The New York Film Critics Circle anointed “Killers of the Flower Moon” as their Best Film of 2023 and now the National Board of Review has revealed their top pick, and, surprise, it’s also Martin Scorsese’s latest. Scorsese was also named Best Director and Lily Gladstone Best Actress by the New York City-based cinephile organization.
READ MORE: “Killers of the Flower Moon” named Best Film of 2023 by New York Film Critics Circle
This is the third time since 2011 that Scorsese has won Best Film after “Hugo” took it that year and “The Irishman” won in 2019. Last year, NBR anointed “Top Gun: Maverick” as Best Film. Only one NBR top pick has won the Oscar for Best Picture since 2010, “Green Book” in 2019.
The other awards were something of a surprise as “The Holdovers” scored a trifecta as Paul Giamatti took Best Actor, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Supporting Actress and David Hemingson won Original Screenplay. “Poor Things” also won two awards as Mark Ruffalo took Supporting Actor and Tony McNamara won Adapted Screenplay.
Teyana Taylor won Breakthrough Performance for “A Thousand And One” while Celine Song took the Directorial Debut award for “Past Lives.” “Anatomy of a Fall” won yet another International Film award, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” took the Animated Feature prize (although “The Boy and The Heron” made the top 10 Film list), and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” which earned seven Emmy Award nominations earlier this year, won Best Documentary.
Bradley Cooper is being honored with the NBR Icon Award (whatever that means) and “The Iron Claw” won the Best Ensemble honor.
Rodrigo Prieto took the Cinematography prize for both “Killers” and “Barbie.”
NBR’s Top 10 films were “Barbie,” “The Boy and the Heron,” “Ferrari,” “The Holdovers,” “The Iron Claw,” “Maestro,” “Oppenheimer,” “Past Lives,” and “Poor Things.” The top 5 International Films were “La Chimera,” “Fallen Leaves,” “The Teachers’ Lounge,” “Tótem,” and “The Zone of Interest.” The top Independent Films were “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” “All of Us Strangers,” “BlackBerry,” “Earth Mama,” “Flora and Son,” “The Persian Version,” “Scrapper,” “Showing Up,” “Theater Camp” and “A Thousand and One.”
Notable snubs across the board include “American Fiction,” “May December,” “The Color Purple,” “Saltburn,” “Air,” “Origin,” “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?,” “Priscilla,” “Cassandro” and “Eileen.”
The third major critic group to announce its year-end picks, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, will do so this Sunday.
Winners will be honored at the NBR’s annual awards gala on January 11 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
A complete list of the NBR winners is as follows:
Best Film
Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Actress
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actress
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
NBR Icon Award
Bradley Cooper
Best Original Screenplay
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Best Adapted Screenplay
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Breakthrough Performance
Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
Best Directorial Debut
Celine Song, Past Lives
Best Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best International Film
Anatomy of a Fall
Best Documentary
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Best Ensemble
The Iron Claw
Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry
Director Chad Stahelski and Stunt Coordinators Stephen Dunlevy & Scott Rogers, John Wick: Chapter 4
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie & Killers of the Flower Moon
Top Films (in alphabetical order)
Barbie
The Boy and the Heron
Ferrari
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order)
La Chimera
Fallen Leaves
The Teachers’ Lounge
Tótem
The Zone of Interest
Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)
20 Days in Mariupol
32 Sounds
The Eternal Memory
The Pigeon Tunnel
A Still Small Voice
Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
All of Us Strangers
BlackBerry
Earth Mama
Flora and Son
The Persian Version
Scrapper
Showing Up
Theater Camp
A Thousand and One