The Florida Film Critics Circle has announced the winners of their annual movie awards and The Power of the Dog walked away with five of the nine awards they were nominated for including Best Picture. Best Actor went to Adam Drive for Annette and Best Actress was awarded to Alana Haim for Licorice Pizza. There weren't many surprises with Dune winning Best Visual Effects and Wes Anderson winning Best Original Screenplay for The French Dispatch. Phillip Seymore Hoffman's legacy will live on as his son, Copper, won the Breakout for his first-ever feature film, Licorice Pizza. Read the full press release below:
Miami, FL (Tuesday, December 22, 2021) - The year 2021 was indeed an interesting one at the cinema and for the Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC) as they celebrate their Silver Anniversary. As the world was trying to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic so, too were the movies. For the first time ever, major blockbuster movies were released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming services with mixed results. Still, several films did crack the $100 million-dollar mark, and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME racked up almost $600 million on its worldwide weekend opening, so maybe 2022 will see steadier box office numbers.
The Florida Film Critics Circle had an exciting time voting on their nominees this year. While some winners won by a large margin, others were so close that only one vote separated the top two. However, after snagging nine nominations THE POWER OF THE DOG was this year's big winner including the trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Jane Campion marks the third year in a row a woman has taken Best Director and the first time one has won for Director, Picture, and Screenplay in the FFCC's 25-year history. In addition, the film also took home the honors for Kodi Smit-McPhee for his supporting acting role and Cinematography for Ari Wegner.
ANNETTE initially had six nominations this year, but only takes home one award for Adam Driver for Best Actor. Annette was a film that had a short 2-week run in theaters before it started streaming on Amazon Prime. It was one of the rare films that still caught a lot of attention despite the short stint between the two platforms. It is also the second win in three years the critics have given the award to Driver. His previous win was for Marriage Story.
Bursting onto the scene this year in a very strong debut is Alana Haim who wins Best Actress for LICORICE PIZZA. She had big competition this year from the likes of Jessica Chastain, Lady Gaga, and Kristin Stewart, but Haim was the runaway winner in the category. She is not the only one who raised eyebrows from the Paul Thomas Anderson story, proving that the apple does not fall far from the tree, Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Oscar winner Phillip Seymore Hoffman is the FFCC's pick for the Breakout Award. These two young stars both appear headed towards big things in the future. Rounding out the acting category is Ariana Debose for West Side Story. This win came as little surprise to anyone as she also ran away with a large number of votes. MASS wins for Best Ensemble. Cast members Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton all gave real gritty performances.
