The National Board of Review—one of the awards season’s inaugural voting bodies—has announced its Top 10 Films of the Year list, along with other superlatives. If you’re looking for a correlation between NBR and the Oscars, well you’re not gonna find it. The winner of Best Film from the National Board of Review hasn’t won the Best Picture Oscar since 2008’sSlumdog Millionaire, and as a voting body their tastes can be a bit left of center. Last yearThe Posttook the top prize, while 2014’s top film—A Most Violent Year—remains one of the more puzzling awards decisions in recent memory.
But I digress. This year, the National Board of Review namedGreen Bookthe best film of 2018. The “inspired by a true story” drama chronicles the budding friendship between two opposites in the Deep South in the 1960s—a crass, working-class, racist driver played byViggo Mortensenand a refined, secluded world-class pianist played byMahershala Ali. The film won the Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it underwhelmed at the box office last weekend and has received flack for itsproblematic nature. But it’ll probably landa number of Oscar nominations.
Elsewhere, NBR namedBradley Cooperas Best Director for his stellar work onA Star Is Born, but they went withGreen Bookonce again in Best Actor withViggo Mortensentaking the prize.Lady Gagawas named Best Actress for her terrific work inA Star Is Born, while the supporting trophies went toSam ElliottforA Star Is BornandRegina KinginIf Beale Street Could Talk, both of whom are serious Oscar contenders and certainly deserving of these honors.
The NBR’s Top 10 list this year is a pretty solid crop of films, owing to the strength of the year overall. Check out the NBR’s full list of winners below.
Top Films (in alphabetical order)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Mary Poppins Returns
A Quiet Place
A Star Is Born
Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)
The Guilty
Happy as Lazzaro
Shoplifters
Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)
Crime + Punishment
Minding the Gap
Three Identical Strangers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)
The Death of Stalin
Lean on Pete
Leave No Trace
The Old Man & the Gun
Sorry to Bother You
We the Animals
You Were Never Really Here
Best Film:GREEN BOOK
Best Director:Bradley Cooper, A STAR IS BORN
Best Actor:Viggo Mortensen, GREEN BOOK
Best Actress:Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN
Best Supporting Actor:Sam Elliott, A STAR IS BORN
Best Supporting Actress:Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Best Original Screenplay:Paul Schrader, FIRST REFORMED
Best Adapted Screenplay:Barry Jenkins, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Best Animated Feature:INCREDIBLES 2
Breakthrough Performance:Thomasin McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
Best Directorial Debut:Bo Burnham, EIGHTH GRADE
Best Foreign Language Film:COLD WAR
Best Documentary:RBG
Best Ensemble:CRAZY RICH ASIANS
William K. Everson Film History Award:THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND and THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD
NBR Freedom of Expression Award:22 JULY NBR
NBR Freedom of Expression Award:ON HER SHOULDERS
