Well that’s literally the opposite of what I was expecting.
Nearly a week after the New York Film Critics Circle named La La Land the Best Film of 2016, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association chose the gay coming-of-age indie drama Moonlight as the year’s Best Picture. Based on each group’s pedigree, I would’ve predicted those choices to be flipped. NYC crix are generally more snobby, while LA would seem a shoe-in for a glorious love letter to their own city. Instead, the LAFCA went highbrow while NYC went with all the feels.
LA also tapped Moonlight helmer Barry Jenkins as Best Director, Mahershala Ali as the top Supporting Actor, and James Laxton‘s cinematography.
La La Land was the leading runner-up choice, with 5 mentions in the also-ran citations (including Picture and Director, Damien Chazelle).
The other major Oscar favorite that’s been getting early Critics Group love is Manchester by the Sea. It didn’t win any categories from LA, but was cited 3 times in the Runner-Up categories of Actor (Casey Affleck), Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Screenplay (Kenneth Lonergan).
And the group’s biggest irony? Best Editing went to the 8-hour documentary O.J.: Made In America. (It’s actually a worthy choice, but it’s still funny.)
LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
Best of 2016
Best Picture: Moonlight
Runner-up: La La Land
Director: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Runner-up: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Actress: Isabelle Huppert, Elle and Things to Come
Runner-up: Rebecca Hall, Christine
Actor: Adam Driver, Paterson
Runner-up: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Supporting Actress: Lily Gladstone, Certain Women
Runner-up: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Runner-up: Issey Ogata, Silence
Runner-up: The Red Turtle
Foreign-Language Film: The Handmaiden
Runner-up: Toni Erdmann
Runner-up: O.J.: Made in America
Screenplay: Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster
Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Editing: Bret Granato, Maya Mumma, Ben Sozanski, O.J.: Made in America
Runner-up: Tom Cross, La La Land
Production Design: Ryu Seong-hee, The Handmaiden
Runner-up: David Wasco, La La Land
Music Score: Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, La La Land
Runner-up: Micah Levi, Jackie
Cinematography: James Laxton, Moonlight
Runner-up: Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Douglas Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video Prize: The Illinois Parables from writer-director Deborah Stratman
Next Generation: Trey Edward Shults, Krisha Fairchild, Krisha
Special Citation: Turner Classic Movies for preserving historic cinema and bringing it to a wider audience via FilmStruck.
Lifetime Achievement: Shirley MacLaine
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far this season:
Academy Award Nominees
Golden Globe Winners
Screen Actors Guild Winners
Directors Guild of America Nominees
Producers Guild of America Winners
Writers Guild of America Nominees
National Society of Film Critics
New York Film Critics Circle
Boston Society of Film Critics
Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association
The National Board of Review
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners
