2024 NYFCC Winners: 'The Brutalist' Triumphs as Adrien Brody and Marianne Jean-Baptiste Take Top Honors
A24
The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has announced its winners for 2024, and The Brutalist has emerged as the standout favorite. Directed by Brady Corbet, this historical epic claimed the top prize for Best Film, while Adrien Brody took home Best Actor for his commanding performance. As the oldest critics’ group in the United States, the NYFCC holds significant sway during awards season, with many of its Best Film winners often going on to receive Academy Award nominations, making it a key bellwether for the industry.
Adrien Brody's win for The Brutalist reignites his Oscar prospects, with critics describing his performance as a towering achievement. If Brody secures another Academy Award, he could become the youngest two-time Best Actor winner at age 51, following his groundbreaking win for The Pianist in 2002. However, the competition is intense, with Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), and Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) all delivering standout performances that have kept them firmly in the awards conversation.
RaMell Ross, who recently won the Gotham Award for Best Director, continued his successful streak by taking the NYFCC's Best Director prize for Nickel Boys, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The film also garnered the award for Best Cinematography, recognizing Jomo Fray's immersive first-person work, which brought an intimate and compelling visual style to the powerful story. With two NYFCC awards under its belt, Nickel Boys is positioning itself as a strong contender in multiple categories for the upcoming Academy Awards.
Independent films were a prominent focus for the NYFCC this year, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste's win for Best Actress is a testament to that. Her performance in Mike Leigh's Hard Truths has been widely acclaimed, with Jean-Baptiste delivering a nuanced portrayal of a woman struggling to keep her sanity in an unforgiving world. Since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film has garnered significant praise, and Jean-Baptiste's NYFCC win gives the Bleecker Street release a crucial boost in visibility and momentum as it heads into awards season.
Searchlight Pictures
Kieran Culkin, who gained widespread acclaim for his Emmy-winning role in Succession, took home the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain. Culkin plays a free-spirited man on an emotional journey to explore his Jewish heritage, bringing depth and complexity to the role. Meanwhile, Carol Kane delivered one of the evening’s biggest surprises, winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Nathan Silver's indie film Between the Temples. The film tells the poignant story of a music teacher preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, and Kane's heartwarming performance has charmed critics and audiences alike. Her win—her first NYFCC honor since her 1975 nomination for Hester Street—marks an important return to the spotlight for the talented actress.
The NYFCC also recognized smaller, unconventional projects, underscoring its commitment to inventive storytelling. Gints Zilbalodis' dialogue-free animated fantasy Flow took home the award for Best Animated Feature, continuing the group's tradition of championing unique and experimental narratives. Annie Baker’s Janet Planet was named Best First Film, signaling Baker's successful transition from acclaimed playwright to accomplished filmmaker. Meanwhile, No Other Land, a documentary about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, won Best Non-Fiction Film. The documentary has been praised for its compelling storytelling and insightful exploration of a complex issue, although it is still seeking a U.S. distributor.
Janus Films/Sideshow
Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light won the NYFCC's International Feature prize, marking a significant milestone for the film despite being unable to compete in the Oscars’ International Feature category due to India’s selection of another submission. Its U.S. distributors, Janus Films and Sideshow, are now positioning it for consideration in other major categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. This strategy could mirror the success of last year's Anatomy of a Fall, which overcame its international feature eligibility snub to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and secure a Best Picture nomination.
Several notable omissions from the NYFCC winners’ list reflect the unpredictable nature of this year's awards season. High-profile films such as Emilia Pérez, The Piano Lesson, Gladiator II, and Wicked were notably absent, suggesting that they may not resonate as strongly with East Coast critics as initially expected. As the awards season continues, studios like Warner Bros. (Dune: Part Two) and Focus Features (Conclave) will turn their attention to the National Board of Review, Golden Globes, and the SAG Awards to regain momentum for their respective campaigns. The coming months are likely to bring a clearer picture of which films will ultimately secure their place as major awards contenders.
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Celebrating its 90th anniversary, the New York Film Critics Circle remains a prominent and influential voice in the film industry’s awards landscape. The group comprises more than 50 respected journalists from notable publications, all of whom bring their critical acumen to bear in recognizing the year’s most outstanding cinematic achievements. The NYFCC's annual awards gala will take place on January 8, 2025, at TAO Downtown in New York City, a prestigious event that will bring together some of the biggest names in Hollywood to celebrate the best of the year in film.
A complete list of this year’s
New York Film Critics Circle winners follows:
Best Film: The Brutalist (A24)
Best Director: RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM Studios)
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)
Best Actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
Best Supporting Actress: Carol Kane, Between the Temples (Sony Pictures Classics)
Best Screenplay: Anora — Sean Baker (Neon)
Best Animated Film: Flow (Janus Films/Sideshow)
Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys — Jomo Fray (Amazon MGM Studios)
Best First Film: Janet Planet — Annie Baker (A24)
Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light (Janus Films/Sideshow)
Best Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land (ImmerGuteFilme)
Student Prizes: Alexander Swift (Undergraduate, Vassar) and Drew Smith (Graduate, NYU)
Special Award: To Save and Project: The MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation
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