‘Roma’ Wins Best Picture From The New York Film Critics Circle

The New York Film Critics Circle announced their 2019 year-end awards today and crowned Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” Best Picture.  The Netflix and Participant Pictures release also took Best Director (Cuarón) and Best Cinematography.  Out of all the organization’s winners, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was the biggest surprise as the Sony Pictures Animation title won Best Animated Film.

A24’s “First Reformed” won both Best Actor (Ethan Hawke) and Best Screenplay (Paul Schrader) for “First Reformed” duplicating their wins at the Gotham Awards on Monday night.  The mini-major’s “Eighth Grade” also was in the winner’s circle again as Bo Burnham earned Best First Film.

“Support The Girls'” Regina Hall might seem like a Best Actress surprise but both her jury selected Gotham and Independent Spirit Award nominations are indicators of significant critical and industry support.  Another Regina, Regina King, in this case, took her second Best Supporting Actress honor for Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” after winning the same award from the National Board of Review on Tuesday.  “Can You Ever Forgive Me’s” Richard E. Grant earned the Best Supporting Actor honor.

Perhaps fully aware they would award “Roma” Best Picture, the NYFCC bestowed Best Foreign Language Film to Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War.” Best Documentary went to “Minding The Gap” which also won earlier this week at the Gotham Awards.

For those who see the NYFCC as a potential foreshadowing of a Best Picture win, it should be noted the last time AMPAS and NYFCC picked the same film was “The Artist” in 2011.  They have only duplicated four times this century.

A full list of this year’s winners is as follow:

Best Picture
Roma

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón / Roma

Best Screenplay
First Reformed (Paul Schrader)

Best Actress
Regina Hall / Support the Girls

Best Actor
Ethan Hawke / First Reformed

Best Supporting Actress
Regina King / If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Supporting Actor
Richard E. Grant / Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Cinematography
Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)

Best Animated Film
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman)

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary)
Minding the Gap (Bing Liu)

Best Foreign Language Film
Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)

Best First Film
Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)

Special Award
David Schwartz, stepping down as Chief Film Curator at Museum of the Moving Image after 33 years

Special Award
Kino Classics Box Set “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers”