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  • by Jeff Beck

The New York Film Critics Circle Names Drive My Car Best Film of 2021


The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has just finished announcing their annual awards, with a rather big surprise ending that saw Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" taking the top prize and no other awards. This is the same scenario that happened last year where the group ended up giving Best Film to "First Cow" and nothing else


The film that received the most awards was Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," which won Best Director (Campion), Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Best Supporting Actor (Kodi Smit McPhee).


The only other winner here that could really be deemed as something of a surprise is Kathryn Hunter receiving Best Supporting Actress for her bizarre performance in Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth." Her name has not really been mention much (if at all), so that particular win kind of came out of nowhere. Aside from this and Best Film, the winners were well within the realm of possibility, including Lady Gaga taking Best Actress for her wonderful performance in "House of Gucci" and Paul Thomas Anderson scoring a Best Screenplay win for "Licorice Pizza."


Monday sees a trio of critics groups announcing their awards: Washington DC, Atlanta, and Detroit, so be sure to check back for a list of winners. In the meantime, please see below for a list of today's NYFCC honorees:

Best Film: Drive My Car

Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Best Actress: Lady Gaga, House of Gucci

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress: Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Screenplay: Licorice Pizza

Best Cinematography: West Side Story

Best Foreign Language Film: The Worst Person in the World

Best Non-Fiction Film: Flee

Best Animated Film: The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Best First Film: The Lost Daughter


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