“The Rider” Named Best Picture by the National Society of Film Critics

Three votes separated between the feature that was crowned Best Picture and its runner up.

The National Society of Film Critics has chosen its best film of 2018 — Chloe Zhao’s The Rider.

The low-budget feature was inspired by the true story of Brady Jandreauo, a rising rodeo star sidelined because of an accident. Jandreau also starred as the lead, cowboy Brady Blackburn.

The top prize of best picture was won—44 votes to the 41 votes that went to Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. However, Roma did end the night with the most accolades — three in total. Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director, this time Zhao was a runner-up in the category, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film.

Ethan Hawke and Olivia Colman took home the best actor and actress awards for their performances in First Reformed and The Favourite respectively. 

See the complete list of winners below:

Best Picture: The Rider, dir. Chloé Zhao

Runners-up: Roma (dir. Alfonso Cuarón), Burning (dir. Lee Chang-dong)

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

Runners-up: Lee Chang-dong (Burning), Chloé Zhao (The Rider)

Best Actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Runners-up: Regina Hall (Support the Girls), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

Runners-up: Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Ben Foster (Leave No Trace), John C. Reilly (The Sisters Brothers and Stan & Ollie)

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Runners-up: Elizabeth Debicki (Widows), Emma Stone (The Favourite)

Best Supporting Actor: Steven Yeun, Burning

Runners-up: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Brian Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk, Widows, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)

Best Screenplay: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, and Ian Martin, The Death of Stalin

Runners-up: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite)

Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

Runners-up: James Laxton (If Beale Street Could Talk), Lukasz Zal (Cold War)

Best Foreign Language Film: Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)

Runners-up: Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski), Burning (Lee Chang-dong), Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)