‘TÁR,’ ‘Everything Everywhere,’ and ‘EO’ Dominate 2022 LA Film Critics Awards (Complete Winners List)
Christian Zilko
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted on the best films of the year on Sunday, announcing its selections via the organization’s official Twitter account. The annual awards are given out by more than 60 LAFCA members in the Los Angeles area, with the online voting process spearheaded by the group’s president Claudia Puig.
Competition was stiff, given this year’s particularly wide field of Oscar contenders. Voters will have to choose between arthouse dramas from elite directors (Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” Todd Field’s “TÁR”), critically acclaimed blockbusters (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), and bold international films (“RRR,” “Decision to Leave”).
The awards ended up being relatively evenly split between arthouse films and those with more popular sensibilities. “TÁR” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” shared the award for Best Film in a tie, and they both notched signature wins elsewhere in the competition. “TÁR” writer-director Todd Field won both Best Screenplay and Best Director, and Cate Blanchett shared Best Lead Performance with Bill Nighy (“Living”). And Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Performance (a category he also won at the Gotham Awards), sharing the honor with Dolly de Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”).
Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO” also had a strong showing, winning Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Cinematography. The film’s composer Paweł Mykietyn was the runner-up for Best Music/Score, losing to M.M. Keeravani for “RRR.”
Last year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Haruki Murakami adaptation “Drive My Car” won Best Picture before going on to receive four Oscar nominations and one win for Best International Feature. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” was runner-up, and Campion was awarded Best Director. Simon Rex won Best Actor for his performance in “Red Rocket” and Penelope Cruz received Best Actress for “Parallel Mothers.” Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for her role in “West Side Story” (a category she also won at the Oscars), and the organization’s Best Supporting Actor award ended up being a tie between Kodi Smit-McPhee for “The Power of the Dog” and Vincent London for “Titane.”
Claire Denis was honored with the organization’s annual lifetime achievement award, an honor that has gone to the likes of Mel Brooks, Doris Day, and Elaine May in recent years.
“We are thrilled to be honoring Claire Denis, one of the best living film auteurs and a master at depicting the identity crises faced by both the colonizer and the colonized,” LAFCA president Claudia Puig said in a statement when the news was first announced. “A distinctive sociopolitical point of view and anti-patriarchal sensibility infuse her work, which is deeply evocative — often tender and intimate but never sentimental — and always uncompromising.”
Keep reading for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s 2022 picks for the best films and performances of the year.
BEST FILM
Winners: “TÁR” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (tie)
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Winner: “EO”
Runner-up: “St. Omer”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Michael Dymek, “EO”
Runner-up: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Nope”
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER
Winners: 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 MUSIC/SCORE
Winner: M.M. Keeravani, “RRR”
Runner-up: Paweł Mykietyn, “EO”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Winner: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Runner-up: Jason Kisvarday, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
BEST EDITING
Winner: Blair McClendon, “Aftersun”
Runner-up: Monika Willi, “TÁR”
BEST ANIMATION
Winner: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
Runner-up: “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL FILM PRIZE
“De Humani Corporis Fabrica”
BEST SCREENPLAY
Winner: Todd Field, “TÁR”
Runner-up: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Winners: Cate Blanchett, “TÁR” and Bill Nighy, “Living”
Runners-up: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till” and Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
BEST DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION
Winner: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
Runner-up: “Fire of Love”
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: “Todd Field,” “TÁR”
Runner-up: S.S. Rajamouli, “RRR”
NEW GENERATION
Winner: Davy Chou and Park Ji-Min, “Return to Seoul”
