The provocative culture-war drama Tár was a big winner at the 43rd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, taking three major awards at a star-studded ceremony at The May Fair Hotel on Sunday night. Todd Field’s film was crowned Film of the Year, while Field and Cate Blanchett were named Director and Actress of the Year. This is the third time Blanchett has won this award, after Elizabeth in 1998 and Blue Jasmine in 2013.
Meanwhile, Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin left the ceremony with five prizes, including The Attenborough Award for British/Irish Film of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, Actor of the Year for Colin Farrell, and both Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress for Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon. Another Irish title, The Quiet Girl, won Foreign-Language Film of the Year in a tie win alongside Park Chan-wook’s noir thriller Decision to Leave. Laura Poitras’ pointed Nan Goldin film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed was named Documentary of the Year.
The ceremony was capped with the presentation of The Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film to cinematic icon Michelle Yeoh, who was accompanied by her Everything Everywhere All at Once costar Ke Huy Quan. Danny Boyle presented the honour at the end of the night.
Also in attendance were Florence Pugh and Bill Nighy, who were named British/Irish Actress and Actor for their body of work in 2022. Pugh was reunited at the event with her The Wondercostars Tom Burke and Kíla Lord Cassidy. There was also a reunion for Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio, who played father and daughter in Aftersun. Corio won the Young British/Irish Performer award for her role, while Paul was on hand to accept writer-director Charlotte Wells’ Philip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker. The Technical Achievement Award went to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for animation and was collected by Gregory Mann, who voiced the title character. British/Irish Short Film of the Year was Keeran Anwar Blessie’s A Fox in the Night.
The awards are given by the 200-member Film Section of the Critics’ Circle, the UK’s longest-standing and most prestigious critics’ organisation. The May Fair Hotel, part of Edwardian Hotels London, is the main sponsor of the event for the 13th year running. Awards sponsors were The House of Koko, the new private members club which is part of the iconic London music venue; leading film, television and online media school MetFilm; and creative-industry accountants Nyman Libson Paul. New sponsors this year included premium non-alcoholic sparkling wine Wild Idol; Gattertop Drinks Co; Black Crowned Gin; large-format printing specialists Wahooti; chauffer service Excel Executive; and live production company JWP.tv, which livestreamed the ceremony on the Critics’ Circle YouTube channel @CriticsCircleFilmSection.
FILM OF THE YEAR
Tár
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR (tie)
Decision to Leave
The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
The Attenborough Award:
BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR
The Banshees of Inisherin
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR sponsored by The House of Koko
Todd Field – Tár
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR sponsored by Nyman Libson Paul
Cate Blanchett – Tár
ACTOR OF THE YEAR sponsored by The House of Koko
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin
BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR for body of work
Florence Pugh – Don’t Worry Darling, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Wonder
BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR for body of work
Bill Nighy – Living
The Philip French Award:
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER sponsored by MetFilm
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun
YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER
Frankie Corio – Aftersun
BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR
A Fox in the Night – dir Keeran Anwar Blessie
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro and Brian Leif Hansen, animation
DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM
Michelle Yeoh
Winners…
5 The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)
3 Tár (Universal)
2 Aftersun (Mubi)
1 All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Altitude)
1 Don’t Worry Darling (Warners)
1 A Fox in the Night
1 Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
1 Living (Lionsgate)
1 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal)
1 The Quiet Girl (Curzon)
1 The Wonder (Netflix)
Photo by Tim Baros