Adjust your Oscar futures accordingly. On December 20, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted on their annual awards. Many hours and one lunch break later, the voting body named Steve McQueen’s five-installment film series Small Axe their Best Picture winner for 2020. The L.A. Critics awarded Chloe Zhao their best director for Nomadland, and Emerald Fennell won Best Screenplay for Promising Young Woman, with Carey Mulligan winning Best Actress for her role in the latter. Chadwick Boseman and Glynn Turman won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Best Supporting Actress went to Youn Yuh-jung for Minari.
The L.A. Critics Awards overlapped with their New York counterparts in some categories beyond Best Director, including Best Nonfiction Film (Time), Best Animated Film (Wolfwalkers), Best Cinematography (Small Axe), and Best Emerging Filmmaker (Radha Blank for The 40-Year-Old Version). Below is the complete list of Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards winners, as well as runners up.
Best Picture
Small Axe
Runner-up: Nomadland
Best Director
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Runner-up: Steve McQueen, Small Axe
Best Actor
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner-up: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Runner-up: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Supporting Actor
Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner-up: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
Runner-up: Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Best Animated Film
Wolfwalkers
Runner-up: Soul
Best Documentary/Nonfiction Film
Time
Runner-up: Collective
Best Foreign Language Film
Beanpole
Runner-up: Martin Eden
Best Screenplay
Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell
Runner-up: Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Eliza Hittman
Best Cinematography
Small Axe, Shabier Kirchner
Runner-up: Nomadland, Joshua James Richards
Best Editing
The Father, Yorgos Lamprinos
Runner-up: Time, Gabriel Rhodes
Best Music/Score
Soul, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Runner-up: Lovers Rock, Mica Levy
Best Production Design
Mank, Donald Graham Burt
Runner-up: Beanpole, Sergey Ivanov
New Generation Prize
The 40-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank
Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award
Her Socialist Smile, John Gianvito
Career Achievement
Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Harry Belafonte
Legacy Award
Norman Lloyd