2021 National Review Board Winners and Analysis



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The National Board of Review named Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” as the best film and ensemble of the year. Lee also won the Directing Award, becoming the second black director to receive this honor, after Barry Jenkins for “Moonlight” in 2016.

For the past 30 years, the winner for Best Picture has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, with exceptions once a decade – “A Most Violent Year” in 2014, “Quills” in 2000 and “Gods and Monsters” in 1998. In the 1980s, there were technically two hiccups with “Empire of the Sun” from 1987 and “Betrayal” from 1983, which were related to “Terms of Endearment”. The latest NBR film selections have been “The Irishman” by Martin Scorsese, “Green Book” by Peter Farrelly and “Mad Max: Fury Road” by George Miller.

In acting races, the group has an average of two of its Oscar nominated winners. In the major categories of image, director, acting and script, the group has never had a complete match. It can be argued that 1994 was a complete match when “Pulp Fiction” and “Forrest Gump” won the Best Picture award, but they gave William Goldman an Excellence Award in their Best Screenplay category. 1996 is another questionable year as no screenplay awards were given and Edward Norton won for “Everybody Says I Love You” but was subsequently nominated for an Oscar for “Primal Fear”.

Carey Mulligan won the NBR’s Best Actress award for her performance in “Promising Young Woman,” marking her second group victory after “An Education” of 2009, for which she was also nominated for an Oscar. The last NBR Best Actress winner to miss the Academy’s attention was Amy Adams for “Arrival” in 2016.

Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci won for their rounds in “Sound of Metal” respectively as the lead and supporting actor. Both actors currently top the critics’ awards. While it helps, you can never be too comfortable with an NBR win under your belt. It was just last year when Adam Sandler won for “Uncut Gems” and failed to secure any Globes, SAG and Oscar nominations. In the supporting actor category, we have to go back a little further to 2013 when Will Forte was recognized for “Nebraska” and did not garner widespread support from guilds and awards.

After netting a Spirit Awards nomination on Tuesday morning, Yuh-Jung Youn won NBR’s Best Supporting Actress award – her biggest win to date for her work in “Minari.” With the LAFCA Trophy under her belt, she is moving well towards a possible nomination on March 15 and is considered the Oscar favorite. The last NBR winner not to achieve Academy recognition was Jessica Chastain in 2014 for “A Most Violent Year”. “Minari” did well overall, also getting Best Original Screenplay for Lee Isaac Chung.

Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” and George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky” were among the films named “Best Movies” that need to be recognized. Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” and Paul Greengrass’s “News of the World” received additional kudos, including the latter winning Best Fit Screenplay. Major omissions include the Netflix films “My Rainey’s Black Bottom” by George C. Wolfe, “Mank” by David Fincher and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” by Aaron Sorkin. Not all of them made it to the top 10 (actually the top 11) and didn’t catch any of the respective categories. While winning Best Picture with “Da 5 Bloods” surely helps ease the pain of Netflix.

Florian Zeller’s “The Father”, Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks” and Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” were also hit.

Here is the full list of winners.

Best film: “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Best director: Spike Lee, “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Best actor: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Best actress: Carey Mulligan, “Young Promising Woman” (Focus)
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-Jung, “Minari” (A24)
Best Adapted Scenario: Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies, “News of the World” (Universal Pictures)
Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari” (A24)
Peak performance: Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (Focus Features)
Best Director Debut: Channing Godfrey Peoples, “Miss Juneteenth” (vertical entertainment)
Best animated film: “Soul” (Pixar)
Best Foreign Language Film: “La Llorona” (Guatemala)
Best Documentary: “Time” (Amazon Studios)
NBR Icon Award: Chadwick Boseman
NBR Prize for Freedom of Expression: “One night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
NBR Spotlight Award: Radha Blank for writing, directing, producing and starring in “The Forty-Year-Old Version” (Netflix)
Best Ensemble: “Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
Exceptional achievement in cinematography: Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)

Best Movies (in alphabetical order):

  • “First cow” (A24)
  • “The Forty Year Old Version” (Netflix)
  • “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros.)
  • “Midnight Sky” (Netflix)
  • “Minari” (A24)
  • “News from the World” (Universal Pictures)
  • “Nomadland” (Images from Searchlight)
  • “Young promising woman” (Focus Features)
  • “Soul” (Pixar)
  • “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)

Top 5 foreign language films (in alphabetical order):

  • “Apples” (Greece)
  • “Collective” (Romania)
  • “Dear comrades (Russia)
  • “The Mole Agent” (Chile)
  • “Night of the Kings” (Ivory Coast)

Top 5 documentaries (in alphabetical order):

  • “All In: The Fight for Democracy” (Amazon Studios)
  • “Boys State” (A24 / Apple TV Plus)
  • “Dick Johnson is dead” (Netflix)
  • “Miss Americana” (Netflix)
  • “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Top 10 independent films (in alphabetical order):

  • “The Climb” (Sony Pictures Classics)
  • “Alleyways” (FilmRise)
  • “Farewell Amor” (IFC Films)
  • “Miss Juneteenth” (vertical entertainment)
  • “The Nest” (IFC Films)
  • “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (Focus functions)
  • “The Outpost” (chicken soup for the entertainment of the soul)
  • “Relic” (IFC Films)
  • “Sainte Frances (Oscilloscope laboratories)
  • “Wolfwalkers” (Apple TV Plus / GKIDS)



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