The New York Film Critics Circle has named Roma the best film of 2018, with the film’s helmer, Alfonso Cuarón, taking best director. Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) and Regina Hall (Support the Girls) received the group’s top acting honors, while Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) won in the supporting categories.
Annually the first critics organization to announce year-end kudos, the NYFCC first began dishing out prizes in 1936, with John Ford’s The Informer winning the inaugural best film award. Recent winners of the group’s top prize include Lady Bird, La La Land, Carol, Boyhood and American Hustle.
Other winners this year included Cold War in the foreign film category and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for animated feature. Paul Schrader won the screenplay honor for First Reformed.
What is interesting about these awards is that no major studio picked up any honors, save for Columbia Pictures for Best Animated Film, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. That film will most likely not even earn a Best Animated Film Oscar nomination.
In addition, this year’s Best Actress winner, Regina Hall, for the Magnolia Pictures movie Support The Girls, has about a one in a million chance of earning an Oscar nod.
Roma is on thin ice for Oscar nods, as well, as the Academy is loathe to nominate Netflix films, since they do not receive traditional theatrical runs.
Complete list of 2018 New York Film Critics Award Winners
Best Film: Roma
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Best First Film: Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)
Best Actor: Ethan Hawke (First Reformed)
Best Actress: Regina Hall (Support the Girls)
Best Supporting Actor: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Best Non-Fiction Film: Minding the Gap (Bing Liu)
Best Screenplay: First Reformed” (Paul Schrader)
Best Cinematography: Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Foreign Language Film: Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)
Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman)
Special Award: Kino Classics Box Set Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
Roma Wins Big at 2018 New York Film Critics Awards
