The Power Of The Dog Wins Four At 42nd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards

Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog scooped the top prize at the 42nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards which took place on Sunday at the Mayfair Hotel in London. As well as receiving the award for Film of the Year, The Power of the Dog saw Campion crowned as Director of the Year, and actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi Smit-McPhee win Actor of the Year and Supporting Actor of the Year respectively, bringing The Power of the Dog a grand total of four awards.

Elsewhere, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car picked up two awards, winning Foreign Language Film of the Year and Screenwriter of the Year for Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe.

The Souvenir Part II was also recognised twice. Joanna Hogg’s film won British/Irish Film of the Year, two years after The Souvenir scooped the same award. The Souvenir Part II was also one of the films for which Tilda Swinton received the British/Irish Actress of the Year award for her body of work in 2021, with her performances in Memoria and The French Dispatch also amongst those being recognised.

Andrew Garfield was crowned as the British/Irish Actor of the Year for his body of work in 2021, including The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Mainstream and Tick, Tick…Boom! This award will be well received by those who believed that Garfield was unfairly snubbed by the BAFTA’s.

Another performance that many believed was also snubbed by the BAFTA’s was Olivia Colman’s performance in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter and thus they will be pleased to see that Colman earned Actress of the Year for her performance.

Other awards saw Ruth Negga pick up Supporting Actress of the Year and Rebecca Hall pick up The Phillip French Award for Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker both for Passing, and eleven year old Woody Norman picked up the award for Young British/Irish Performer for C’mon, C’mon.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won the Technical Achievement Award and looks to be a frontrunner for the upcoming BAFTA’s and Academy Awards. Another BAFTA nominee, Summer of Soul or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised also won on the night, collecting the Documentary of the Year.

Rounding off the full list of awards was Play It Safe, which won British/Irish Short Film. This was the second year in which the awards ceremony took place virtually from The Mayfair Hotel, with the majority of the winners providing video messages of acceptance. An event to celebrate this year’s winners in person is planned for later in the year.

Full List of Winners:

Film of the Year – The Power of the Dog

British/Irish Film of the Year – The Souvenir Part II

Foreign Language Film of the Year – Drive My Car

Documentary Film of the Year – Summer of Soul or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised

Director of the Year – Jane Campion

Screenwriter of the Year – Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe – Drive My Car

Actress of the Year – Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter

Actor of the Year – Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog

Supporting Actress of the Year – Ruth Negga – Passing

Supporting Actor of the Year – Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog

Technical Achievement Award – Dune

British/Irish Actress of the Year – Tilda Swinton – for her body of work in 2021 including The Souvenir Part II, Memoria and The French Dispatch

British/Irish Actor of the Year – Andrew Garfield – for his body of work in 2021 including The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Mainstream, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Tick, Tick…Boom!

Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker – Rebecca Hall – Passing

Young British/Irish Performer – Woody Norman – C’mon, C’mon

British/Irish Short Film – Play It Safe