Inside the LA Film Critics’ best of 2021 vote, from ‘Drive My Car’ to ‘Barb & Star’
LOS ANGELES — “Drive My Car,” an elegant, multi-threaded drama from Japanese director-co-writer Ryusuke Hamaguchi, won best picture from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Saturday. It was the latest of the many times that L.A. critics have chosen a non-English-language film as the year’s best, following such earlier winners as “Parasite” and “Roma.” “Drive My Car,” adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story, also won the organization’s screenplay prize.
Other honorees included the 1920s Montana Western “The Power of the Dog,” which won awards for director Jane Campion, cinematographer Ari Wegner and supporting actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, who tied in that category with Vincent Lindon (“Titane”). Penelope Cruz won lead actress for “Parallel Mothers,” Ariana DeBose won supporting actress for “West Side Story” and Simon Rex won lead actor for “Red Rocket.” Celine Sciamma’s “Petite Maman” was named best film not in the English language, the documentary “Flee” won the animation prize and the Questlove-directed concert picture “Summer of Soul” won for documentary/nonfiction film and editing.
Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang and reporter Jen Yamato, who are members of the L.A. organization (along with L.A. Times staffers Geoff Berkshire, Mark Olsen, Michael Ordoña and
