The National Society of Film Critics has given Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” their Best Picture award. Are you people starting to realize that Bong’s film is the real deal when it comes to being an Oscar contender? It’s not just a contender, folks, it’s a frontrunner for the big prize as far as I’m concerned. I’ll chime in further on this later next week/
Greta Gerwig also won the NSFC Award for Best Director for her timid work in “Little Women,” beating Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite,” Quentin Tarantino for” Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and Martin Scorsese for “The Irishman.” Kind of insane when you think about it. Of course, with any awards voting body, it’s not always about who “deserves” the award as much as who will gain the most out of it. And so, the NSFC wanted to boost Gerwig’s profile and that is exactly what they did here — Academy members have five more days to vote for the Oscars and this kind of spotlight on Gerwig can only help her in the sweepstakes.
You won’t hear complaints from me about their Best Actress prize going to “Diane” star Mary Kay Place or their Best Actor award to “Pain and Glory” actor Antonio Banderas. Other winners include Once Upon A Time in Hollywood‘s Brad Pitt and Marriage Story‘s Laura Dern, who respectively won Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
Best Picture: Parasite
Best actor: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Best actress: Mary Kay Place, Diane
Best supporting actress:
Laura Dern, Marriage Story and Little Women
Best supporting actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best director:
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Best screenplay: Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won, Parasite
Best cinematography: Claire Mathon, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Atlantics
Best nonfiction film: Honeyland