National Board of Review Names ‘The Post’ the Year’s Best Film
Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” has been named the best film of 2017 by the National Board of Review, the NBR announced on Tuesday.
Other films in the group’s Top 10 included “Lady Bird,” “Get Out,” “The Disaster Artist” and “The Florida Project.”
The NBR also saluted a few films that are less obvious awards contenders, including “Baby Driver,” “Downsizing” and “Logan,” while leaving out three films that are thought to be major contenders: Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” and Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour.”
Acting awards went to Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep for “The Post,” Willem Dafoe in “The Florida Project” and Laurie Metcalf in “Lady Bird.” The breakthrough acting winner was Timothee Chalamet for “Call Me by Your Name.”
“Coco” was named best animated film, “Jane” won for best documentary and “Foxtrot” took the award for best foreign-language film.
Last year, the NBR had seven of the nine Oscar Best Picture nominees on its Top 10 list; the year before, it had five of the eight. Over the last five years, about two-thirds of the Best Picture nominees — 28 out of 43 — were first included on the NBR list.
In the last decade, the NBR and the Academy have only agreed on the year’s best picture twice, with “No Country for Old Men” in 2007 and “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008. But only one NBR winner in the last 17 years, 2014’s “A Most Violent Year,” failed to land an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and “The Post” seems unlikely to become the second.
The National Board of Review is often mistakenly considered a critics’ organization, but in its own words, the group is made up of “knowledgeable film enthusiasts and professionals, academics, young filmmakers and students” in the New York area. Much of its relatively high profile comes from the fact that it is one of the first groups to pick the year’s best films. (The more prestigious New York Film Critics Circle will make its own picks on Thursday.)
The group was established in 1909 by theater owners protesting the New York mayor’s attempt to block the exhibition of motion pictures in the city. It has been picking the best films since 1930.
The complete list of winners:
Best Film: “The Post”
Best Director: Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, “The Post”
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, “The Post”
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Best Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber, “The Disaster Artist”
Best Animated Feature: “Coco”
Best Breakthrough Performance: Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Best Directorial Debut: Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Foxtrot”
Best Documentary: “Jane”
Best Ensemble: “Get Out”
Spotlight Award: Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot, “Wonder Woman”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie; and “Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992,” John Ridley
Top 10 Films
“Baby Driver”
“Call Me by Your Name”
“The Disaster Artist”
“Downsizing”
“Dunkirk”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Logan”
“Phantom Thread”
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
“A Fantastic Woman”
“Frantz”
“Loveless”
“Summer 1993”
“The Square”
Top 5 Documentaries
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Brimstone and Glory”
“Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars”
“Faces Places”
“Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS”
Top 10 Independent Films
“Beatriz at Dinner”
“Brigsby Bear”
“A Ghost Story”
“Lady Macbeth”
“Logan Lucky”
“Loving Vincent”
“Menashe”
“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer”
“Patti Cake$”
“Wind River”