Lady Bird named best picture by NY film critics

Florida Project gets two nods in leadup to Oscars

NEW YORK — The New York Film Critics Circle on Thursday named Lady Bird best feature film and its star, Saoirse Ronan, best actress, throwing its full support behind Greta Gerwig’s comic drama about growing up in Sacramento, California.

The wins for Lady Bird, announced on Twitter, add further steam to the film’s growing Oscar chances. Lady Bird, Gerwig’s first feature as a solo director, also has the distinction of setting a new record for perfection: It’s the most widely reviewed movie on Rotten Tomatoes to receive 100 per cent positive reviews.

Also this week, Lady Bird scored honours at the Gotham Awards (for Ronan) and from the National Board of Review (for Gerwig and co-star Laurie Metcalf). Ronan, 23, has now won best actress from the New York critics twice, following her 2015 win for Brooklyn.

The Florida Project — an A24 release, as is Lady Bird — also fared well with the New York critics, winning best director for Sean Baker and best supporting actor for Willem Dafoe. The film depicts the vibrant but hard lives of those living at a low-budget Florida motel in the shadow of Disney World.

Timothée Chalamet, the young star of the tender coming-of-age tale Call Me By Your Name, took best actor from the New York critics. Chalamet, 21, is the youngest to receive the NYFCC award. It’s his third award of the week, following wins at the Gotham Awards and the National Board of Review.

Another breakout star, Tiffany Haddish, took supporting actress for the summer comedy Girls Trip. The win could help propel Haddish — who so far hasn’t been counted among the category’s favourites — into further awards contention this season.

Other winners included Paul Thomas Anderson for his screenplay to Phantom Thread and Jordan Peele’s horror hit Get Out for best first film.

Mudbound cinematographer Rachel Morrison became the first woman to win the NYFCC’s best cinematography prize. Were her success to continue, Morrison would be the first woman ever nominated for cinematography by the Academy Awards.

Best documentary went to Agnes Varda and JR’s travelogue Faces Places. Pixar’s Coco landed best animated movie. And the foreign language film winner was Robin Campillo’s BPM (Beats Per Minute), a docudrama about an AIDS activist in 1990s Paris.

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards will be handed out on Jan. 3.