On the heels of yesterday’s (reportedly very close and contentious) win for American Hustle at the New York Film Critics Circle, today the National Board of Review gathered what we assume was a panel of clipboard-clutching schoolmarms in a harshly lit, linoleum-lined room to pass their stern judgment on this year’s movies. And, like the NYFCC, the Board proved there is no clear, conventional choice this year by picking Spike Jonze’s Her as the best movie of 2013, and Jonze the best director. Alas, the funny, surprisingly moving (seriously, go see it) love story of one man’s relationship with his operating system didn’t pick up any acting awards for Joaquin Phoenix. That honor went to Bruce Dern for Nebraska, which also made a big leap forward in Oscar prognostication pools by landing in the NBR’s Top 10 Films list, and netting a Best Supporting Actor win for Will “MacGravitas” Forte.
Other notables to consider: Emma Thomspon and Octavia Spencer got their first recognitions for Saving Mr. Banks and Fruitvale Station, respectively, while the latter continued to pick up “breakthrough” accolades for Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler. Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell took Best Documentary, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises got Best Animated Feature, and the NBR has already seen The Wolf Of Wall Street and apparently it’s pretty good. The complete list is below.
Best Film
Her
Best Director
Spike Jonze, Her
Best Actor
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Best Actress
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Best Supporting Actor
Will Forte, Nebraska
Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
Best Ensemble
Prisoners
Best Original Screenplay
Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay
Terence Winter, The Wolf Of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature
The Wind Rises
Best Foreign Language Film
The Past
Best Documentary
Stories We Tell
Breakthrough Performance
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Breakthrough Performance
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue Is The Warmest Color
Best Directorial Debut
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
William K. Everson Film History Award
George Stevens, Jr.
Spotlight Award
Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
NBR Freedom Of Expression Award
Wadjda
Creative Innovation In Filmmaking Award
Gravity
Top Films (in alphabetical order)
12 Years A Slave
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Top 5 Foreign Language Films(in alphabetical order)
Beyond The Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt
Top 5 Documentaries(in alphabetical order)
20 Feet From Stardom
The Act Of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square
Top 10 Independent Films(in alphabetical order)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In A World…
Mother Of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond The Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now
