Awards season kicked off this morning with the New York Film Critics Circle announcing their year-end awards, with the major victor being Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, an incredible portrait of a young boy growing up from ages 5 to 18. The film took three awards total: Best Picture, Best Director (Linklater), and Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette). Boyhood‘s victory here was one that was highly expected and is sure to be the first of many for the film, which is the highest rated movie of the year, currently sitting at 99% (9.4/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and maintaining a score of 100 on Metacritic.
Other wins included ones that were anticipated as well, including J.K. Simmons for Best Supporting Actor for his ferocious performance in Whiplash, The LEGO Movie for Best Animated Feature, and Citizenfour for Best Nonfiction Film.
Of course, there were also some wins that weren’t quite as expected, including Timothy Spall taking Best Actor for Mr. Turner. It’s an award he won at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, though it was thought that perhaps one of several other contenders, such as Michael Keaton (Birdman) or Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), would take the honor. Similarly, Wes Anderson’s screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel wasn’t thought to have much of a chance against many of the other contenders.
However, this is just the start of a long season, so several other contenders will have many chances to take home wins of their own as we head right up to the Oscars. Tomorrow sees the National Board of Review announcing their year-end picks, so be sure to check back in to see what films they honor as awards season continues to roll on.
For a full list of today’s winners, see below:
Best Picture: Boyhood
Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Best First Film: Jennifer Kent (The Babadook)
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (for The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night)
Best Actor: Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner)
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Best Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Cinematography: Darius Khondji (The Immigrant)
Best Animated Film: The Lego Movie
Best Foreign Language Film: Ida
Best Nonfiction Film: Citizenfour
Special Award: Adrienne Mancia