‘Parasite’ crowned best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. announced its 2019 winners for the best in film Sunday with top honors going to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”
The black-comedy thriller about greed and class discrimination took home awards for best picture and director, beating out Netflix’s pricey epic “The Irishman” from director Martin Scorsese in both categories.
“Parasite” also took home an award for supporting actor Song Kang Ho for his role as a scheming patriarch of a poor Seoul family and was awarded runner-up recognition in the screenwriting and production design categories.
Scorsese’s “The Irishman” was also shown love at the annual deliberations, earning recognition as runner-up for best picture, director and supporting actor Joe Pesci.
The lead actor award went to Antonio Banderas for his performance as a film director in physical decline in “Pain and Glory,” which was also declared best foreign-language film. Banderas also won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for the role. Adam Driver was runner-up for “Marriage Story.”
Mary Kay Place took lead actress for “Diane.” Lupita Nyong’o was runner-up for “Us.”
Jennifer Lopez won the supporting actress award for her role as a veteran stripper in “Hustlers.” Zhao Shuzhen was declared runner-up for “The Farewell.”
Noah Baumbach won the screenplay award for “Marriage Story” while Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won were runners-up for “Parasite.”
The animation winner was Netflix’s “I Lost My Body” with composer Dan Levy also taking home an award for composing the film’s score. Disney’s “Toy Story 4” was declared animation runner-up.
Barbara Ling won for production design for her work on “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” with Ha Jun Lee runner-up for her work on “Parasite.”
Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel play an 18th century painter and her subject who fall in love in Céline Sciamma’s exquisite new movie.
Claire Mathon took the award for cinematography for her work on a pair of female-directed Cannes Film Festival titles: “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and “Atlantics.” The former, a French film, was awarded runner-up recognition in the foreign-language category. Mathon became the group’s first ever female recipient of the cinematography award. Roger Deakins was declared runner-up for “1917.”
Todd Douglas Miller took the award for editing on “Apollo 11” with Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie runners-up for “Uncut Gems.”
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s “American Factory” won for documentary/nonfiction film with “Apollo 11” runner-up.
The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award was given to Ja’Tovia Gary for “The Giverny Document.” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” creators Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails and co-star Jonathan Majors won the group’s New Generation award.
Awards will be distributed during a ceremony on Jan. 11. As previously announced, filmmaker Elaine May will be honored with the career achievement award.
Two clever and wickedly funny looks at class warfare lead a standout year for deeply personal movies.
The year’s best movies are led by the hit true story that proved audiences will still support adult dramas.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
