awards season

Licorice Pizza Awarded Best Film by National Board of Review

Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer

The National Board of Review, the first big Oscar precursor, has announced its winners. Licorice Pizza, by Paul Thomas Anderson, got a lot of love from the NBR, receiving Best Film as well as Breakthrough Performance awards for Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. King Richard nabbed both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis. Best Actress was awarded to Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), who is only the second Latina to win in the category, after Fernanda Montenegro, who won in 1998. Over the last 30 years, the Oscar nominations for Best Picture have often overlapped with NBR’s winner of Best Film, with a few exceptions. Find the entire list of NBR winners below.

Best Film: Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard (Warner Bros.)
Best Actress: Rachel Zegler, West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Best Supporting Actor: Ciarán Hinds, Belfast (Focus Features)
Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard (Warner Bros.)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen, The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple Original Films/A24)
Best Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, A Hero (Amazon Studios)
Breakthrough Performance: Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Best Directorial Debut: Michael Sarnoski, Pig (Neon)
Best Animated Feature: Encanto (Walt Disney Pictures)
Best Foreign Language Film: A Hero (Amazon Studios) – Iran
Best Documentary: Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Searchlight Pictures)
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Flee (Neon)
Best Ensemble: The Harder They Fall (Netflix)
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple Original Films/A24)

Top Films (in alphabetical order):
Belfast (Focus Features)
Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
Dune (Warner Bros.)
King Richard (Warner Bros.)
The Last Duel (20th Century Studios)
Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
Red Rocket (A24)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple Original Films/A24)
West Side Story (20th Century Studios)

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):
Benedetta
Lamb
Lingui, the Sacred Bonds
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Attica (Showtime)
Flee (Neon)
The Rescue (National Geographic)
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Focus Features)

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
The Card Counter (Focus Features)
C’mon C’mon (A24)
CODA (Apple Original Films)
The Green Knight (A24)
Holler (IFC Films)
Jockey (Sony Pictures Classics)
Old Henry (Shout! Factory)
Pig (Neon)
Shiva Baby (Utopia)
The Souvenir Part II (A24)

Licorice Pizza Awarded Best Film by National Board of Review