Well, one thing we’ve learned this weekend is that Beantown critics think very highly of “12 Years a Slave.” Steve McQueen’s film practically swept the Boston online critics’ awards yesterday, taking seven awards in all. And it was similarly triumphant in today’s voting by the Boston Film Critics’ Society — the more established and arguably more prestigious of the city’s two groups — where it took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Cate Blanchett added another Best Actress win to her growing tally, while June Squibb fended off the “Slave” supporters to take Best Supporting Actress (while her film took Best Ensemble). “Wadjda” is a fresh pick for Best Foreign Language Film.
The real story of these awards, however, is “Enough Said” — the late James Gandolfini is a pleasantly surprising Best Supporting Actor pick, while writer-director Nicole Holofcener sprung another upset to take Best Screenplay. This gentle character comedy is well-liked, and Fox Searchlight is campaigning it smartly. Could this take off? I’ve had Gandolfini and Holofcener in my predictions for some time now.
Full list of winners below:
Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Runner-up: Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Best Supporting Actor: James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Runners-up: Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”; Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Best Supporting Actress: June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Runner-up: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
Best Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Runner-up: Terrence Winter, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Wadjda”
Runner-up: “Blue is the Warmest Color”
Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”
Runner-up: “Blackfish”
Best Animated Film: “The Wind Rises”
Runner-up: “Frozen”
Best New Filmmaker: Ryan Coogler, “Fruitvale Station”
Runner-up: Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Act of Killing”
Best Ensemble: “Nebraska”
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”
Runner-up: Philippe Le Sourd, “The Grandmaster”
Best Film Editing: Dan Hanley and Mike Hill, “Rush”
Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Use of Music: T-Bone Burnett, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Runner-up: Mark Orton, “Nebraska”