Shape of Water & Call Me By Your Name top L.A. Film Critics awards

Awards season is in full swing, but it is not yet time for elegant ball gowns, smart tuxedos, drunken on-stage ramblings and people misreading the envelope. Right now it’s all about the critic awards, with the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle kicking things off with their top honors, including THE POST and LADY BIRD for Best Film, respectively. Now it’s time for the folks on the West Coast to dish out their honors, with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association spreading the love to all sorts of films. Indie darling CALL ME BY YOUR NAME took the top prize, with THE FLORIDA PROJECT on its heels. But we also saw THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI get some attention, with Guillermo del Toro’s SHAPE OF WATER getting some major wins, winning the night with three. Box office heavyweights like GET OUT and DUNKIRK also walked away with one win each.

Take a look at the list below!

Best Picture: Winner: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME; Runner-up: THE FLORIDA PROJECT

Best Director: Tie: Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER and Luca Guadagnino, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME 

Best Actress: Winner: Sally Hawkins, THE SHAPE OF WATER; Runner-up: Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Best Actor: Winner: Timothée Chalamet, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME; Runner-Up: James Franco, THE DISASTER ARTIST

Best Screenplay: Winner: Jordan Peele, GET OUT; Runner-up: Martin McDonagh, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Best Supporting Actor: Winner: Willem Dafoe, THE FLORIDA PROJECT; Runner-up: Sam Rockwell, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Best Supporting Actress: Winner: Laurie Metcalf, LADY BIRD; Runner-up: Mary J. Blige, MUDBOUND

Best Cinematography: Winner: Dan Laustsen, THE SHAPE OF WATER; Runner-Up: Roger Deakins, BLADE RUNNER 2049

Best Music/Score: Winner: Jonny Greenwood, PHANTOM THREAD; Runner-Up: Alexandre Desplat, THE SHAPE OF WATER

Best Production Design: Winner: Dennis Gassner, BLADE RUNNER 2049; Runner-Up: Paul D. Austerberry, THE SHAPE OF WATER

Best Editing: Winner: Lee Smith, DUNKIRK; Runner-up: Tatiana S. Riegel, I, TONYA.

Best Foreign-Language Film: Tie: BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) and LOVELESS 

Best Animation: Winner: THE BREADWINNER; Runner-up: COCO

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: Winner: FACES PLACES; Runner-up: JANE

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award: Lee Anne Schmitt’s PURGE THIS LAND

New Generation Prize: Greta Gerwig

These early organizations and critic circles aren't always the strongest predictors for the Oscars, but they're good signs of what films are in the conversation. So far we've gotten the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, and now Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the consensus out of all them is that there is no clear frontrunner in any category, whether it be Best Actress, Best Director or Best Picture. THE POST, LADY BIRD and now CMBYN have won NBR, NYFCC, and LAFCA respectively, with other categories like Director and Actress going different ways, too. Some consistencies are here, though, with actor Timothée Chalamet making a strong presence during a year when actor Gary Oldman (THE DARKEST HOUR) was considered a lock for a Best Actor win across the board (though the actor is still very much the frontrunner). But it's still early. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, LA LA LAND, and MOONLIGHT won Best Picture at NBR, NYFCC, and LAFCA respectively, before the race was whittled down. Who knows, maybe DUNKIRK, which was considered the movie to beat going in but has hardly shown up in any of these awards, could find a second wind, and Oldman may start collecting the trophies. 

THE SHAPE OF WATER is in select theaters now and expands December 8.