The film 'Oppenheimer', by British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, was the big winner of the 29th edition of the Critics Choice Awards with 8 awards, including best film and best director, surpassing the popular Barbie, which won 6 statuettes, but in smaller categories.
"We have convinced the public that a film about quantum physics and the nuclear apocalypse can be worth it," said Nolan when collecting the award for best director, which was added to the award for best film, soundtrack, special effects, editing, photography, cast and supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.) for Oppenheimer.
Barbie, who arrived as a favorite after breaking the historical record of nominations with 19 nominations, won in the sections of best comedy, song (I'm just Ken), hair and makeup, production design, costume design and original script for the work by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.
The result of these awards, considered one of the thermometers of the Oscars and voted by 600 critics and specialized journalists, consecrated, in general terms, the winners of the recent Golden Globes, but still left a minimum margin for surprise.
And the American Paul Giamatti beat the Irishman Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) with "Those Who Remain" as best actor and did his part so that Alexander Payne's film had a good taste in its mouth: Da'Vine Joy Randolph She also emerged as best supporting performer and Dominic Sessa as best young actor.
"I'm glad you liked this film that tells a good story about people connecting in divisive times," said an incredulous Giamatti, ending by thanking Payne for including him in this project.
The award for best actress of the course went to Emma Stone, whose role in Poor Creatures surpassed other highly acclaimed performances such as Lily Gladstone in Killers on the Moon.
In fact, this film was not recognized in any Critics Choice category and its director, Martin Scorsese, did not even attend the gala.
This also honored the six decades of career of the famous Harrison Ford, who, under a shower of applause from colleagues such as Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, celebrated "everyone's effort to maintain the industry."
"I am here thanks to a combination of luck and the work of magnificent directors, screenwriters and other professionals. I feel very lucky, I value this award very much," Ford briefly stated, not wanting to "steal any more time" from the ceremony.
In addition, actress America Ferrera was presented with the SeeHer award, given to women who defend gender equality and challenge stereotypes in the industry, from Margot Robbie, her co-star in 'Barbie'.
The timid Hispanic representation in the cinematographic sections, which this year was personified by the Mexican director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie and The Moon Killers) and the Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona (The Snow Society), was reduced to nothing.
The two films for which Prieto was nominated were defeated by Oppenheimer, while Bayona witnessed how the French film Anatomy of a Fall once again surpassed his latest work after doing the same at the Golden Globes.
On the small screen, Succession and The Bear met all expectations in the drama and comedy genres, respectively.
The fourth and final season of the series inspired by the ruthless Roy family won best drama and Sarah Snook won recognition for best actress in this genre.
Minutes later, the Mexican Gael García Bernal was in charge of revealing the best dramatic performer, which finally fell neither to the Chilean Pedro Pascal ('The Last of Us') nor to the Puerto Rican-American Ramón Rodríguez (Will Trent), but to Kieran Culkin, also from Succession.
The Bear was crowned best comedy and saw the triumph of its protagonist Jeremy Allen White as best actor in a comedy series and that of his partner Ayo Edebiri in the female version of this award.
"Thank you so much to all my castmates. We achieved this just by making sandwiches," joked Allen White, chef Carmy Berzatto on The Bear and one of the celebrities of the moment, when accepting the award.
The phenomenon Bronca, one of the most watched titles last year on Netflix, starred in another seamless victory as best limited series of the year and its main characters, Alice Wong and Steven Yeun, were awarded as best actors in this format.
