Todd Field’s “Tár”won another major critics award on Saturday, with the National Society of Film Critics naming the dark drama about an imperious conductor and composer the best film of 2022.
The win gave “Tár” a near-sweep of the major critics awards. The film won the top prize from the New York Film Critics Circle and tied with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The only other films to finish first with all three groups were “Schindler’s List,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Hurt Locker,” “The Social Network” and “Drive My Car.”
Runner-up in the NSFC best-picture voting was Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” followed by Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears.”
“Tár” also won awards for Field’s screenplay and for lead actress Cate Blanchett, who won over Michelle Yeoh for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Tilda Swinton for “The Eternal Daughter” and Michelle Williams for “The Fabelmans.”
Colin Farrell was named the year’s best actor for his performances in both “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “After Yang,” with Paul Mescal and Bill Nighy the runners-up for “Aftersun” and “Living,” respectively. Supporting awards went to Kerry Condon for “The Banshees of Inisherin” and Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
“EO” won the award for Best Film Not in the English Language, while “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” took the award for Best Documentary.
The National Society of Film Critics consists of 62 critics, though some members abstain from voting if they haven’t seen enough films. The group was established in 1966, and for much of its history it made more idiosyncratic best-film choices than the Oscars. In two of the last three years, though, the NSFC winner – 2019’s “Parasite” and 2020’s “Nomadland” – went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. That gave the two organizations five matches in the last 13 years, after they only agreed four times in the previous 44.
The winners and runners-up, with point totals:
BEST PICTURE
1. “Tár” (61 points)
2. “Aftersun” (49 points)
3. “No Bears” (32 points)
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun” (60 points)
2. Park Chan-wook, “Decision to Leave” (47 points)
3. Jafar Panahi, “No Bears” (36 points)
BEST ACTRESS
1. Cate Blanchett, “Tár” (59 points)
2. Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (38 points)
3. Tilda Swinton, “The Eternal Daughter,” and Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans” (27 points)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (57 points)
2. Nina Hoss, “Tár” (43 points)
3. Dolly de Leon, “Triangle of Sadness” (35 points)
BEST ACTOR
1. Colin Farrell, “After Yang” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” (71 points)
2. Paul Mescal, “Aftersun” (55 points)
3. Bill Nighy, “Living” (33 points)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (45 points)
2. Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway” (35 points)
3. Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (27 points)
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Todd Field, “Tár” (61 points)
2. Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (42 points)
3. James Gray, “Armageddon Time” (18 points)
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
1. “EO” (43 points)
2. “No Bears” (37 points)
3. “Decision to Leave” (34 points)
BEST NONFICTION FILM
1. “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (46 points)
2. “Descendant” (40 points)
3. “All That Breathes” (27 points)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Michał Dymek, “EO” (62 points)
2. Hoyte van Hoytema, “Nope” (37 points)
3. Kim Ji-yong, “Decision to Leave” (34 points)
FILM HERITAGE AWARDS
1. Jeanine Basinger, one of our most esteemed and important film scholars, whose work at Wesleyan University and beyond has continually bridged the divide between Hollywood and academia, film studies and movie love.
2. Screen Slate, published and edited by Jon Dieringer, an essential daily online publication that has done much to build and sustain the filmmaking, theatrical exhibition and film critical communities of New York City and by extension the world at large.
3. Turner Classic Movies, for a rich array of programming that ranges deep and wide in the history of cinema, a service too easily taken for granted by audiences and worthy of the utmost care and attention from its corporate owners.
DEDICATION
We dedicate our awards to Sheila Benson, an esteemed Society member and the warmest, most gracious of colleagues. As film critic for the Los Angeles Times and other publications, she wrote about movies with infectious joy and enviable skill. We miss her dearly.
