Da 5 Bloods makes a comeback with the NBR award for Best Picture
The final major critics group, the National Board of Review, is out with their winners and it’s a more surprising list, with Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods taking top honors in picture and directing, and Carey Mulligan scoring the Best Actress prize. Sound of Metal get two acting wins as well, with News of the World and Minari splitting the screenplay awards. The NBR also puts out top ten lists for the year, along with separate lists for documentaries, foreign language, and independent films, at the bottom. With this, the top four critics groups all gave Best Picture to a different movie, with NYFCC going for First Cow, the LAFCA choosing Small Axe, NSFC picking Nomadland (which is the one racking up the most regional critics wins) and NBR going with Da 5 Bloods. I wonder how different the film industry’s choices will be when we get to the guilds next week, whether people even saw many of the movies that gained critical attention in this unusual year.
NBR Winners
Best Film: DA 5 BLOODS
Best Director: Spike Lee, DA 5 BLOODS
Best Actor: Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Greengrass & Luke Davies, NEWS OF THE WORLD
Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung, MINARI
Breakthrough Performance: Sidney Flanigan, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Best Directorial Debut: Channing Godfrey Peoples, MISS JUNETEENTH
Best Animated Feature: SOUL
Best Foreign Language Film: LA LLORONA
Best Documentary: TIME
NBR Icon Award: Chadwick Boseman
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
NBR Spotlight Award: Radha Blank for writing, directing, producing and starring in THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
Best Ensemble: DA 5 BLOODS
Best Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, NOMADLAND
Top Films (in alphabetical order):
First Cow
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Midnight Sky
Minari
News of the World
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Sound of Metal
Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):
Apples
Collective
Dear Comrades
The Mole Agent
Night of the Kings
Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Dick Johnson is Dead
Miss Americana
The Truffle Hunters
Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
The Climb
Driveways
Farewell Amor
Miss Juneteenth
The Nest
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
The Outpost
Relic
Saint Frances
Wolfwalkers
Carey Mulligan gets Best Actress from the NBR
