“Roma” has been named the best film of 2018 at the 24th Critics’ Choice Awards, reinforcing its position as the clear critical favorite among the year’s films.
The awards were presented on Sunday evening at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
In addition to winning in the Best Picture category, Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white Spanish-language drama won the award for best foreign-language film, while Cuarón himself received awards for his directing and cinematography.
While “Roma” has won far more critics’ awards than any other 2018 film, the Broadcast Film Critics Association can be a very mainstream group in its tastes, so Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” was considered a real contender for the top award going into the show. But Cooper’s film has now lost two consecutive best-picture awards, to “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the Golden Globes and now to “Roma” at the Critics’ Choice Awards, making a win at Saturday’s Producers Guild Award a must for the film.
“A Star Is Born” did win two awards on Sunday, both of which went to Cooper’s co-star, Lady Gaga. She and her co-writers won the Best Song award for “Shallow,” and she tied with Glenn Close (“The Wife”) in the Best Actress category.
It was one of two ties at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the other coming between Amy Adams (“Sharp Objects”) and Patricia Arquette (“Escape at Dannemora”) in the lead actress in a miniseries or TV movie category.
Other films that won multiple awards included “Vice” (best makeup and hairstyling, plus best-actor and best-actor-in-a-comedy awards for Christian Bale), “If Beale Street Could Talk” (adapted screenplay and supporting actress, for Regina King), “The Favourite” (ensemble cast, and actress in a comedy for Olivia Colman), “Firt Man” (editing and score) and “Black Panther” (production design, costumes and visual effects).
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” won the award for animated film, “A Quiet Place” was named best sci-fi or horror film and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” took the award for action movie in a ceremony with so many categories that many of them were presented off the air.
In the television categories, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won Best Comedy Series and “The Americans” won Best Drama Series. “Mrs. Maisel” also won awards for lead actress Rachel Brosnahan and supporting actress Alex Borstein, while “The Americans” also won for lead actor Matthew Rhys and supporting actor Noah Emmerich.
“Barry,” “Sharp Objects” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” won two awards each.
The film categories in the Critics’ Choice Awards are voted on by the members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, an organization of more than 300 television, radio and internet film critics and journalists. The television selections are made by its allied organization, the Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
While the true indicators of who has the upper hand in a tight Oscar race will come with the Producers Guild Awards on Jan. 19 and the Directors Guild Awards on Feb. 2, the Critics’ Choice Awards pride themselves on being an accurate predictor of the Oscars.
(Excerpt) Read more and see a full list of winners in: The Wrap