THB #268a: NY Film Critics Circle

I’ll be brief… for me…

Three surprises from New York (full list at the bottom of the page).

1. Director - S. S. Rajamouli, RRR
2. Supporting Actress - Keke Palmer, Nope
3. Cinematography - Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick

And really, only one predictable key affirmation, with Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Does the Best Picture win for Tár and Actress for Cate Blanchett change anything? Not really.

Was Colin Farrell likely to be nominated for Best Actor regardless of this win? Yes. But this is definitely helpful. (And if they were listing his performances, why no Penguin or Thirteen Lives?)

Is S. S. Rajamouli this year’s surprise Best Director nominee at The Oscars? Could be… but I really don’t think so. Still, this win puts his name higher on the lists.

Is Keke Palmer now a serious Best Supporting Actress candidate? Could be. I thought she would be back when Nope came out. But the heat came off the movie a bit and she started hosting Password and seemed to be everywhere all at once. But it is a charismatic performance and as I wrote earlier today, I don’t think any Supporting Actress nomination is a lock… so maybe.

Is Claudio Miranda really that much of a surprise for Top Gun: Maverick? Only in that it seems an extremely conventional call. It feels kind of like some group of members really wanted to recognize Top Gun: Maverick in some way and no one movie seemed like a must-vote nominee in cinematography this year. When everyone is special, no one is special.

The biggest winner on the day, to my eye, was Ke Huy Quan, who has gotten a lot of social media love, but has been the second story to Michelle Yeoh on this film. This win really helps.

Congrats to all. Not a single choice worth complaining about this year.

(Self-Editor Note: I saw that I somehow referenced Brendan Gleeson instead of Brendan Fraser as the Best Actor frontrunner in this morning’s List column. Oops! Apologies. Fixed now, but not in the inboxes.)

Until tomorrow…

2022 NYFCC Winners

Best Film:
Tár

Best Director:
S. S. Rajamouli, RRR

Best Actor:
Colin Farrell, After Yang and The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett, TÁR

Best Supporting Actor:
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actress:
Keke Palmer, Nope

Best Screenplay:
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Animated Film:
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Best Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick

Best Non-Fiction Film:
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Best International Film:
EO

Best First Film:
Aftersun

Special Awards:
Jake Perlin, curator, distributor, publisher, in recognition of his indispensable contributions to film culture; dGenerate Films, for their invaluable work bringing independent films from China to a wider audience; and Jafar Panahi, for his dogged bravery as an artist, and for the humanity and beauty of a body of work created under the most oppressive circumstances.