Chicago Film Critics winners: ‘The Power of the Dog’ tops with seven

The Chicago Film Critics Association has selected The Power of the Dog as the Best Picture of 2021, with Jane Campion winning Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay among its seven wins.

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog) was named Best Actor and Kristen Stewart was named Best Actress for Spencer. In the supporting categories, Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) continued his reign while Ruth Negga (Passing) gathered more wins.

Michael Sarnoski won the group’s breakthrough filmmaker award, named after Facts Multimedia founder Milos Stehlik, for his debut film Pig. Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) was named Most Promising Performer. The French Dispatch picked up two wins, for its production design and and editing.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners.

BEST PICTURE
“Drive My Car”
“The Green Knight”
“Licorice Pizza”
“The Power of the Dog” – WINNER
“West Side Story”

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog” – WINNER
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”
David Lowery, “The Green Knight”
Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”

BEST ACTOR
Nicolas Cage, “Pig”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog” – WINNER
Andrew Garfield, “tick, tick…BOOM!”
Hidetoshi Nishijima, “Drive My Car”
Simon Rex, “Red Rocket”

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
Alana Haim, “Licorice Pizza”
Agathe Rousselle, “Titane”
Kristen Stewart, “Spencer” – WINNER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, “Licorice Pizza”
Colman Domingo, “Zola”
Mike Faist, “West Side Story”
Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog” – WINNER
Jeffrey Wright, “The French Dispatch”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Caitriona Balfe, “Belfast”
Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Riley Keough, “Zola”
Ruth Negga, “Passing” – WINNER

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Drive My Car” by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Haruki Murakami & Takamasa Oe
“The Green Knight” by David Lowery
“The Lost Daughter” by Maggie Gyllenhaal
“The Power of the Dog” by Jane Campion – WINNER
“West Side Story” by Tony Kushner

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“The Card Counter” by Paul Schrader
“The French Dispatch” by Wes Anderson
“Licorice Pizza” by Paul Thomas Anderson – WINNER
“Pig” by Michael Sarnoski
“Red Rocket” by Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Belle” 
“Encanto” 
“Flee” – WINNER
“Luca” 
“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Flee”
“Procession”
“The Sparks Brothers”
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” – WINNER
“The Velvet Underground”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Drive My Car” – WINNER
“A Hero” 
“Petite Maman”
“Titane” 
“The Worst Person in the World”

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Dune”
“The French Dispatch” – WINNER
“The Green Knight”
“Nightmare Alley”
“West Side Story”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Dune,” Greig Fraser
“The Green Knight,” Andrew Droz Palermo
“The Power of the Dog,” Ari Wegner – WINNER
“The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Bruno Delbonnel
“West Side Story,” Janusz Kaminski

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Cruella,” Jenny Beavan
“Dune,” Robert Morgan & Jacqueline West
“The Green Knight,” Malgosia Turzanska
“Spencer,” Jacqueline Durran – WINNER
“West Side Story,” Paul Tazewell

BEST EDITING
“Drive My Car,” Azusa Yamazaki
“Dune,” Joe Walker 
“The French Dispatch,” Andrew Weisblum – WINNER
“The Power of the Dog,” Peter Sciberras
“West Side Story,” Michael Kahn & Sarah Broshar

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Annette,” Ron Mael & Russell Mael
“Dune,” Hans Zimmer
“The French Dispatch,” Alexandre Desplat
“The Power of the Dog,” Jonny Greenwood – WINNER
“Spencer,” Jonny Greenwood

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
“Annette”
“Dune” – WINNER
“The Green Knight
“Nightmare Alley
“Titane”

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Alana Haim, “Licorice Pizza” – WINNER
Emilia Jones, “CODA”
Rachel Sennott, “Shiva Baby”
Rachel Zegler, “West Side Story”

MILOS STEHLIK BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER AWARD
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”
Rebecca Hall, “Passing”
Sian Heder, “CODA”
Michael Sarnoski, “Pig” – WINNER
Emma Seligman, “Shiva Baby”

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

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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