Great Movies
This past Thursday night, the Chicago Film Critics Association held their annual awards dinner, where the winners for the year’s best in movies and performances were announced.
With numerous great films in competition, it’s a line-up of winners that curiously starts with the Best Picture nominees: The most awards went to writer/director Kenneth Lonergan’s masterpiece of grief, “Manchester by the Sea,” receiving four including Best Actor (Casey Affleck) Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams). Three awards each went to Best Picture nominees “The Handmaiden” and “Moonlight”; the former receiving Best Foreign Language Film, the latter the top title of Best Picture. Two awards went to Best Picture nominees “Jackie” and “La La Land,” which also battled in categories like Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
Roger Ebert was on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Film Critics Association. RogerEbert.com Managing Editor Brian Tallerico is the Vice President of the CFCA. Publisher Chaz Ebert, Assistant Editor Nick Allen, and Assistant Editor Matt Fagerholm are members, as are contributors Peter Sobczynski, Collin Souter, Erik Childress, Sergio Mims, Mark Dujsik, Patrick McGavin, Jacob Oller and Michael Snydel.
A complete list of the CFCA winners, in bold, can be found below.
BEST PICTURE
"The Handmaiden"
"Jackie"
"La La Land"
"Manchester by the Sea"
"Moonlight"
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"
Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"
Pablo Larrain, "Jackie"
Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea"
Park Chan-wook, "The Handmaiden"
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, "Manchester by the Sea"
Adam Driver, "Paterson"
Joel Edgerton, "Loving"
Colin Farrell, "The Lobster"
Denzel Washington, "Fences"
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams, "Arrival"
Rebecca Hall, "Christine"
Isabelle Huppert, "Elle"
Natalie Portman, "Jackie"
Emma Stone, "La La Land"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight"
Alden Ehrenreich, "Hail, Caesar!"
Ben Foster, "Hell or High Water"
Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea"
Trevante Rhodes, "Moonlight"
Michael Shannon, "Nocturnal Animals"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, "Fences"
Lily Gladstone, "Certain Women"
Naomie Harris, "Moonlight"
Janelle Monae, "Hidden Figures"
Michelle Williams, "Manchester by the Sea"
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Hell or High Water" by Taylor Sheridan
"Jackie" by Noah Oppenheim
"The Lobster" by Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou
"Manchester by the Sea" by Kenneth Lonergan
"Moonlight" by Barry Jenkins
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Arrival" by Eric Heiserrer
"Elle" by David Birke
"The Handmaiden" by Seo Kyung-Chung & Chan-wook Park
"Love & Friendship" by Whit Stillman
"Silence" by Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Elle"
"The Handmaiden"
"Julieta"
"Neruda"
"Toni Erdmann"
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
"Cameraperson"
"Life, Animated"
"OJ: Made in America"
"Tower"
"Weiner"
BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Kubo and the Two Strings"
"Moana"
"The Red Turtle"
"Tower"
"Zootopia"
CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Handmaiden," Chung-hoon Chung
"Jackie," Stephane Fontaine
"La La Land," Linus Sandgren
"Moonlight," James Laxton
"Silence," Rodrigo Prieto
SCORE
"Arrival," Johann Johannsson
"Jackie," Mica Levi
"La La Land," Justin Hurwitz
"Moonlight," Nicholas Britell
"The Neon Demon," Cliff Martinez
ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
"The Handmaiden", Seong-hie Ryu
"Jackie," Jean Rabasse & Halina Gebarowicz
"La La Land," David Wasco & Austin Gorg
"The Neon Demon," Elliott Hostetter & Austin Gorg
"The Witch," Craig Lathrop & Andrea Kristof
EDITING
"Cameraperson," Nels Bangerter
"Jackie," Sebastian Sepulveda
"La La Land," Tom Cross
"Manchester by the Sea," Jennifer Lame
"Moonlight," Joi McMillon & Nat Sanders
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Lily Gladstone, "Certain Women"
Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea"
Royalty Hightower, "The Fits"
Janelle Monae, "Hidden Figures & Moonlight"
Trevante Rhodes, "Moonlight"
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Kelly Fremon Craig, "The Edge of Seventeen"
Robert Eggers, "The Witch"
Anna Rose Holmer, "The Fits"
Travis Knight, "Kubo and the Two Strings"
Trey Edward Shults, "Krisha"
Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.
