‘Nomadland’ Edges Out ‘First Cow’ For Best Picture At National Society Of Film Critics Awards

In what could be shaping up to be the Best Picture showdown of the awards season, Nomadland just barely edged out First Cow from the National Society of Film Critics. The awards are a good early indicator of the frontrunners for the Oscars.

The acclaimed Nomadland won Best Picture, Best Director for Chloe Zhao, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, as well as Best Cinematography for Joshua James Richards. It came away with 52 total points for the top award, while Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow was just behind with 50.

Delroy Lindo continues to look like a Best Actor frontrunner, scoring his second major win for his performance in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm‘s Maria Bakalova is in the same position, winning once again for Best Supporting Actress.

The full list of winners and contenders are below.

Best Picture:

WINNER: NOMADLAND (52 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

FIRST COW (50 points)

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (41 points)

Director:

WINNER: Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND (58 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Steve McQueen, SMALL AXE (41 points)

Kelly Reichardt, FIRST COW (30 points)

Actress:

WINNER: Best Actress: Frances McDormand, NOMADLAND (46 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (33 points)

Sidney Flanigan, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (29 points)

Actor:

WINNER: Delroy Lindo, DA 5 BLOODS (52 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (47 points)

Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL (32 points)

Supporting Actress:

WINNER: Maria Bakalova, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM (47 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Amanda Seyfried, MANK (40 points)

Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI (33 points)

Supporting Actor:

WINNER: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL (53 points)

RUNNER-UPS:

Glynn Turman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (36 points)

Chadwick Boseman, DA 5 BLOODS (35 points)

Screenplay:

WINNER: Eliza Hittman, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (38 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt, FIRST COW (35 points)

Charlie Kaufman, I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (29 points)

Cinematography:

WINNER: Joshua James Richards, NOMADLAND (47 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

Shabier Kirchner, LOVERS ROCK (41 points)

Leonardo Simões, VITALINA VARELA (34 points)

Foreign-Language Film:

WINNER: COLLECTIVE (38 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

BACURAU and BEANPOLE (36 points)

VITALINA VARELA (32 points)

Non-fiction Film:

WINNER: TIME (46 points)

RUNNERS-UP:

CITY HALL (28 points)

COLLECTIVE (22 points)

Film Heritage Award:

WINNERS:

Women Make Movies

Film Comment

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Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.