Lady Gaga named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle while Drive My Car wins Best Film

Awards season continues to heat up as we head to the Oscars and now the New York Film Critics Circle has named their picks for the best of the best this year and it just shows how unique this awards season is shaping up to be.

The critic’s group voted on Lady Gaga as Best Actress for her critically acclaimed turn as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci. The Hollywood Critics Association also nominated her for Best Actress and it’s looking like Gaga is on her way to her third Oscar nomination (her second as an actress). On the actor side, Benedict Cumberbatch was named Best Actor by the NYFCC for his role in The Power of the Dog. Cumberbatch was also nominated for a Hollywood Critics Association award for Best Actor for the same role.

NYFCC named Drive My Car Best Film. The movie is a Japanese drama co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and is based on a short story by Haruki Murakami. Japan submitted Drive My Car to the International Feature Oscar race but it does have a shot at a Best Picture nomination if it continues to gain traction. The film premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival where it scored the Screenplay prize.

The NYFCC was founded in 1935 and includes critics from daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, and online publications and tends to favor more independent films over the mainstream fare. Last year, the NYFCC chose Chloé Zhao, who eventually won two Oscars for Searchlight’s Nomadland (Best Picture and Director), as Best Director, and this year they bestowed that honor on Jane Campion who helmed The Power of the Dog.

What are YOUR thoughts on the NYFCC picks? You can check out their full winner’s list below!

Best Film: Drive My Car

Best Cinematography: West Side Story

Best Screenplay: Licorice Pizza

Best First Film: The Lost Daughter

Best Director: Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog

Best Animated Film: The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch for The Power of the Dog

Best Actress: Lady Gaga for House of Gucci

Best Non-Fiction Film: Flee

Best Supporting Actress: Kathryn Hunter for The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Foreign Language Film The Worst Person in the World

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Power of the Dog

Special Awards: Maya Cade, Black Film Archive; Marshall Fine, NYFCC; Diane Weyermann, posthumous