‘Drive My Car’ Takes Best Picture From National Society Of Film Critics

The adulation for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” continues. After winning Best Film from both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle, Japan’s submission for the International Film Oscar dominated the winner’s list from the National Society of Critics. “Drive My Car” took Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), and Best Actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima).

READ MORE: LA Film Critics select “Drive My Car” as Best Film of 2021

Outside of Best Actress, which went to “Parallel Mothers'” Penelope Cruz, most of the organization’s other winners were somewhat surprising. “The Worst Person in the World’s” Anders Danielsen Lie took Best Supporting Actor while another overlooked performance, “Passing’s” Ruth Nega,” took Supporting Actress. Additionally, the incredibly deserving Andrew Droz Palermo won Best Cinematography for “The Green Knight.”

Filmmakers and critics Bertrand Tavernier and Peter Bogdanovich, who passed away this past week, were honored with the Film Heritage Awards.

All of this year’s winners and runner-ups are noted below.

Best Picture: DRIVE MY CAR (48 points)

Runners-up:
PETITE MAMAN (25 points)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (23 points)

Best Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR and WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (46 points)

Runners-up:
Jane Campion, THE POWER OF THE DOG (36 points)
Céline Sciamma, PETITE MAMAN (28 points)

Best Screenplay: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, DRIVE MY CAR (46 points)

Runners-up:
Pedro Almodóvar, PARALLEL MOTHERS (22 points)
Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA (20 points)

Best Supporting Actor: Anders Danielsen Lie, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (54 points)

Runners-up:
Vincent Lindon, TITANE (33 points)
Mike Faist, WEST SIDE STORY, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE POWER OF THE DOG (26 points)

Best Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo, THE GREEN KNIGHT (52 points)

Runners-up:
Ari Wegner, THE POWER OF THE DOG (40 points)
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, MEMORIA (35 points)

Best Actor: Hidetoshi Nishijima, DRIVE MY CAR (63 points)

Runners-up:
Benedict Cumberbatch, THE POWER OF THE DOG (44 points)
Simon Rex, RED ROCKET (30 points)

Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Negga, PASSING (46 points)

Runners-up:
Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY (22 points)
Jessie Buckley, THE LOST DAUGHTER (21 points)

Best Actress: Penélope Cruz, PARALLEL MOTHERS (55 points)

Runners-up:
Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (42 points)
Alana Haim, LICORICE PIZZA (32 points)

Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: Jean-Gabriel Périot’s documentary “Returning to Reims,” which draws on Didier Eribon’s 2009 memoir about his French hometown and the inequities of class and education that shaped him and his family.

Film Heritage Award: the late Bertrand Tavernier and Peter Bogdanovich, distinguished critic-filmmakers who never lost their passion for other people’s movies and film history. Both crowned their careers with invaluable chronicles of their engagement with the cinema: Tavernier with the books “50 Years of American Cinema and American Friends,” and Bogdanovich with the books “Who the Devil Made It” and “Who the Hell’s In It?”