That no African American female has never won Best Actress at the New York Film Critics is not a comment on the available talent, but rather a comment on the film critics themselves. Regina Hall headlines Support the Girls, a film about highlighting working women. It’s written and directed by Harvard grad and godfather of Mumblecore, Andrew Bujalski. It has so far avoided blowback on that score, though it has flown under the radar, making just $129,000 at the box office, but it was definitely a favorite of film critics at the Gothams and now at the New York Film Critics.
The New York Film Critics have in the past (as has Los Angeles) made big movies that reach way way outside the confines of the awards race, which tends to bottleneck around a few names. This year, Best Actress is more competitive than ever.
Does that mean Regina Hall gets in? Maybe. Who knows. We in the awards race simply do the best we can based on intel we get throughout the year: what is getting the biggest buzz, who has the most tenacious publicist, what film is hitting the zeitgeist, what film has avoided shitstorms, and what performers are overdue for recognition. We do the best we can and we’ve come up with a list of five so far, a tight five.
Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Glenn Close, The Wife
It was Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me, but for whatever reason the critics have not seemed to see nor appreciate McCarthy in her first high profile serious role. They liked her when she was funny in Bridesmaids and Spy, but here not so much. So at this point it does seem like her position might be slightly weakened.
Olivia Colman — the sole lead nominee from The Favourite is also one who was expected to hit somewhere in the critics awards yet so far has not. So does this mean her spot is vulnerable?
Viola Davis — working at a level of career achievement where her headlining Widows should mean she is line for a Best Actress nomination and will need support from critics.
After that, you have:
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Nicole Kidman, Destroyer
Julia Roberts, Ben Is Back
Rosamund Pike, A Private War
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
So to make room for Regina Hall, there has to be some wiggle room somewhere. I guess we’ll have to see it goes. Either way, it’s great that her performance and the cast in the film are getting some worthy attention.
Beyond that, New York seemed to be a very close sibling to the Gothams, which isn’t that surprising considering many of their most influential members also decided the Gothams. The winners and sensibilities were quite similar, with not a lot of differences. Paul Schrader’s First Reformed is looking like a solid contender at the moment, as is Roma to triumph in these early critics awards. Eighth Grade is also staying strong and holding its buzz.
Onward to AFI and then to Los Angeles and the Golden Globe nominations.
Hope to see the following actress for the best actress race at the Oscars:
Glenn Close
Olivia Colman
Nicole Kidman
Viola Davis
Yalitza Aparicio
Or Kiki Layne over Kidman
This will remain one of the best, most just awards given for the year (although if they’d given best film to Support the Girls and Best Actress to Aparicio that would have been even better, fairer).
I have just put Support the Girls on my AMZ stream watchlist and will be watching it this weekend. I’m rooting for Regina to go to the Oscars because she’s a GREAT comedian, great timing, and she’s been doing smaller movies for a long while.
Just finished watching it on AMZ and must say I smiled throughout the movie. It kinda reminded me of the Florida Project. Regina is in every scene and yeh, I could sympathize with her.
Does anyone know when the LA Critics are announcing?
While critics are it, they should give some recognition to Junglepussy who made what I believe is her film debut in Support the Girls!
Again: She has given the best performance by American actress in a motion picture and she also happens to be in a great film which isn’t the case for the rest of the “contenders.”
Side note : I still think Ronan is being underestimated. BIG time.
It is great to see her get mainstream recognition. In the last 2 years she headlined a hit studio comedy (Girls Trip), was part of an acclaimed studio drama and also headlined this highly acclaimed indie. While I don’t see an Oscar nomination in this season I sincerely hope all this exposure will get her the kind of roles that will secure her a nod SOON.
Regina needs to be talked up big time. Time for a black woman to win the big one!
She might not get nominated and i doubt she or nyfcc cares but what this does do now is open up more roles to her due to the exposure and I think that’s what matters in the end. Yes they are the same group that awarded tiffany haddish.. and everytime I turn around now she’s in a new movie lol. Good for them both.
Great to see her get the nod, but sadly the year is just way too packed for someone in a small film to push through. It does look like another year where there’ll be five white actresses nominated (Close, Gaga, Roberts, Colman, Blunt – sub out Roberts for Colette).
Ideally, I’d love to see Viola Davis nominated, but she’s such a cold character for so long with her grief and anger running deep under the surface that that’ll turn people off. Plus, Widows just isn’t getting the love it needs.
@The Curb — thank you for saying about Viola what I suspected and believed!!! OMG, I thought I was the only one. Viola does seem bitter for some reason. And her portrayals on film are “cold”….I saw Widows and wanted to LIKE her and like the movie, but it was just meh….it had so many holes in it….I left the theater with so many questions about this and that….for example, if Liam Neesom had stolen the $2million, why the hell was he hanging around Chicago????
It doesn’t mean a tiny rat’s ass for the Oscar of best actress, actually.
Wasn’t the NYFCC that also awarded best actress to Rachel Weiz for “Deep Blue Sea”, even though Weiz and her respective movie ended up not appearing anywhere else? LOL
Critics’ group awards don’t care about predicting any other awards. They are voting for what they think are the best of the year. RW was incredible in DBS. So is Regina Hall this year. Oscars are actually the LOL.
1. Lady Gaga
2. Olivia Colman
3. Emily Blunt
4. Toni Collette
5. Melissa McCarthy vs Yalitza Aparicio
I don’t think a movie that earned less than $500k at the box office has ever gotten a nomination at the Oscars in the acting categories.
But either way, huge congrats to Regina.
I think award should be given on their own merits and not be a precursor for the Oscars. NYFCC and LAFCA and NBR are major awards on their own right so getting award from should be seen as a reward on its own. Perhaps critics should make a rule where they purposely ignore Oscar contenders and reward no Oscar films. The only exception could be BP and BD.
Most critics could not care less if they are close to any Oscar prediction. Oscars are a joke.
No. Not NBR. You mean National Society of Film Critics.
Regina Hall’s misfortune is being backed by a terrible studio when it comes to campaigns. I don’t see her getting in, unless critics decide to rally around her.
This was an extraordinary choice. There are several great performances out there, and several women to root for and deserving, but it’s great that Hall was recognized as rightfully belonging among them.