#National Board of Review 2020 Winners Announced – /Film

Another day, another awards body announcing their picks for the best movies and performances of the previous year. Today, the National Board of Review announced their 2020 winners, revealing a list that includes films like Da 5 Bloods, Soul, Minari, News of the World, and more, along with actors such as Riz Ahmed, Carey Mulligan, and the late Chadwick Boseman. See the full list of National Board of Review 2020 winners below.

As awards season ticks on it’s clear there are certain titles that will continue to be at the forefront – titles like Minari, Da 5 Bloods, and Sound of Metal. Those films show up on the list of National Board of Review 2020 winners, but so do a few surprises. Perhaps the biggest surprise is George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky, an utterly forgettable movie that received pretty ho-hum reviews (it’s currently sitting at a rotten status on Rotten Tomatoes). Despite that, the NBR included it among its top films of the year. Here’s the full list.
Top Films (in alphabetical order):
First Cow
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Midnight Sky
Minari
News of the World
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Sound of Metal

Including News of the World on there seems strange, too. It’s a better movie than Midnight Sky, and it’s enjoyable. But “best of the year” status? That seems like a stretch. In other news, NBR announced specific awards for the following:

Best Film: DA 5 BLOODS

Best Director: Spike Lee, DA 5 BLOODS

Best Actor: Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL

Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Greengrass & Luke Davies, NEWS OF THE WORLD

Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung, MINARI
Breakthrough Performance: Sidney Flanigan, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS

Best Directorial Debut: Channing Godfrey Peoples, MISS JUNETEENTH

Best Animated Feature: SOUL

Best Foreign Language Film: LA LLORONA

Best Documentary: TIME

NBR Icon Award: Chadwick Boseman
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

NBR Spotlight Award: Radha Blank for writing, directing, producing and starring in THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION

Best Ensemble: DA 5 BLOODS

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, NOMADLAND

Then there are the foreign language winners:

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):
Apples
Collective
Dear Comrades
The Mole Agent
Night of the Kings

Followed by documentaries:

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Dick Johnson is Dead
Miss Americana
The Truffle Hunters

And finally, independent films:

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
The Climb
Driveways
Farewell Amor
Miss Juneteenth
The Nest
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
The Outpost
Relic
Saint Frances
Wolfwalkers

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