by Angelina Jolie
LET IT FALL: LOS ANGELES 1982-1992, directed by John Ridley
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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