Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea came out on top in the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle awards, securing three each, but were both beaten to the best picture prize by La La Land.
Grief-stricken drama Manchester by the Sea took acting awards for Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams (whose role in Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women was also named), and best screenplay for writer-director Kenneth Lonergan.
The Ryan Gosling-Emma Stone musical La La Land confirmed its frontrunner status for the best picture Oscar by taking the equivalent award here, and Isabelle Huppert showed she will also be a force to be reckoned with at the Academy awards by taking the NYFCC’s best actress gong – for two films, the Paul Verhoeven rape-revenge thriller Elle and Mia Hansen-Løve’s mid-life crisis drama Things to Come.
Moonlight, the beautifully shot study of a gay black teenager’s struggle with his sexuality won awards for its director for Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton, as well as picking up best supporting actor nod for Mahershala Ali.