Inside the New York Film Critics Circle Celebration: Heartfelt Thanks, Sake Bombs, and More

At Wednesday night’s New York Film Critics Circle gala at New York’s Tao Downtown, there was no suspense to be found, no “envelope please”—the critics’ group voted on and announced its winners a month ago. Instead of awards shows’ usual tension and cutting between contenders to see the elation or disappointment after a winner is announced, at the NYFCC ceremony the rule of the night was celebration only as industry notables paid tribute to their colleagues over plates of lobster fried rice and miso-glazed cod—served, appropriately, family-style. 

If one big winner of the evening had to be selected it might be Tár, winner of the best actress and best-picture prizes. Director Todd Field was introduced by Martin Scorcese via video, with the legendary director saying that “the clouds lifted when I experienced Todd’s film Tár.” Field himself paid tribute to his star, Cate Blanchett, in his acceptance speech, calling her “a fucking humble artist who stands at the ready,” and “a believer, a defender of the faith.” Blanchett, likewise, told Field in her own speech that “this menu is yours, Todd, every single morsel of it.” (For the uninitiated, it was a reference to the NYFCC’s awards certificate, which is presented sheathed in a large blue portfolio.)

Stephen Colbert did the honors of introducing Blanchett. “I was truly moved by your performance as a magnetic, larger-than-life, creative woman; a leader at the height of her powers; intensely, feverishly focused on defeating the Dark Lord Sauron,” he said. “Lydia Tár would have taken that fucking ring,” he said before calling himself out as “a huge fan of both Todd Field and his wife’s cookies.” 

Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan continued his moving awards-season comeback arc with a win for best supporting actor, thanking directors the Daniels in his acceptance speech.

He recalled a reporter asking him a bog-standard red-carpet question—“how does it feel?”—while he promoted Everything Everywhere, his first film in decades following his child stardom in the 1980s.

“I couldn’t quite articulate how I was feeling, aside from saying, ‘It feels incredible,’” he said. “And I realized I couldn’t explain because it was a feeling I hadn’t had for a long, long time. In fact, it was more than 30 years. And it was the same feeling that I had when I was a kid, when I was a working actor.”

“So I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and our producer, Jonathan Wang, for making me feel like a kid again.” 

The directing duo introduced Quan, with Scheinert thanking the actor for being willing to talk about difficult memories and “[promoting] the shit out of this movie this year.” 

“It’s hard what you went through when Hollywood stopped casting you, like idiots,” he said. 

Kwan noted Quan’s particularly special presence. “It’s not just his talent or adorable smile,” he insisted. The actor is, he said, “someone who could make us believe in an unkind world that there is still a place for kindness.” The duo toasted Quan onstage with sake (Scheinert called the actor’s sake bombs life-changing), complete with what they said is Quan’s signature move—plopping the empty cup upside down on top of your head after drinking. 

Banshees of Inisherin actor Kerry Condon found herself in the rare position of winning no awards herself, but accepting two of them, on behalf of best-actor winner Colin Farrell and best-screenplay winner Martin McDonagh, neither of whom could make it to the gala. (Seth Meyers, introducing Farrell’s award, passed on a message from the actor that “he wanted me to tell you, and this is a direct quote, how fecking sorry he is.”) Condon took a few comedic liberties on the speeches her friends prepared, quipping that “Martin is in Southeast Asia, which is a long way to go to avoid an awards ceremony,” and during Farrell’s remarks, “then he goes into this long bit to make me red in the face, and I’m not reading it.” 

Accepting Marcel the Shell with Shoes On’s award for best animated feature, Jenny Slate said, “I think we tried to make a film that showed the shape of an embrace. It just ended up looking like a shell with one eye and two shoes.”

The gala was a remarkable gathering of names, the New York film and arts community getting together in person for their traditional January celebration for the first time since 2020 for the presentation of the awards. David Byrne, Keke Palmer, Nan Goldin, Jim Jarmusch, Jordan Peele, and more were on hand.