“Moonlight,” the coming-of-age story of a gay black boy named Chiron living in Miami, was named the best picture winner by the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday.
In the acting categories, “Manchester by the Sea” star Casey Affleck took the award for best actor, while Isabelle Huppert won the actress prize for her performances in both “Elle” and “Things to Come.” Affleck’s “Manchester” co-star Michelle Williams scored the prize for supporting actress, and “Moonlight” standout Mahershala Ali nabbed the award for supporting actor.
“Manchester” also won the best screenplay award. “Moonlight” continued its run by winning cinematography for James Laxton and director for Barry Jenkins. The foreign film prize went to “Toni Erdmann” — the film’s lead actress Sandra Huller was a runner up in her category. “O.J.: Made in America” won in the nonfiction category.
This year the group had 38 people vote from around the country. The society announced Friday that for the first time in addition to its New York meetings, eight critics would cast their votes in real time from L.A., Chicago, Seattle, Denver and more cities. This year the group welcomed new members MTV’s Amy Nicholson and the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips into the fold.
