As awards season begins to heat up and we power towards the Oscar nominations next month, the critics groups are beginning to make their voices heard. An early shout comes from the New York Film Critics Circle, which has just published its list of awards for 2013. Top of the list is David O. Russell’s** American Hustle**, which won Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence.
Russell himself didn’t managed to bag the Best Director prize, however: that went to 12 Years A Slave’s Steve McQueen. The other winners included Blue Jasmine’s Cate Blanchett as Best Actress, **All Is Lost’**s Robert Redford taking Best Actor and Jared Leto of Dallas Buyers Club as Best Supporting Actor.
Inside Llewyn Davis took home Best Cinematography courtesy of DOP Bruno Delbonnel; Stories We Tell was Best Non-Fiction Film; The Wind Rises got Best Animated Film; **Blue Is The Warmest Colour **won Best Foreign Film and Fruitvale Station’s Ryan Coogler scored Best First Film.
The likes of The Wolf Of Wall Street, Her and Nebraska were shut out this time, but while Hustle winning big here doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll pull off the same trick at the Oscars, it does give it plenty of extra buzz. We’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out.