Another New Year has come and gone, and as we gratefully turn the page on 2016, it can mean only one thing in the immediacy: awards season has begun in full force. Oh sure, a new U.S. Congress has also just been sworn in, but let’s focus on the less soul-crushing aspects here at the top of 2017. With the Golden Globes, guild awards, and of course the Oscars just around the corner, the final critics groups are announcing their picks for the best of 2016, and that includes the Online Film Critics Society of which our own associate editor David Crow is a member. Indeed, the awards are one more indication of the current mood of critical opinion (if not necessarily the industry one that determines the Oscars and guilds).
In that vein, the OFCS picking Moonlight as Best Picture of the year continues to undermine the previous inevitability La La Land seemed to enjoy with its frontrunner status. Indeed, Moonlight dominated the OFCS, picking up Best Picture, Best Director for Barry Jenkins, Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, and Best Supporting Actress for Naomie Harris. Ms. Harris beating Viola Davis for Fences is also a major surprise. Manchester by the Sea’s Casey Affleck also continued his clean sweep of Best Actor awards thus far, earning Best Actor while Natalie Portman picked up another win for Jackie, highlighting the continued competiveness in the race between Ms. Portman and Emma Stone for La La Land.
Damien Chazelle’s musical did not go home completely empty-handed, however. It still has its critical admirers—including our David Crow who called it the best movie of the year—and it picked up awards for Best Editing and Best Cinematography at the OFCS. Still, this continued and growing critical push for Moonlight suggests that A24’s tiny-budgeted film about race and sexual orientation anguish in inner-city life has struck a chord strong enough to reverberate all the way to challenging Lionsgate’s musical throwback, as well as the more traditional “indie drama tragedy” in the form of Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester. It will be curious if a film this outside of the traditional comfort zone for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will continue to grow in its competitive streak for top prizes.
Other major awards from the OFCS include Kubo and the Two Strings winning Best Animated Feature, Hell or High Water winning Best Original Screenplay, Arrival winning Best Adapted Screenplay, The Handmaiden winning Best Foreign Language Film, and O.J.: Made in America winning Best Documentary. You can see the full list of nominees and winners below.
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