National Board of Review Winners: They Love Her, Fruitvale Sails

Erik Anderson December 4, 2013

Her triumphs with wins for Best Film and Best Director, Spike Jonze — *Her* triumphs with wins for Best Film and Best Director, Spike Jonze

The National Board of Review have spoken and they love Her. Spike Jonze’s Her, that is. Coming just a day after the New York Film Critics kicked off the awards season with a trio of wins for David O. Russell’s American Hustle, the NBR not only gave that film no wins but snubbed it entirely from their top 10. One wonders, had they seen it in time?

Ever the friend of Warner Brothers, the NBR’s top 10 is littered with WB films including the best film winner plus Prisoners and Gravity. Most AwardsWatchers predicted these two films to be mentioned but most thought Gravity was a sure-fire win from the group. Along with winning Best Film, Her also picked up the Directing award for Spike Jonze. Nebraska fared well here, winning Best Actor for Bruce Dern (to go along with his Cannes win) and Will Forte for Supporting Actor. Many had picked June Squibb to be the acting win from this group but Fruitvale Station‘s Octavia Spencer won. That film has made a bit of a comeback, winning Gotham awards and now the NBR wins for Spencer, director Ryan Coogler for his debut, Michael B. Jordan for Breakthrough Actor and the film landing in their top 10. In fact, it’s four mentions make it the most lauded film from the National Board of Review today.

Sarah Polley’s personal story documentary Stories We Tell picks up another win after its triumph at the NYFCC yesterday and Iran’s The Past bested favorite Blue is the Warmest Color for Foreign Film. Blue‘s fiery newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos won the Breakthrough Actress award.

Over in Screenplays Inside Llewyn Davis from the Coen Brothers won Original and Terence’s Winter’s The Wolf of Wall Street won Adapted. Both films also placed in the top 10 of the year.

Check out the full list below and head over to the forums and tell us what you think.

Best Film: Her
Top Films (in alphabetical order)
12 Years a Slave
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte, Nebraska
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Ensemble: Prisoners
Breakthrough Performance: Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Breakthrough Performance: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station

Best Foreign Language Film: The Past
Top 5 Foreign Language Films (In Alphabetical Order)
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

Best Documentary: Stories We Tell
Top 5 Documentaries (In Alphabetical Order)
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

Top 10 Independent Films (In Alphabetical Order)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World…
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now

William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.

Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Wadjda

Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: Gravity

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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.