National Board Of Review Winners 2021

Last year, the National Board of Review honored Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” with its top prize for Best Film. It marked the rare time where the NBR top winner did not go on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. During the 2010s, “A Most Violent Year” was the only winner not to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. NBR winners such as “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Hugo,” “Her,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and more all broke into the Academy’ Best Picture race, with 2018 NBR winner “Green Book” winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

Other 2020 NBR winners included Riz Ahmed for Best Actor (“Sound of Metal”), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (“Promising Young Woman”), Paul Raci for Best Supporting Actor (“Sound of Metal”), and Youn Yuh-jung for Best Supporting Actress (“Minari”). All four NBR acting winners went on to earn Academy Award nominations in their respective categories. Youn Yuh-jung won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The full list of 2021 National Board of Review winners is below. Best Film: LICORICE PIZZA Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA Best Actor: Will Smith, KING RICHARD Best Actress: Rachel Zegler, WEST SIDE STORY Best Supporting Actor: Ciarán Hinds, BELFAST Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis, KING RICHARD Best Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH Breakthrough Performance: Alana Haim & Cooper Hoffman, LICORICE PIZZA Best Directorial Debut: Michael Sarnoski, PIG
Best Animated Feature: ENCANTO Best Foreign Language Film: A HERO Best Documentary: SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
Best Ensemble: THE HARDER THEY FALL
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH NBR Freedom of Expression Award: FLEE Top Films (in alphabetical order) Belfast Don’t Look Up Dune King Richard The Last Duel Nightmare Alley Red Rocket The Tragedy of Macbeth West Side Story Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order) Benedetta Lamb Lingui, The Sacred Bonds Titane The Worst Person in the World Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order) Ascension Attica Flee The Rescue Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order) The Card Counter C’mon C’mon CODA The Green Knight Holler Jockey Old Henry Pig Shiva Baby The Souvenir Part II