Nashville-based critics' group the Music City Film Critics’ Association announced the winners of its sixth annual awards Monday, honoring the best in film for the 2023 calendar year.
After tying the organization’s record for most nominations (fittingly alongside fellow 2023 film phenomenon Barbie), Oppenheimer has now broken the group's record for most wins in a single year with seven, including the top honors of Best Picture and Best Director.
The warm-yet-caustic The Holdovers earned the second-most wins with four, including a trio of acting honors and the Best Screenplay award. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things followed with three.
Among the wins for Poor Things was the Jim Ridley Award, named after late Scene editor-in-chief and film critic Jim Ridley. A group of six films was nominated by a panel of five MCFCA members who knew and worked with Ridley. The MCFCA members voted for the winner from that group.
“Jim had a great affection for films with a reach that spanned tradition and invention, taking classical pathways but finding a new route through them,” Jim Ridley Award jury member and Scene critic Jason Shawhan says. “And Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things blazes its trails while making sure its ornate shoulders hold the doors open for all. Raucous, randy and resplendent in glitter and gore, Poor Things is one of the many films we wish Jim had lived to see.”
Stay tuned for the Scene's own annual Jim Ridley Film Poll, which publishes Thursday.
The MCFCA includes more than 30 professional film critics working in or near Nashville, including myself and several other Scene critics. See the full slate of winners below.
Best Picture: Oppenheimer
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Best Actress: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Best Young Actor: Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Best Young Actress: Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Best Acting Ensemble: Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Music Film: Maestro
Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Best International Film: Godzilla Minus One
Best Screenplay: The Holdovers
Best Song (tie): “I’m Just Ken” — Barbie; “What Was I Made For?” — Barbie
Best Score: Oppenheimer
Best Sound: Oppenheimer
Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer
Best Production Design (tie): Barbie; Poor Things
Best Editing: Oppenheimer
Best Comedy Film: Barbie
Best Horror Film: Talk to Me
Best Action Film (tie): Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning: Part One
Best Stunt Work: John Wick: Chapter 4
The Jim Ridley Award: Poor Things
