The Power Of The Dog was the big winner at the 42nd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at the The May Fair Hotel.
A film adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, the Netflix picture won four major awards at the group’s virtual ceremony.
The big win for the psychological drama comes ahead of next Sunday’s BAFTA Awards, for which it has received eight nominations.
Deserving: The Power Of The Dog was the big winner at the 42nd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday night at the The May Fair Hotel (Benedict Cumberbatch is pictured)
Jane Campion’s acclaimed queer western was crowned the Film of the Year, while Campion herself was named Director of the Year.
The film’s stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi Smit-McPhee won Actor and Supporting Actor of the Year, respectively for their performances as secretive, psychologically duelling rivals on a 1920s Montana ranch.
It is Campion’s second film to take the Circle’s top honour, 28 years after The Piano triumphed in 1994.
It tells the story of a charismatic rancher named Phil Burbank (played by Benedict) who inspires fear and awe in those around him.
Wow! A film adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, the Netflix picture won four major awards at the group’s virtual ceremony (Benedict, left, and Jesse Plemons, right, are pictured)
When his brother brings home a new wife (played by Kirsten Dunst) and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
In light of his characters behaviour, Benedict used a promotional interview to explain the importance of exploring such topics.
He told Sky News: ‘We need to fix the behaviour of men. You have to kind of lift the lid on the engine a little bit.
‘I think it’s ever relevant, and in a world that’s questioning and ripping into and finally pointing out the inadequacies of the status quo and the patriarchy, it’s even more important.
Fingers crossed: The big win for the psychological drama comes ahead of next Sunday’s BAFTA Awards, for which it has received eight nominations (Kirsten Dunst is pictured)
‘You get this sort of rebellion aspect, this denial, this sort of childish defensive position of ‘not all men are bad’. No, we just have to shut up and listen.’
Though The Power of the Dog dominated proceedings, three other films took a pair of awards each.
Drive My Car, Japanese auteur Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s meditative drama on grief, companionship and Chekhov, won Foreign Language Film of the Year, while Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe took the Screenwriter of the Year prize.
Joanna Hogg’s cinematic self-portrait The Souvenir Part II was named British/Irish Film of the Year — two years after its predecessor took the same honour — while it was one of three films, along with Memoria and The French Dispatch, for which Tilda Swinton received the British/Irish Actress of the Year award.
Spellbinding: Drive My Car, Japanese auteur Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s meditative drama on grief, companionship and Chekhov, won Foreign Language Film of the Year
Actor-turned-director Rebecca Hall’s delicately nuanced racial drama Passing earned her the Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker award, as well as Supporting Actress of the Year for Ruth Negga’s challenging performance as a white-passing Black woman in 1920s New York City.
Actress of the Year went to Olivia Colman for her layered turn as a conflicted mother reflecting on her past in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter; it’s Colman’s third award from the Circle, having previously won for Tyrannosaur and The Favourite.
Congratulations: Joanna Hogg’s cinematic self-portrait The Souvenir Part II was named British/Irish Film of the Year (Tilda Swinton, left, is pictured with her daughter Honor, right)
Another previous winner, Andrew Garfield, won the British/Irish Actor of the Year award for his varied performances in Tick, Tick… Boom!, The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Mainstream.
And 11-year-old Woody Norman rounded out the acting winners with the Young British/Irish Performer prize for his remarkable turn opposite Joaquin Phoenix in C’mon C’mon.
Documentary of the Year went to musician and filmmaker Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson for his archival musical immersion Summer of Soul, while this year’s multi-disciplinary Technical Achievement Award went to the visual effects team of Denis Villeneuve’s dazzling sci-fi epic Dune.
Mitch Kalisa’s Play It Safe, a powerful reflection on performance and prejudice, won the British/Irish Short Film award.
Anticipated: Rebecca Hall’s racial drama Passing earned her the Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker award (Ruth Negga, left, and Tessa Thompson, right, are pictured)
For the second year in a row, the event took place virtually on the London Critics’ Circle YouTube channel, with cocktails provided by Rémy Martin.
Play It Safe director Kalisa, lead actor Jonathan Ajayi and producer Chris Tomazou were present to receive their award; all other winners replied with video messages.
The London Critics’ Circle Film Awards is sponsored by The Critics’ Circle, The May Fair Hotel, Rémy Martin, DDA and Pearl Pictures Productions. An in-person event to celebrate this year’s winners is being planned for later in 2022.
