'Inside Llewyn Davis' Wins Big At US Critics Society Awards

Inside Llewyn Davis took home the top honour at the National Society of Film Critics Awards last night, winning the majority of votes from the panel made up of some of America's top film critics from the nation's best-known publishers. Having already found success at the Gotham Awards last month, the latest win for ...Llewyn Davis might further outline the credentials of the latest Coen Brothers film as a potential Oscar contender, having largely been overlooked by most commentators.

The film's star Oscar Isaac was also honoured with the Best Actor award

The film was crowned Best Picture ahead of American Hustle, which came second in the overall voting, and 12 Years a Slave, which placed third. Despite winning yet another award, the Coen Brother's 'a week in the life' tale of a musician traveling through the Greenwich folk scene in 60's New York is still largely considered an outsider for major awards success, however if these gongs keep on piling up for the Coens then the Academy may be persuaded to change their mind somewhat when the votes are cast.

The nation's film critics also acknowledged the work of lead actor Oscar Isaacs in the film, awarding him the Best Actor award ahead of Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave and Robert Redford in All Is Lost. Joel and Ethan Coen also took home the Best Director award for the film, beating Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity and 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen. The film also took home the award for Best Cinematography, but lost out to Before Midnight in the Best Screenplay category.

Watch the trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis

Also being honoured on the night was Cate Blanchett, who won the Best Actress award for Blue Jasmine. Also the front-runner for Oscar success, Blanchett was placed ahead of Blue Is the Warmest Color actress Adèle Exarchopoulos and Before Midnight's Julie Delpy for the award. The two supporting awards were given to James Franco and Jennifer Lawrence, recognising their acting ability in Spring Breakers and American Hustle, respectively. Blue Is the Warmest Color won the Best Foreign-Language Film award and The Act of Killing was given the award for Best Non-Fiction Film.

Next Page: The full list of winners and nominees

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The evening was dedicated to two members of the Film Critics Society who sadly passed away in the last twelve months: Roger Ebert and Stanley Kauffmann. The Society hoped to recognise the preferences of the fallen critics as well as their own when voting was cast. The full list of winners and nominees is available below.

Blue is the Warmest Color has been routinely praised since it's release

Best Picture

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. American Hustle
3. 12 Years a Slave

Best Director

1. Joel and Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity
3. Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Blue Is the Warmest Color
2. A Touch of Sin
3. The Great Beauty

Best Non-Fiction Film

1. The Act of Killing
2. At Berkeley
3. Leviathan

Best Screenplay

1. Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke - Before Midnight
2. Joel and Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Eric Singer and David O. Russell - American Hustle

Best Cinematography

1. Bruno Delbonnel - Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Emmanuel Lubezki - Gravity
3. Phedon Papamichael - Nebraska

Best Actor

1. Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
3. Robert Redford - All Is Lost

Best Actress

1. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
2. Adèle Exarchopoulos - Blue Is the Warmest Color
3. Julie Delpy - Before Midnight

Best Supporting Actor

1. James Franco - Spring Breakers
2. Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
3. Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

Best Supporting Actress

1. Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
2. Lupita Nyong’o - 12 Years a Slave
3. Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
4. Léa Seydoux - Blue Is the Warmest Color

Experimental Film Award
Leviathan - Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

Film Heritage Award
To the Museum of Modern Art, for its wide-ranging retrospective of the films of Allan Dwan.
Too Much Johnson: the surviving reels from Orson Welles’s first professional film. Discovered by Cinemazero (Pordenone) and Cineteca del Friuli; funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation; and restored by the George Eastman House.
British Film Institute for restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s nine silent features.
To the DVD American Treasures from the New Zealand Film Archive

Best Film Still Awaiting US Distribution
Stray Dogs
Hide Your Smiling Faces

American Hustle, starring Bradley Cooper (L) and Christian Bale (R), is one of the top contenders for Oscar success