Manchester By The Sea, a critically acclaimed drama directed by Kenneth Lonergan, has been named the best film of the year by the National Board of Review on Tuesday. The film’s lead actor Casey Affleck won the Best Actor award, while Lonergan won the award for the Best Screenplay.
The film has earned high praise from reviews this year. The National Board of Review is voted on by academics, cinephiles, and film professionals. Curiously however, the National Board Of Review has rarely been able to rightly predict Oscar winners. Last year, the group had named Mad Max: Fury Road as the year’s best film, but Spotlight took the top prize at the Oscar. In 2014, A Most Violent Year was named the best film, but didn’t win any awards at the Oscars.
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Other winners at the National Board Of Reviews awards include Barry Jenkins, who was named Best Director for his work in the critically-acclaimed Moonlight, a coming-of-age story about a gay boy in Miami’s inner city. Amy Adams was named the Best Actress for her role in Arrival.
The award for the Best Adapted Screenplay went to Silence, a religious drama about Jesuit priests in feudal Japan, directed by Martin Scorsese.
Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian drama, The Salesman, was voted as the Best Foreign Language film. O.J. Made in America, a six-hour documentary film about the football star and murder convict OJ Simpson was named the Best Documentary.