The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced their 2016 year-end awards and “Moonlight” won Best Picture with Barry Jenkins taking Best Director. “La La Land,” which won the top prize from the New York Film Critics Circle earlier this week, was runner-up in both categories. “Moonlight” winning LAFCA now creates an effective three-way split from the most notable critics groups, with “Manchester By The Sea” taking the Best Picture prize from the National Board of Review.
“Moonlight” also won Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) and Best Cinematography. “La La Land” took Best Music but showed broad support within the voting body with runner-up honors in Editing, Production Design and Cinematography. “Manchester”‘s Kenneth Lonergan and Casey Affleck were both runner-ups in Screenplay and Actor respectively. “The Lobster” was a much deserved Best Screenplay winner, Isabelle Huppert took Best Actress for “Elle” and “Things To Come,” and Lily Gladstone was a semi-surprise winning Best Supporting Actress for “Certain Women.” “I Am Not Your Negro” took Best Documentary over “O.J.: Made in America,” which was runner-up in that category but took the Best Editing prize. “Your Name” was a major surprise in Animated Film, and “The Handmaiden” was awarded Best Foreign Language Film and Best Production Design.
All the winners and runner-ups are as follows.
Best Picture: “Moonlight”
Runner-up: “La La Land”
Analysis: Always believed “La La Land,” “Manchester” and “Moonlight” would possibly split the major voting bodies. LAFCA was the only one this writer had pegged for “Moonlight” and they didn’t disappoint.
Best Director: Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Runner-up: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Analysis: This is Jenkins’s third Best Director win and should start the momentum for The Academy and DGA to recognize him with Best Director, even if the former is leaning towards “La La Land” for picture.
Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert, “Elle” and “Things To Come”
Runner-up: Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
Analysis: Huppert was great in both films and absolutely deservers an Oscar nomination for “Elle,” but both LAFCA and NYFCC have done her an unintentional disservice by awarding her for “Things To Come” as well. This only creates confusion in voters’ minds and could rob her of an Oscar nod when it’s time to vote.
Best Actor: Adam Driver, “Paterson”
Runner-up: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Analysis: Driver gets some much-needed recognition after a snub from the Independent Spirit Awards in the same category. SAG still has to have its say with “Fences”‘ Denzel Washington, but this could be Affleck’s to loose.
Best Supporting Actress: Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Runner-up: Michelle Williams, “Manchester By The Sea”
Analysis: One awards body was expected to give Gladstone some love and LAFCA came through. “Certain Women” is a favorite among a passionate group of critics, so expect to see it on numerous top 10 lists as the month progresses. Williams took the NYFCC prize.
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Runner-up: Issey Ogata, “Silence”
Analysis: This a big win for Ali, who also won NYFCC. Strangely, he’s still not a lock for either a SAG or Golden Globe nomination, but this may help persuade the latter. Ogata is fantastic in “Silence,” but the question is whether Paramount has enough time to campaign him for Oscar or a Globe nod (SAG may be out of the question).
Best Editing: Bret Granato, Maya Mumma, Ben Sozanski, “O.J.: Made in America”
Runner-up: Tom Cross, “La La Land”
Analysis: “O.J.”‘s nod here is a great way for LAFCA to split wins for two great docs. Cross getting runner-up is somewhat strange though. So much of “La La Land” is one-shot numbers. A nod, sure. A win or runner-up? Seems a stretch considering there were other impressively edited films this year.
Best Production Design: Ryu Seong-hee, “The Handmaiden”
Runner-up: David Wasco, “La La Land”
Analysis: Wonderful recognition for Ryu, who absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination.
Best Music/Score: Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land”
Runner-up: Mica Levi, “Jackie”
Analysis: Hurwitz richly deserves this win. Any notoriety for Levi helps as she also is worthy of Academy recognition.
Best Cinematography: James Laxton, “Moonlight”
Runner-up: Linus Sandgren, “La La Land”
Analysis: Thought LAFCA might go with Rodrigo Prieto for “Silence,” but Laxton and Sandgren pull through.
Best Animated Film: “Your Name”
Runner-up: “The Red Turtle”
Analysis: Going to bite my tongue on this one. Would have loved for “The Red Turtle” to take the top prize.
Best Screenplay: Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Lobster”
Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester By The Sea”
Analysis: Major coup for “The Lobster,” which is battling to get in a very crowded Original Screenplay field.
Best Documentary: “I Am Not Your Negro”
Runner-up: “O.J.: Made in America”
Analysis: Nice honor for Raoul Peck, who is also trying to crack a crowded field where “O.J.” is possibly the only lock for a Best Documentary nod at the moment.
Best Foreign Language Film: “The Handmaiden”
Runner-up: “Toni Erdmann”
Analysis: As noted previously, a great win for Chan-wook Park, whose film wasn’t selected as South Korea’s entry for Foreign Language Film (likely a mistake in hindsight).
New Generation: Trey Edward Shults and Krisha Fairchild, “Krisha”
Special Citation: Turner Classic Movies for preserving historic cinema and bringing it to a wider audience via FilmStruck.