NSFC TOES THE AWARDS SEASON LINE WITH 2016 AWARDS PICKS

The National Society of Film Critics is the last of the major critics groups to announce each awards season, often offering up an alternative to the consensus thus far. Maybe its members aren't feeling terribly alternative this year, or maybe it's a sign that this season has been high on quality, but they're offering up nothing but the same old same old this time. Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea hit their marks very nicely, while La La Land and Hell or High Water make decent showings in the runner-up slots.

Best Picture

1. Moonlight

2. Manchester by the Sea

3. La La Land

Best Director

1. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

2. Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

3. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Actress

1. Isabelle Huppert (Elle / Things to Come)

2. Annette Bening (20th Century Women)

3. Sandra Huller (Toni Erdmann)

Best Actor

1. Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

2. Denzel Washington (Fences)

3. Adam Driver (Paterson)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

2. Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

3. Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

2. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

3. Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Screenplay

1. Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

2. Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

3. Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Best Cinematography

1. James Laxton (Moonlight)

2. Linus Sandgren (La La Land)

3. Rodrigo Prieto (Silence)

Best Nonfiction Film

1. O.J.: Made in America

2. I Am Not Your Negro

3. 13th

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Toni Erdmann

2. The Handmaiden

3. Elle
=  Things to Come

Film Heritage Award

Kino Lorber's five-disc collection Pioneers of African-American Cinema

Special Citation for a Film Awaiting American Distribution

Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)

SPOTLIGHT WINS NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AWARD

The National Society of Film Critics shocked Oscar watchers today by announcing Tom McCarthy's Spotlight the best film of 2015. NSFC published its vote counts for its top three in each category, highlighting those unequivocal winners like Charlotte Rampling, Mark Rylance and Kristen Stewart in the acting categories, and the much closer races. Particularly tight was the Best Director race, while low figures in Best Actor go to show just how uncertain that category has been this year. There were welcome citations, like 2nd place for The Assassin's Lee Ping Bin in Cinematography, and less welcome ones, like Amy winning yet another Documentary prize with a no-show for The Look of Silence. Amy's win and Spotlight's were unusually mainstream picks for the normally arthouse-friendly society - last year, it chose Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language 3D. Have a look at all their picks for 2015 below:

Best Picture

1. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy) - 23
2. Carol (Todd Haynes) - 17
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) - 13

Best Director
1. Todd Haynes (Carol) - 21
2. Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) - 21*
3. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) - 20

Best Actor

1. Michael B. Jordan (Creed) - 29
2. Rohrig Geza (Son of Saul) - 18
3. Tom Courtenay (45 Years) - 15

Best Actress

1. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) - 57
2. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) - 30
3. Nina Hoss (Phoenix) - 22

Best Supporting Actor

1. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) - 56
2. Michael Shannon (99 Homes) - 16
3. Sylvester Stallone - (Creed) - 14

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria) - 53
2. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) - 23
3. Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy) - 17
=  Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs) - 17

Best Screenplay

1. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight) - 21
2. Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa) - 15
=  Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short) - 15

Best Cinematography

1. Edward Lachman (Carol) - 25
2. Lee Ping Bin (The Assassin) - 22
3. John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road) - 12

Best Non-Fiction Film
1. Amy (Asif Kapadia) - 23
2. In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman) - 18
3. Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke) - 15

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako) - 22
2. Phoenix (Christian Petzold) - 20
3. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao Hsien) - 16

Film Heritage Award
Association Chaplin (for supervising the digital restoration of Charlie Chaplin's Essanay Films)
The Criterion Collection and L'Immagine Ritrovata (for the restoration and packaging of the reconstructed version of The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Michelle Materre and Jake Perlin (for the series Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York, 1968-1986)

Special Citation
One Floor Below (Radu Muntean)

*Lower placement due to featuring on fewer ballots