First Reformed took Screenplay and Best Actor, while The Rider took Feature. Toni Collette triumphed in Best Actress. Here are the winners.
Best Feature
The Favourite
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Madeline’s Madeline
The Rider
Best Actor
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
Ben Foster in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (A24)
Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Best Actress*
Glenn Close in The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics)
Toni Collette in Hereditary (A24)
Kathryn Hahn in Private Life (Netflix)
Regina Hall in Support the Girls (Magnolia Pictures)
Michelle Pfeiffer in Where is Kyra? (Paladin and Great Point Media)
Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ari Aster for Hereditary (A24)
Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade (A24)
Jennifer Fox for The Tale (HBO)
Crystal Moselle for Skate Kitchen (Magnolia Pictures)
Boots Riley for Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Breakthrough Series – Long Form
Alias Grace
Big Mouth
The End of the F***ing World
Killing Eve
Pose
Sharp Objects
Breakthrough Series – Short Form
195 Lewis
Cleaner Daze
Distance
The F Word
She’s the Ticket
Breakthrough Actor
Yalitza Aparicio in Roma (Netflix)
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (A24)
Helena Howard in Madeline’s Madeline (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
KiKi Layne in If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
Best Screenplay
The Favourite, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
First Reformed, Paul Schrader (A24)
Private Life, Tamara Jenkins (Netflix)
Support the Girls, Andrew Bujalski (Magnolia Pictures)
Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley (Focus Features)
Best Documentary
Bisbee ‘17
Hale County This Morning, This Evening–winner
Minding the Gap
Shirkers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Tonight the Gotham Awards will hand out their winners. Here are the nominees.
*The 2018 Best Actress nominating committee also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award to Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz for their ensemble performance in The Favourite. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Terrific for Collette. Best performance of the year.
Is it weird that A24 had almost all the winners? I’m happy for them since they’re a great studio, but (kind of a) wtf… (This is not meant to be snarky, just more observational, since it does really seem odd to me.)
Toni Collette is great, but whew was Hereditary hard to get through. Ethan Hawke was okay in First Reformed, but I’d rather try and re-watch Hereditary. I wonder why the Gothams picked The Rider, which IMO was meh, instead of The Favourite.
I’m happy Collette won, I found The Wife awful and don’t think Close deserves awards for the performance just because she is overdue.
Collette winning will work FOR Collette AND for Close.
I don’t think Close is winning everything leading up to a potential Oscar win and, that’s good for her.
The win for Collette puts her a little deeper in the conversation. I still don’t see her making the Top 5 with THAT movie in THIS year with so many incredible performances. But she might have the passion votes, after all. Happy for her.
It’s not good for her, but as long as it’s a fluke, it’s fine.
I really have to watch The Rider.
Happy for Collette! I was hoping for Ben Foster though 🙁
I’m probably in the minority of people who didn’t like First Reformed at all.
The Rider is verrrrrrrry quiet. Slow. But also, hypnotic. And it kind of washed over me after seeing it. Nothing major. But deserves some accolades. Glad it got something as major as a Gotham.
It’s a little Terrence Mallicky
1. Close
2. Colman
3. Ronan
4. Collette
5. Gaga
1. Bale
2. Mortensen
3. Cooper
4. Hawke
5. Gosling
Yes! I’m so happy for Toni Collette. Her, Olivia Colman and Saoirse Ronan are the only “worthy” winners over Glenn Close if ever the odds go in their favor.
Is anyone talking about Queen of Scots?
It hasn’t released yet but yes, there are some.
How cool though if Toni Collette rides this wave all the way?
It is so fucking cool.
LOVE this set of winners. I think this is the beginning of the critical push for Toni Collette, and I have a feeling she’ll ride the wave to a SAG nomination and possible Oscar nom.
Really happy for Bo Burnham and Elsie Fisher; hopefully the critical love for Eighth Grade continues.
Last, but not least, The Rider!!! From the opening shot of this film I knew it was special. Easily the most beautiful film I’ve seen this year, and certainly one of the most poignant, somehow heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
The Rider wins Best Feature! Yes! Sooo Pleased!
Toni Colette won YES!
I hope she can sneak in a nomination, she had the best performance of the year.
The Rider was one of my favourite films of 2017. A Best Film award seems a long time coming, but I’m happy that it happened. First Reformed was also one of my favourite 2017 films.
Didn’t love Hereditary, and I only liked Eighth Grade, but Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor are pretty fitting awards for it.
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie should have won, though.
What an incredible set of winners. Not a dud amongst them and The Rider, Hawke and Collette are literally my no. 1s of the year in their respective categories.
For me THE RIDER was one of the very best films of 2018, and in fact until only three weeks ago was my #1 since I saw it in the early summer. Bobby Peru (below) does a great job defending it, but it is beautifully acted and directed and slowly envelops you. I have since seen the other extraordinary horse movie LEAN ON PETE, which has complicated my list. I like FIRST REFORMED and caught the opening weekend screening at Manhattan’s Angelica with the director and lead actor aboard for a Q & A, but it hasn’t stayed with me like other films have this year
Confession: I don’t get the appeal of The Rider. It’s basically just The Wrestler but with non-professional actors.
Best movie of this year and if you didn’t get it, I’ll explain it to you briefly. It’s about the notion of masculinity in the West; the economic realities of living on a Native American reservation in the “new West,” which makes it cultural anthropology; the myth of the cowboy and what that means in the contemporary world and for young men trying to fulfill the dictates of that archetype; dreams colliding with reality; the love in a family and the enduring love of a lifelong friendship, even after tragedies. And 90% of it is true. So there you go.
That’s all there, but it’s not conveyed particularly compellingly. As I mentioned previously a lot of the masculinity/sports aspects all seemed a lot like territory handled by The Wrestler and handled in a much more raw and cinematic way. The fact that it uses non actors also doesn’t excite me terribly and indie movies that are trying to act as “cultural anthropology” always strike me as rather condescending exercises in gawking at the poor rural people.
Sorry, disagree on all counts. There’s very little correlation between The Rider and The Wrestler. I can’t believe that you would say anything to do with The Rider would be “gawking at the poor rural people.” That is so untrue. Chloe Zhao has been friends for years with the residents of that reservation and known Brady Jandreau even before he had his accident. There’s nothing condescending at all in this film. And if you look at those people as having poor lives, you’re missing the point. They don’t believe that about themselves and if we offer that view we are sitting in judgement. Their lives are anything but “poor.” If you look at Beasts of the Southern Wild, Leave No Trace (and Winter’s Bone), Disobedience and many others, you’ll see this “cultural anthropology” operating beautifully. Granik and Zhao actually LIVED in those communities. It’s not condescending, it’s respectful.
Both The Rider and The Wrestler focus on the plight of a guy in a disreputable “sport” who’s told that he’s no longer physically fit participate in said sport and has trouble accepting that he needs to give it up. Both films focus on their protagonist’s shame at their current state and have sub-plots where they are miserable while trying to get menial day jobs where people recognize them from their previous more glamorous life. They even have similar titles. Zhao has said in interviews that she showed the movie to the movie’s subject.
The very fact that you’re invoking “anthropology” (a discipline with a very racist history) invokes images of brave filmmakers “bravely living among the savages to learn their ways.” I’m sure that these filmmakers don’t see themselves as doing that and would never describe what they’re doing that way, but I do feel like that’s how they’re sort of received. My bigger problem is really more on a narrative than moral level however. These movies are so busy being fascinated by how poor people live that they don’t bother to tell particularly interesting stories.
Even though I wanted First Reformed to clean sweep, The Rider winning is such a nice surprise. It probably cost less than a million to make and it’s one of the best reviewed movies of the year.
Toni!! Elsie!!
Great winners!
I am shocked at Sasha Stone’s reaction on the livefeed Facebook chat to The Rider winning. It was absolutely demeaning to the film and Chloe Zhao.
what did she say?
Literally right after The Rider was announced as the winner, Sasha reacted swiftly and angrily about how she guesses that the voters (all five of them) decided to award a woman filmmaker and a POC just so they wouldn’t look bad or look like they were just rewarding white men. Then she said “Good night!” and signed off. She sort of ruined the moment for the chatters there who were still reeling in the “surprise” win and some were genuinely happy about it. She slightly ruined the moment with her negativity and cynicism…and those two adjectives are the BEST reading of what she wrote. I felt she basically insulted the voters AND demeaned the film’s win by minimizing the win down to Chloe Zhao’s race and gender. I wasn’t the only one in the chat who felt a bit shocked and offended about her reaction. The way she did it was so dismissive and angry.
Gross!
Typical
Very disrespectful behavior. Exactly why I stopped following this mad Oscar circus years ago. Just a casual spectator now.
Also, the voters for Best Feature were Judy Becker, Geoffrey Fletcher, Jon Hamm, Catherine Keener, & Bill Pohlad. So she’s accusing them of only voting for The Rider due to Zhao’s race and gender.
That’s unfortunate. I wish people would stop assuming that a person won something, got into college, or got hired simply because of their gender or race. And to add to that, The Rider isn’t exactly chopped liver, is it? It’s only one of the most acclaimed films of the year (my personal favorite so far), and it has a higher score than any of the other nominees for Best Feature with the exception of The Favourite, which has the same score of 92. What does Chloe Zhao have to do to prove that she’s winning only because of her talent?
Hey hey now the critics train has started! Toni Collette gonna steamroll herself to an Oscar nomination. Predicted it months ago…. still standing by it!!…<3
While I hope you’re right I feel it’s just too difficult a category to break into this year. Close, McCarthy, Colman, Gaga and Davis are pretty much locked. The only one I can see missing is Davis and if so it would open up a spot for Nicole Kidman for Destroyer or Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns. Collette is brilliant though and I’m hoping by some miracle she can make it. Genre films already don’t have the best track record with the Academy though. I’m hoping she gets a Golden Globe nomination at least.
Who said they were pretty much locked though? Gold derby? Indie wire? Awardswatch? (You like that last one didn’t you:) if you thought she was brilliant than stand by her brilliance then? Don’t let some random blogger or some claimed “pundit expert” make you think differently.
Davis and McCarthy are far from “locks.”
Michael, from the names you said above, I guess only Gaga, Close and Colman are locks. I’m almost sure McCarthy’s spot belongs to Toni Collette.
Widows flopped, can you ever forgive me? is underperforming as well and Colman is an unknown actress. I fail to see how the actresses in these movies are “locks.”
Widows has earned $25 million in 2 weeks.
Were you ready to throw Streep off the cliff when Iron Lady was only at $21 mil after 6 weeks?
Next week Widows’ earnings will fly past all the money Iron Lady ever made.
Actresses get nominated every year in movies that never earn more than $30 or $40 million.
If you think Colman is an unknown actress then I’m glad you have finally crawled out from under your rock.
Welcome to a movie site where people know what’s what.
Widows was wonderful. Thank you for defending it.
What’s up with the attitude??? Is the smugness really necessary????? And why are you bringing up Iron Lady??? Widows is a box office disappointment. That’s a fact. Can you forgive me? as well. Another fact. Colman is not a household name and with some recognizable names in well reviewed movies like Toni Colette, Rosamund Pike, Felicity Jones and Keira Knightley also in contention, The Favorite needs to gain significant traction in order to secure a nomination for Colman. I never said Davis, McCartney and Colman will not be nominated. I said they are NOT “locks.” And just like that, I remember why I stayed away from these Oscar prognosticating websites for years. So much nastiness and pettiness. I can’t. Enjoy guys. Duke it out **exits stage**
Household name?
Do you think Brie Larson and Jennifer Lawrence were household names before they swept their awards seasons?
They were not. Nobody had barely even heard of them. Because they had virtually no prior careers. (Brie on TV a bit.)
Marion Cotillard? Household name 10 years ago when she won her Oscar? No. “Household name” even now? No.
Olivia Colman has won 3 BAFTA Awards and yet you stroll in and try to tell every one of us who have admired her for years that nobody knows her.
And yet you say it’s me who’s the smug one.
Well, well, well, what do we have here? Viola Davis and Widows are getting snubbed left and right. Called it. When I tried to express my opinion about Viola’s nomination not being locked, this arrogant pompous one over here patronizingly wagged his fingers at me and then blocked me for responding. You really thought you could bully yourself into being right because you have admin privileges on an Oscars blog huh? LOL Hilarious. Pride goeth before a fall. Keep that in mind moving forward. Don’t bother blocking this account as well because I am never coming back to this dictatorial shit fest. Bye!
The Rider is the best American film of 2018 , but I still think it is a long shot for a best picture Oscar mom
Roma is the best film of 2018
Wow. The Rider wins Best Feature
Interesting that Collette won. It’s a good performance, I had just thought that maybe, just maybe, this was the beginning of a Close sweep.
At least the Gotham’s have little effect on the Oscars. Although, surely this win for Collette and Hawke will give them nice bumps.
I think what might work against Close–albeit slightly–is screen time. While she is definitely the star, a good chunk of the film does focus on her character as a young woman (aside: the actress who plays her as a young woman should be vying for a supporting nod herself, IMHO), and while there are certainly nuances to Close’s performance in the quieter moments of the film, she doesn’t really get any “big scenes” until the Nobel gala dinner in the third act. Of course, comparing the performances is an apples-and-oranges scenario, but having seen both films, I would say that Collette’s is more memorable and Hereditary is a better film than The Wife (which is marred by the performances of Christian Slater and a terribly miscast Max Irons as well as that of the actor who plays the son). At the very least, with her name still in the conversation, I think Collette is a viable candidate for a nod.
Max Irons plays the son.
oops, I meant Harry Lloyd
YES! Go Toni Collette. Best female performance of the year. Hope she can miraculously score an Oscar nomination.
Is it surprising that The Favourite didn’t win screenplay and First Reformed did?
I don’t think that is too surprising, the Gothams are much more about trying to influence than trying to predict what is going to happen at other awards and they are obviously trying to push first reformed – which to me seems like a good idea because it needs and deserves a boost.
The Gothams can be really great sometimes! Its not useful at all for predictions but I love that there are awards around to award films like Eighth Grade and First Reformed since we know the Oscars won’t.