The Brutalist’ Takes Top Honor at London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, Zoe Saldaña Wins Best Supporting Actress for ‘Emilia Pérez

By Alex Ritman

According To The variety Brady Corbet’s epic American immigrant saga “The Brutalist” has been given the top prize by the U.K.’s leading film writers and broadcasters.

At the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night, the feature was named film of the year in a ceremony that saw the honors widely shared across a number of titles, although notably both “The Substance” and “A Complete Unknown” came away empty-handed.

Edward Berger’s Vatican thriller “Conclave” took two awards, including British/Irish film of the year and actor of the year for Ralph Fiennes, while RaMell Ross’s radical Colson Whitehead adaptation “Nickel Boys” was recognised with director of the year and the technical achievement award for Jomo Fray’s first-person cinematography.

Elsewhere on the night, Jesse Eisenberg’s dark comedy “A Real Pain” was another multiple prizewinner, awarded screenwriter of the year for the actor-filmmaker, and supporting actor of the year for co-star Kieran Culkin. Meanwhile, Zoe Saldaña claimed best supporting actress for “Emilia Perez” in the first awards show since a major scandal erupted over historic tweets by the film’s lead star Karla Sofía Gascon. Saldaña was honored twice by Circle as she had already been announced as the winner of the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation, presented at the ceremony by America Ferrera and last year’s winner Colman Domingo. The night’s second honorary award, the Dilys Powell Award for excellence in film, went to Daniel Craig, 20 years after he earned the Circle’s British actor of the year award for “Enduring Love.” Craig was presented with the award by Lesley Manville, his co-star in Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” for which he was also an actor of the year nominee.

The 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards were voted by the 210 members of film section of the Critics’ Circle, the U.K.’s longest-standing and most prestigious critics’ organisation.

See the full list of winners below.

FILM OF THE YEAR
“The Brutalist” – WINNER
“All We Imagine As Light”
“Anora”
“La Chimera”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Kneecap”
“Nickel Boys”
“Nosferatu”
“The Substance”

 FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
“All We Imagine As Light” – WINNER
“La Chimera”
“Emilia Pérez”
“I’m Still Here”
“Kneecap”

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
“No Other Land” – WINNER
“Dahomey”
“Grand Theft Hamlet”
“Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”

ANIMATED FEATURE OF THE YEAR
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” – WINNER
“Flow”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“The Wild Robot”

BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR
“Conclave” – WINNER
“Bird”
“Hard Truths”
“Kneecap”
“Love Lies Bleeding”

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
RaMell Ross – “Nickel Boys” – WINNER
Sean Baker – “Anora”
Brady Corbet – “The Brutalist”
Coralie Fargeat – “The Substance”
Denis Villeneuve – “Dune: Part Two”

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – “Hard Truths” – WINNER
Nicole Kidman – “Babygirl”
Mikey Madison – “Anora”
Demi Moore – “The Substance”
Saoirse Ronan – “The Outrun”

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Ralph Fiennes – “Conclave” – WINNER
Adrien Brody – “The Brutalist”
Timothée Chalamet – “A Complete Unknown”
Daniel Craig – “Queer”
Colman Domingo – “Sing Sing”

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
“Nickel Boys” – cinematography, Jomo Fray – WINNER
“Anora” – stunts, Manny Siverio, Christopher Colombo & Roberto Lopez
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” – visual effects, Angus Bickerton
“The Brutalist” – production design, Judy Becker
“A Complete Unknown” – costumes, Arianne Phillips
“Conclave” – film editing, Nick Emerson
“Dune: Part Two” – visual effects, Paul Lambert
“Emilia Pérez” – music, Clément Ducol & Camille
“Nosferatu” – cinematography, Jarin Blaschke
“The Substance” – makeup, Stéphanie Guillon & Pierre-Olivier Persin