New York Film Critics Circle names "Lady Bird" best of 2017
NEW YORK - "Lady Bird," Greta Gerwig's vibrant and nostalgic comic-drama about a high school senior striving for independence against a backdrop of mother-daughter strife, was named Best Picture of 2017 on Thursday by the New York Film Critics Circle.
Saoirse Ronan, who delivered a wonderfully touching performance in the title role, was named Best Actress.
Timothée Chalamet, in a breakout performance as a teenage boy -- alternately awkward and self-assured -- who enters into a romantic relationship with an older man during an idyllic Italian summer, won the Best Actor Award for "Call Me By Your Name."
Willem Dafoe, as the manager of a motel (and surrogate parent to a pair of young girls living there), won Best Supporting Actor for "The Florida Project," for which Sean Baker was also named Best Director.
Comedian Tiffany Haddish won Best Supporting Actress for a delightfully no-holds-barred performance in the raunchy comedy "Girls Trip."
One of the most acclaimed films of the year, Jordan Peele's horror-satire horror, "Get Out," won the Best First Film prize.
Robin Campillo's French film "BPM (Beats Per Minute)," which uses a predominantly documentary style to depict the rise of the AIDS activist group Act Up Paris, and the kaleidoscope of members who vehemently argue about political stands and media engagement in the midst of a public health crisis, was awarded Best Foreign Film.
Filmmaker Agnes Varda's documentary "Faces Places," in which she and muralist J.R. traveled throughout France photographing the residents of off-the-beaten-path villages, won Best Nonfiction Film.
Pixar's "Coco" -- a phantasmagorical journey through the traditions of Mexico's Day of the Dead -- won Best Animated Feature.
The group gave a special career award to film critic Molly Haskell.
The New York Film Critics Circle, chaired by Eric Kohn of IndieWire, is comprised of 42 print and online reviewers based in the city. It is the first critics' group to announce its best-of choices, which are a major precursor for the Academy Award nominations (which will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018).
Among this year's celebrated films which did not receive a mention among today's honorees were "The Big Sick," "Blade Runner 2049," "Dunkirk," "Good Time," "I, Tonya," "Lady Macbeth," "The Lost City of Z," "The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)," "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," "War for the Planet of the Apes," "Wind River," "Wonder Woman," and the documentaries "Ex Libris," "Last Man in Aleppo," and "Dawson City: Frozen Time." [The Los Angeles Film Critics Association will announce their awards on Sunday, December 3.]
The New York Film Critics Circle Awards will be handed out in early January.
2017 NYFCC Winners:
Best Picture: "Lady Bird"
Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me By Your Name"
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
Best Supporting Actress: Tiffany Haddish, "Girls Trip"
Best Director: Sean Baker, "The Florida Project"
Best Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread"
Best Cinematographer: Rachel Morrison, "Mudbound"
Best Foreign Film: "BPM (Beats Per Minute)" by Robin Campillo
Best Animated Film: "Coco" (Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina)
Best Documentary: "Faces Places" (Agnès Varda)
Best First Film: "Get Out" (Jordan Peele)
Special Awards: Critic Molly Haskell
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