Oscar 2015: NYFCC Winners

NYFCC chose their winners for 2015.  Unsurprisingly, Todd Haynes' New York-set Carol received a shower of love (comparable to Far From Heaven's showing back in 2002).  The 1950s love story took Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Cinematography.  Apparently, its two lead actress also received a great deal of votes, but, partly due to vote-splitting, Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) won for Best Actress (Julianne Moore finished second in 2002).  A poor showing here would have been a major stumbling block for Carol, Haynes' most accessible film-to-date.  Right now, it's looking quite solid.  Open Road is campaigning all of its actors in supporting for Spotlight, but the New York critics decided to award Michael Keaton lead honours.  He's experiencing a career renaissance since playing the troubled actor in last year's Best Picture winner Birdman.  A lot of pundits were predicting Tony-winner Mark Rylance to take Supporting Actor, and, sure enough, he did.  Kristen Stewart, who has been slowly distancing herself from her Bella Swan character by taking on more independent fare and working with respected directors, probably provided one of the biggest surprises with her leading turn in Clouds of Sils Maria by taking Supporting Actress.

Cannes winner Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako; Mauritania; $1.1M; 91 MC) was honoured with Best Foreign Language Film, while Son of Saul was distinguished as Best First Film.  NBR winner Inside Out won Best Animated Feature.  In Jackson Heights (MC 80), about the conflict between preserving immigrant traditions and assimilation in Queens, took Best Non-Fiction Film.

It should be noted that none of the late-breaking films (Joy, The Revenant, The Hateful Eight) placed anywhere.  Also, Jeff Wells noted that outside of Carol, all of these winners had their premieres some time back.