A year after crowning Spotlight — the eventual Best Picture winner at the Oscars — as their best film, the National Society of Film Critics Awards decided to give their top honors (and a whole lot more) to Barry Jenkins’s quiet triumph Moonlight, narrowly beating out Manchester by the Sea and La La Land for the title. Manchester still fared quite well, bringing in two acting awards (Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams) as well as the highly coveted Best Screenplay; additionally, Isabelle Huppert was on the receiving end of some major love, receiving the Best Actress trophy for her dual roles in Elle and Things to Come. You can view all of the winners and runner-ups below, and ponder what this all means for potential Oscar nominations.
BEST PICTURE
Moonlight
Manchester by the Sea
La La Land
BEST DIRECTOR
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Denzel Washington, Fences
Adam Driver, Paterson
BEST ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert, Elle and Things to Come
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Sandra Huller, Toni Erdmann
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Lily Gladstone, Certain Women
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
BEST SCREENPLAY
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
James Laxton, Moonlight
Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Rodrigo Prieto, Silence
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Toni Erdmann
The Handmaiden
Elle
Things to Come