"Marriage Story"
The Florida Film Critics Circle has awarded "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" its Best Picture prize. The French language period piece tied with "Marriage Story" for the most wins, with three recognitions in a race where awards were spread across many different movies.
While "Marriage Story" led the nominations in seven categories, French drama "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" managed to win some of the highest honors. Director Céline Sciamma was chosen as Best Director, with Sam Mendes as runner up for his epic war piece "1917."
"Portrait" also topped the Best Foreign Language category in which South Korean film :Parasite" came in second. "Marriage Story," meanwhile, swept three of the top four acting categories with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson winning for Best Actor and Actress, respectively, and Laura Dern narrowly beating out both Margot Robbie ("Bombshell") and Isla Fisher ("The Beach Bum") for Best Supporting Actress.
During the nomination, other films had tied "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" with five nominations. Only one managed to earn a win: "1917" for Roger Deakins' cinematography, while Claire Mathon was recognized as runner up for her camera work in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire." The competition was clearly between "Portrait" and "1917," as "1917" appeared as the runner up for both Best Picture and Best Director. Although the Brat Pitt vehicle "Ad Astra" and Chinese family drama "The Farewell," nominated five times, were shut out of the winners circle, "The Farewell" appeared in three categories as a runner up and "Ad Astra" in two.
Florence Pugh was a critics' favorite, earning the Pauline Kael Breakout Award for her work in the horror movie "Midsommar," the comedy/drama "Fighting with My Family," and as part of the ensemble in the latest remake of the classic, "Little Women." She was also a runner up for Best Actress. Best First Film was awarded to "Queen and Slim" while Best Score went to Daniel Lopatin for "Uncut Gems" and "Apollo 11" accumulated more votes than "American Factory" and "Honeyland" to win Best Documentary.
The Florida Film Critics Circle had some less conventional winners with "I Lost My Body" beating bigger budgeted animated features "How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World," not to mention the Disney sequels "Frozen 2" and "Toy Story 4." "Alita: Battle Angel" won for Best Visual Effects over "Ad Astra" and "Avengers: Endgame," the only category in which the latter film was nominated.
This year, the Florida Film Critics Circle lost its founding chairman, Jay Boyar. In recognition for his work, the organization renamed its Florida-centric prize, The Golden Orange, after him. This award has a long history of honoring movies, people and places that best represent the essence of Florida filmmaking.
This year's winner of the Jay Boyar Golden Orange award is The Tampa Theater, a recently renovated historic theater and a city landmark featuring independent and foreign film. It runs on membership dues, corporate sponsorships and donations and offers audiences a different option to big budget, studio movies. As the founding chairman and one of the creators of Florida Film Critics Circle, Boyar a love of filmmaking, especially in Florida, and the honor are happy to honor him by once again spotlighting one of the many treasures our state has to offer the film industry. A full list of winners and runners up follows.
The Florida Film Critics Circle is an organization of 24 writers from Florida-based print and online publications. Founded in 1996, the FFCC strives to recognize outstanding work in film, further the cause of good movies, and maintain the highest level of professionalism among film critics in Florida. miamiartzine.com movie critic Ruben Rosario and miamiartzine editor in chief Michelle F. Solomon are members of FFCC.
"Portrait of a Lady on Fire."
Best Picture
"Portrait of a Lady on Fire"
Runner up: "1917"
Best Actor
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Runner up: Antonio Banderas, "Pain and Glory"
Best Actress
Scarlett Johansson, "Marriage Story"
Runner up: Florence Pugh, "Midsommar"
Best Supporting Actor
Joe Pesci, "The Irishman"
Runner up: John Lithgow, "Bombshell"
Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, "Marriage Story"
Best Ensemble
Little Women
Runner up: "The Farewell"
Best Director
Céline Sciamma, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"
Runner up: Sam Mendes, "1917"
Best Original Screenpla"y
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, "Uncut Gems"
Runner up: Lulu Wang, "The Farewell"
Best Adapted Screenplay
Greta Gerwig, "Little Women"
Runner up: Steven Zaillian, "The Irishman"
Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, "1917"
Runner up: Claire Mathon, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"
Best Visual Effects
"Alita: Battle Angel"
Runners up: "Ad Astra" and "Avengers: Endgame"
Best Art Direction/Production Design
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
"Ad Astra"
Best Score
Daniel Lopatin, "Uncut Gems"
Runner up: No clear runner up
Best Documentary
"Apollo 11"
Runner up: "Honeyland"
Best Foreign Language Film
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Runner up: "Parasite"
Best Animated Film
"I Lost My Body"
Runner up: "Toy Story 4"
Best First Film
"Queen & Slim"
Runner up: "Honeyland"
Pauline Kael Breakout Award
Florence Pugh, "Midsommar, Fighting With My Family" and "Little Women"
Runner up: Lulu Wang, "The Farewell"
Jay Boyar Golden Orange Award
Tampa Theatre
