Philadelphia Film Critics point the finger at 'Knives Out' for Best Picture

The first big Best Picture surprise of the short season came today as the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle named Rian Johnson’s blockbuster whodunnit Knives Out as the best film of the year. Johnson also took the group’s Best Script prize.

Adam Driver (Marriage Story) won Best Actor and Lupita Nyong’o (Us) continued to streak of wins in Best Actress.

Florence Pugh managed the hat trick of winning Breakthrough Performance and Supporting Actress for Little Women and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Joe Pesci (The Irishman) shared honors as Supporting Actor.

Here is the full list of winners and runners-up from the 2019 Philadelphia Film Critics Circle awards.

Best Picture: Knives Out (Runner-up: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Irishman (Runner-up: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Best Actor: Adam Driver, Marriage Story (Runner-up: Eddie Murphy, Dolemite Is My Name)
Best Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, Us (Runner-up: Saoirse Ronan, Little Women)
Best Supporting Actor (tie): Joe Pesci, The Irishman and Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Supporting Actress: Florence Pugh, Little Women (Runner-up: Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers)

Best Script: Rian Johnson, Knives Out (Runner-up: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 4 (Runner-up: Frozen II)
Best Documentary: Apollo 11 (Runner-up: The Kingmaker)
Best Foreign Film: Parasite (Runner-up: Portrait of a Lady on Fire)

Best Directorial Debut (tie): Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Olivia Wilde, Booksmart
Best Breakthrough Performance: Florence Pugh, Little Women (Runner-up: Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit)

Best Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse (Runner-up: Roger Deakins, 1917)
Best Soundtrack: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Runner-up: Us)

Elaine May Award: Harriet
Steve Friedman Award: Joker

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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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