It was the west coast critics’ turn to hand out honors for the best films and performances of 2022, with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) landing on a tie for their top honors, between A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Focus Features’ “Tár.” It was the fourth time the group tied in its 48-year history after “Dog Day Afternoon” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), “Network” and “Rocky” (1976) and “Gravity” and “Her” (2013).
Along with the top prize for “Tár,” Todd Field won both director and screenplay prizes for the film. His leading woman Cate Blanchett walked away with the best lead performance honor, which she shared with British veteran actor Bill Nighy for his work in Oliver Hermanus’ “Living.”
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It was the first year the group switched to gender-neutral acting categories, which they announced back in October.
This marked Blanchett’s second LAFCA win after “Blue Jasmine” (2013), for which she won the Academy Award. After a strong start to the critics’ awards, including winning honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, Blanchett seems to be pulling away from the pack. It should be noted Michelle Yeoh from “Everything Everywhere” and Danielle Deadwyler from “Till” were the runners-up at LAFCA, highlighting how tight this race may end up being when the televised statuettes begin to be handed out.
This was also the second LAFCA win for Nighy, who was the supporting actor winner in 2004 for his four-feature-film year, which included “AKA,” “I Capture the Castle,” “Lawless Heart” and “Love Actually.” In “Living,” a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru,” Nighy plays Mr. Williams, a humorless civil servant who experiences life after receiving a grim diagnosis. The film began its journey in January 2022 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. This gives his campaign the boost it needs to stand apart from fellow top-tier contenders Austin Butler, Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser.
The best supporting performance prizes were shared between two incredible Asian actors — Dolly de Leon’s turn as toiler manager Abigail in “Triangle of Sadness” and Ke Huy Quan’s work as the lovable husband Waymond in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
In the case of Quan, it’s another big notch on his precursor belt following his Gotham and New York Film Critics prizes, which continues his bid for Oscar attention. With De Leon, this offers a huge boost to her campaign during the SAG Awards nominations voting. A newcomer to Hollywood, the Filipina actor picking up the award over more well-known names such as Angela Bassett for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and runner-up Jessie Buckley for “Women Talking” is a huge boost.
When divided by gender, the LAFCA choices have been more miss than hit in the expanded era, in terms of translating to Oscar recognition (which is not always a bad thing). The group has made creative and insightful choices such as Niels Arestrup from “A Prophet” (2010) or the criminally snubbed Dwight Henry for “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2012) and Vincent Lindon from “Titane” (2021). In seven of the last 13 years, LAFCA picks for supporting actor went on to receive an Academy nom, with five of them winning the statuette on Oscar night – Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), Christopher Plummer for “Beginners” (2011), Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013), J.K. Simmons for “Whiplash” (2014) and Mahershala Ali for “Moonlight” (2016).
Other winners included Neon’s “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” for documentary/non-fiction film, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” winning animation and “Avatar: The Way of Water” walking away with production design.
Janus Films and Sideshow’s “EO,” the international entry for Poland that follows the life of a donkey, picked up two wins for foreign language film and a nod for Michal Dymek’s cinematography. Only two LAFCA picks in the last decade didn’t receive an Oscar nom – Claire Mithon (“Atlantics” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”) and Shabier Kirchner (“Small Axe”).
Since 2000, only four of LAFCA’s selections for best picture failed to garner an Oscar nod for best picture — “About Schmidt” (2002), “American Splendor” (2003), “WALL-E” (2008) and “Small Axe” (2020). In the same timeframe, only four of LAFCA’s selections have gone on to win the Oscar for best picture, all since the Academy expanded its lineup from five nominees: “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “Spotlight” (2015), “Moonlight” (2016) and “Parasite” (2019).
Last year, the LAFCA awarded Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Japanese drama “Drive My Car” best picture, which kickstarted its successful awards campaign that resulted in four Oscar nods, including one in best picture. It won best international feature.
As previously announced, filmmaker Claire Denis will receive the association’s 2022 career achievement award.
The precursor season began with the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review naming Todd Field’s “Tár” and Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” best picture, respectively.
All LAFCA winners will be honored at the annual banquet on Jan. 14, 2023.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Winners
Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) and “Tár” (Focus Features)
Best Director: Todd Field, “Tár” (Focus Features)
Runner-up: S.S. Rajamouli, “RRR” (Variance Films)
Leading Performances: Cate Blanchett, “Tár” (Focus Features) and Bill Nighy, “Living” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Runners-up: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till” (Orion/United Artists Releasing) and Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
Supporting Performances: Dolly De Leon, “Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) and Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
Runners-up: Jessie Buckley, “Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) and Brian Tyree Henry for “Causeway” (A24/Apple Original Films)
Best Screenplay: Todd Field, “Tár” (Focus Features)
Runner-up: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures)
Best Cinematography: Michal Dymek, “EO” (Janus Films and Sideshow)
Runner-up: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Nope” (Universal Pictures)
Best Editing: Blair McClendon, “Aftersun” (A24)
Runner-up: Monika Willi, “Tár” (Focus Features)
Best Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, “Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios)
Runner-up: Jason Kisvarday, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
Best Music Score: M.M. Keeravani, “RRR” (Variance Films)
Runner-up: Paweł Mykietyn, “EO” (Janus Films and Sideshow)
Best Foreign Language: “EO” (Janus Films and Sideshow)
Runner-up: “Saint Omer” (Neon
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Neon)
Runner-up: “Fire of Love” (National Geographic/Neon)
Best Animation: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix)
Runner-up: “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24)
New Generation Award: Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min, “Return to Seoul” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize: “De Humani Corporis Fabrica” (Grasshopper Film)
Career Achievement Award: Claire Denis
To see the current rankings for each individual category, visit Variety’s Oscars Hub. Make sure to bookmark the 2022-2023 Awards Season calendar for all key dates and timelines for the season.
Other regional critics groups announced today including the Boston Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Online. Both groups went with Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh in the lead actor and actress categories for “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
The winners of those organizations are also listed below:
Boston Society of Film Critics
Best Film: “Return to Seoul”
Director: Todd Field, “Tár”
Actor: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Supporting Actress: Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Adapted Screenplay: Kogonada, “After Yang”
Animated Feature: “Turning Red”
Cinematography: “Pearl” – Eliot Rockett
Editing: Blair McClendon, “Aftersun” and Kim Sang-bum, “Decision to Leave” (TIE)
Original Score: M.M. Keeravani, “RRR”
Documentary Feature: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
Ensemble: “Jackass Forever” and “Women Talking” (TIE)
New Filmmaker: Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun”
New York Film Critics Online
Best Picture: “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Director: The Daniels, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) and Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (TIE)
Actor: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Supporting Actress: Hong Chau, “The Whale”
Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Animated Feature: “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”
Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Nope”
Use of Music: “Elvis”
Documentary Feature: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
International Film: “EO”
Breakthrough Performer: Austin Butler, “Elvis”
Debut Director: Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun”
Ensemble: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
Top 10 Films (alphabetical)
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“Babylon”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Fabelmans”
“RRR”
“She Said”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Women Talking”
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