‘A Most Violent Year’ Named Best Film by National Board of Review

The National Board of Review has named “A Most Violent Year” as the best film of 2014.

The selection was a surprise in an awards season that has so far been split between “Boyhood” (New York Film Critics Circle winner) and “Birdman” (the Gotham Awards victor).

“A Most Violent Year,” directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, is a drama set in a crime-ridden New York winter of 1981.

Both Chastain (best supporting actress) and Isaac (best actor), who shares the prize with “Birdman” star Michael Keaton, were also honored. Julianne Moore won best actress for her role as a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in the Sony Pictures Classics drama “Still Alice.”

Clint Eastwood took best director for “American Sniper.”

The National Board of Review dinner will take place on Jan. 6, 2015 in New York. The full list of winners is below.

Best Film: “A Most Violent Year”
Best Director: Clint Eastwood (“American Sniper”)
Best Actor (TIE): Oscar Isaac (“A Most Violent Year”) and Michael Keaton (“Birdman”)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”)
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton (“Birdman”)
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (“A Most Violent Year”)
Best Original Screenplay: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“The Lego Movie”)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (“Inherent Vice”)
Best Animated Feature: “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
Breakthrough Performance: Jack O’Connell (“Starred Up” and “Unbroken”)
Best Directorial Debut: Gillian Robespierre (“Obvious Child”)
Best Foreign Language Film: “Wild Tales”
Best Documentary: “Life Itself”
William K. Everson Film History Award: Scott Eyman
Best Ensemble: “Fury”
Spotlight Award: Chris Rock for writing, directing, and starring in “Top Five”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “Rosewater”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “Selma”

Top 10 Films
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Fury”
“Gone Girl”
“The Imitation Game”
“Inherent Vice”
“The Lego Movie”
“Nightcrawler”
“Unbroken”

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
“Force Majeure”
“Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem”
“Leviathan”
“Two Days, One Night”
“We Are the Best!”

Top 5 Documentaries
“Art and Craft”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Keep On Keepin’ On”
“The Kill Team”
“Last Days in Vietnam”

Top 10 Independent Films
“Blue Ruin”
“Locke”
“A Most Wanted Man”
“Mr. Turner”
“Obvious Child”
“The Skeleton Twins”
“Snowpiercer”
“Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”
“Starred Up”
“Still Alice”