LA Film Critics Pick Zone of Interest as Top Pic

Sandra Huller in Zone of Interest

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has chosen Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer's chilling examination of the Nazi family living next to a concentration camp, as Best Picture in voting on Dec. 10. This bucks the trend of their New York counterparts and the National Board of Review, both of whom voted Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon the outstanding flick of 2023. Sandra Huller also won for her lead performance in Zone and for her role in Anatomy of a Fall. She shared lead performance honors with Emma Stone of Poor Things. Last year, the LAFCA  eliminated male and female categories in the performance awards and gives accolades to the top two vote-getters in lead and supporting fields regardless of gender (the Drama Desk does the same thing.) All acting winners were women this year with supporting performance awards going to Da'vine Joy Randolph of The Holdovers (who has won every other critics award so far) and Rachel McAdams for Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret. 

Film award season continues to be an interesting race with several candidates possible for the upcoming Oscar nominations. The Golden Globes and Critics Choice noms, coming out this week, should tell us more.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association winners:

Best Picture: “The Zone of Interest” (A24)

Runner-up: “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone of Interest” (A24)

Runner-up: Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Best Documentary/Nonfiction

Winner: Menus-Paisirs – Les Troisgros

Best Screenplay

WINNER: Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers

RUNNER-UP: Samy Burch for May December

Leading Performances: Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) and “The Zone of Interest” (A24); Emma Stone, “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Runners-up: Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures); Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction” (MGM)

Supporting Performances: Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate); Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)

Runner-up: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

and Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Best Animation
Winner: The Boy and the Heron
Runner-up: Robot Dreams

Editing
Winner: Laurent Sénéchal, Anatomy of a Fall
Runner-up: Jonathan Alberts, All of Us Strangers

Best Production Design
Winner: Sarah Greenwood, Barbie
Runner-up: Shona Heath and James Price, Poor Things

Best Music/Score
Winner: Mica Levi, The Zone of Interest
Runner-up: Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, Barbie

Best Cinematography
Winner: Robbie Ryan, Poor Things
Runner-up: Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon & Barbie

Career Achievement Award
Agnieszka Holland

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize

WINNER: Wang Bing’s Youth (Spring).