In a surprising result from the often unpredictable Los Angeles Film Critics Association, critical darlings “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Tár” tied for Best Film in the organization’s annual voting.
The tie between the Daniels’ freewheeling and frenetic “Everything Everywhere” and Todd Fields’ dark classical-music drama “Tár” marked the fourth time in the LAFCA’s 48-year history that the group was deadlocked on its top choice. Its first two years found “Dog Day Afternoon” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” tying in 1975 and “Network” and “Rocky” doing the same in 1976, while the 2013 vote ended in a dead heat between “Gravity” and “Her.”
This year for the first time, the organization opted to make its acting categories gender-neutral, giving out two lead acting and two supporting acting awards without regard to its former actor and actress classifications. The leading performance victors were Cate Blanchett in “Tár” and Bill Nighy in “Living”. Runners-up were Danielle Deadwyler in “Till” and Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
In the supporting category, the two winners were Dolly de Leon for “Triangle of Sadness” and Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Runners-up were Jessie Buckley from “Women Talking” and Brian Tyree Henry from “Causeway.”
Directing and Screenplay honors went to Todd Field for “Tár”, and Best Animation went to “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” The Documentary/Nonfiction winner was Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.”
In the below-the-line categories, the critics gave Michal Dymek the cinematography award for his work on the Polish film “EO” and M.M. Keeravani the music award for the Indian epic “RRR.” Best editing went to Blair McClendon for “Aftersun,” and production design honors went to “Avatar: The Way of Water.” (The original “Avatar” was a runner-up in this category in 2009.) Best Film Not in the English Language went to “EO.”
Overall, “Tár” was the most-honored film, with four first-place finishes (including the tie) and one runner-up placement. “Everything Everywhere” won in two categories and finished second in two others, while “EO” won twice and was runner-up once, and “RRR” finished first once and second once.
The New Generation Award went to filmmakers Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min for their film “Return to Seoul.”
The LAFCA consists of 67 Los Angeles-based film critics working in print and electronic media, including TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde. The group had originally planned to meet and vote in person, doing so in a member’s backyard because of COVID — but with the Los Angeles forecast calling for rain, the meeting became a virtual one for the third consecutive year.
Last year, three of the LAFCA winners went on to win the Oscar: “The Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion, “West Side Story” supporting actress Ariana DeBose and documentary “Summer of Soul.” Another six winners were nominated for Oscars but did not win.
The LAFCA’s best film winner has won the Oscar for Best Picture 11 times in the 48 years the organization has been giving out awards, including four times in the last 13 years: “The Hurt Locker” in 2009, “Spotlight” in 2015, “Moonlight” in 2016 and “Parasite” in 2019. Last year, for its best film of 2021, the critics chose Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car,” which won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film and was nominated for Best Picture.
Earlier in December, the New York Film Critics Circle gave its top award to Todd Field’s “Tár.”
In October, the organization voted its annual Career Achievement Award to French director Claire Denis. She and the other LAFCA winners will be celebrated at an awards banquet on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
The 2022 Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards:
Best Film: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Tár” (tie)
Best Director: Todd Field, “Tár”
Runner-up: S.S. Rajamouli, “RRR”
Best Lead Performance: Cate Blanchett, “Tár,” and Bill Nighy, “Living”
Runner-up: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till,” and Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Supporting Performance: Dolly de Leon, “Triangle of Sadness,” and Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Runners-up: Jessie Buckley, “Women Talking” and Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”
Best Screenplay: Todd Field, “Tár”
Runner-up: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Best Film Not in the English Language: “EO”
Runner-up: “Saint Omer”
Best Documentary/Nonfiction Film: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
Runner-up: “Fire of Love”
Best Animation: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Runner-up: “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
Best Cinematography: Michal Dymek, “EO”
Runner-up: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Nope”
Best Editing: Blair McClendon, “Aftersun”
Runner-up: Monika Willi, “Tár”
Best Music/Score: M.M. Keeravani, “RRR”
Runner-up: Pawel Mykietyn, “EO”
Best Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter for “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Runner-up: Jason Kisvarday, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
New Generation Award: Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min, “Return to Seoul”
Douglas E. Edward Experimental Film Award: “De Humani Corporis Fabrica”
Career Achievement Award: Claire Denis