2021 New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO): ‘The Power of the Dog’ compels them; Netflix takes 10 of 14 awards

The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) announced their winners for the best in film for 2021 and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog dominated the list with seven sweeping wins including Best Picture, Director, Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch, Supporting Actor for Kodi Smit-McPhee and Best Ensemble. It’s the biggest sweep for the group since 2016’s Moonlight.

Rebecca Hall’s Passing was another multiple winner and with three big ones: Best Actress for Tessa Thompson, Supporting Actress for Ruth Negga and Debut Director for Hall herself. In all, Netflix scooped up 10 of the group’s 14 awards. West Side Story found two wins: Best Use of Music and Breakthrough Performance for Ariana DeBose.

Here is the complete list of winners from the 2021 New York Film Critics Online.

Best Picture: The Power of the Dog

Best Director: Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog

Best Actress: Tessa Thompson – Passing

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Negga – Passing

Breakthrough Performer: Ariana DeBose – West Side Story

Best Ensemble: The Power of the Dog

Best Screenplay: The Power of the Dog

Best Cinematography: Ari Wegner – The Power of the Dog

Best Use of Music: West Side Story

Best Animated Feature: The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Best Documentary Feature: Flee

Best Foreign Language Feature: Drive My Car (Japan)

Top 10 Films (alphabetical): Belfast, Don’t Look Up, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, The Lost Daughter, Passing, Pig, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story

Photo: Kirsty Griffin/Netflix

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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