The National Society of Film Critics have convened and given out their prizes for 2025. Following along with most precursors, One Battle After Another has taken Best Picture, with Best Director going to Paul Thomas Anderson. You can see the full results below.
Best Picture
Winner: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (57 points)
Runners-up: SINNERS (29 points) & THE SECRET AGENT (27 points)
Best Director
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (54 points)
Runners-up: Jafar Panahi, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (48 points) & Richard Linklater, BLUE MOON and NOUVELLE VAGUE (39 points)
Best Actress
Winner: Kathleen Chalfant, FAMILIAR TOUCH (45 points)
Runners-up: Rose Byrne, IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU (39 points) & Renate Reinsve, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (37 points)
Best Actor
Winner: Ethan Hawke, BLUE MOON (57 points)
Runners-up: Wagner Moura, THE SECRET AGENT (43 points) & Michael B. Jordan, SINNERS (36 points)
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Teyana Taylor, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (56 points)
Runners-up: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (47 points) & Wunmi Mosaku, SINNERS (41 points)
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Benicio del Toro, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (54 points)
Runners-up: Delroy Lindo, SINNERS (37 points) & Stellan Skarsgård, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (30 points)
Best Screenplay
Winner: Jafar Panahi, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (53 points)
Runners-up: Robert Kaplow, BLUE MOON (50 points) & Kleber Mendonça Filho, THE SECRET AGENT (40 points)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, SINNERS (50 points)
Runners-up: Adolpho Veloso, TRAIN DREAMS (36 points) & Michael Bauman, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (29 points)
Best Nonfiction Film
Winner: MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW (56 points)
Runners-up: THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (22 points) & ORWELL: 2+2=5 (18 points)
Best Film Not In The English Language
Winner: THE SECRET AGENT (58 points)
Runners-up: IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (57 points) & SENTIMENTAL VALUE (38 points)
Best Experimental Film: MORNING CIRCLE (Basma al-Sharif)
Film Heritage Award: The late Ken and Flo Jacobs, an irreplaceable, gravitational center of the American avant-garde, with a shared artistic sensibility that helped define experimental cinema.
Film Heritage Award: The Film Desk, for releasing key movies from all over the world, in 35mm prints and on home video, and publishing books that have enriched the public’s knowledge of cinema.
Film Heritage Award: Cinema Tropical, for its tireless efforts to distribute, program and promote Latin American cinema in the U.S.
Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: LANDMARKS (Lucrecia Martel)



I’m as big a One Battle After Another fanboy as any you’ll find on this site, but before readers declare “Oh, well, this news obviously solidifies the movie as the locked-in frontrunner for Best Picture,” keep in mind that Drive My Car, The Social Network, L.A. Confidential, and Goodfellas also swept the top awards from the LAFCA, NYFCC, and NSFC.
Granted, so did Schindler’s List and The Hurt Locker, but still, we should remember that unanimous critical adulation does not always guarantee Academy dominance…