Less than a week after its NYFCC win, Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” has again been named best picture, this time by the National Board of Review, the organization announced on Wednesday.
The crime epic also won Best Director, Best Actress (Lily Gladstone) and Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto). Scorsese’s win ties him with David Lean for most NBR directing wins (four).
This should add to the gaining momentum ‘Killers’ has had in the Oscar race. Currently, it is right behind frontrunner “Oppenheimer” at #2 in the Best Picture category. Maybe it’ll surpass it soon, an LAFCA win this Sunday is not out of the question either.
Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” also won three NBR awards: Best Actor (Paul Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), and Original Screenplay (David Hemingson). Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” received two awards: Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo) and Adapted Screenplay (Tony McNamara).
Other winners included Best International Film (“Anatomy of A Fall”), Best Animated Film (“Across the Spider-Verse”), Best Ensemble (“The Iron Claw”), and Best Documentary (“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”).
NBR’s most recent Best Film winners “Green Book,” “The Irishman,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Licorice Pizza,” and “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Top Films (in alphabetical order):
Barbie
The Boy and the Heron
Ferrari
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor ThingsTop 5 International Films:
La Chimera
Fallen Leaves
The Teachers’ Lounge
Tótem
The Zone of InterestTop 5 Documentaries:
20 Days in Mariupol
32 Sounds
The Eternal Memory
The Pigeon Tunnel
A Still Small VoiceTop 10 Independent Films:
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
All of Us Strangers
BlackBerry
Earth Mama
Flora and Son
The Persian Version
Scrapper
Showing Up
Theater Camp
A Thousand and One
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.