New York critics name ‘The Brutalist’ best film

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The Brutalist

Source: VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

‘The Brutalist’

New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has awarded best film to Brady Corbet’s American Dream epic The Brutalist while No Other Land and All We Imagine As Light were recognised in the non-fiction and international categories.

The Brutalist star Adrien Brody earned best actor for his portrayal of a fictitious Hungarian Holocaust survivor who arrives in the States and is commissioned by a wealthy businessman to build a massive monument to his mother. A24 acquired US rights prior to the film’s world premiere in Venice, where Corbet earned the Silver Lion for best director. The film opens on December 20.

However in the eyes of NYFCC, this year’s best director was RaMell Ross for his reform school drama Nickel Boys at Orion/Amazon MGM Studios. Ross’s awards campaign is gathering pace after he won best director at Monday night’s Gothams ceremony. The drama opens on December 13.

Meanwhile the Anora awards season bandwagon has rolled into action as Sean Baker earned screenplay recognition for his madcap romantic comedy and Cannes Palme d’Or winner at Neon.

Best actress went to Marianne Jean-Baptiste for her role as a misanthrope in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, which Bleecker Street distributes in the US. In the supporting categories, there were awards for Kieran Culkin in Jesse Eisenberg’s road movie A Real Pain at Searchlight Pictures, and for Carol Kane playing an ageing bat mitzvah student in Between The Temples at Sony Pictures Classics.

Gints Zilbalodis’s Cannes selection Flow, about a cat and his friends who survive a tsunami, was named best animation. The film is distributed in the US by Janus Films and Sideshow.

Both No Other Land and All We Imagine As Light were honoured at the Gothams. Co-directed by Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, No Other Land still lacks a US distributor at a time when US buyers are more cautious than ever, particularly during a time of heightened geopolitical sensitivity.

Meanwhile Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine As Light has picked up another award after it was overlooked by Indian’s Oscar selection committee. The Indian road movie is another pedigree contender distributed in the US by Janus Films and Sideshow.