Paul Thomas Anderson just ran the table. Again.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) announced their 2025 winners on December 7, and the results were practically a coronation for One Battle After Another. Anderson’s crime thriller didn’t just win Best Picture; it effectively suffocated the competition. Best Director. Best Supporting Performance. Runner-up for Editing. It’s the kind of sweep that makes Oscar strategists pop champagne and general audiences ask, “Wait, is that the one with the guy from Titanic?”—impressive. Historic. Boring.
This victory marks a rare trifecta. One Battle After Another has now claimed the top prize from the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), the National Board of Review (NBR), and the LAFCA. The last time a film managed this was The Social Network in 2010. Before that? You have to go back to L.A. Confidential in ’97.
The Strategy: Consensus Over Chaos
I’ve seen this before. Critics groups usually try to be the “smartest person in the room,” picking obscure international gems just to flex their cinephile muscles. Not this year. The LAFCA went straight down the middle. By aligning so perfectly with NYFCC and NBR, they’ve removed any suspense from the early awards season—anyway, back to the laziness.
There’s a specific laziness to it. Sure, One Battle After Another is technically proficient—Anderson doesn’t know how to make a bad movie—but the sheer uniformity of praise feels like a glitch in the matrix. Or maybe just groupthink. Folks, this is the marketing insight nobody’s saying out loud: when critics all agree, it’s often because the safest choice is the one that offends the least.
The runner-up for Best Picture was The Secret Agent, which also took Best Foreign Film. That’s the “eat your vegetables” pick. Respectable, important, and destined to be watched by exactly twelve people on MUBI.
Acting Winners: Finally, Some Justice
If there’s a bright spot in this wall of consensus, it’s Rose Byrne. Winning Best Lead Performance for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a massive, earned victory. Byrne has been the industry’s most reliable secret weapon for decades, and seeing her sweep the critics’ circuit is satisfying. She shared the honor with Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, another performance that screams “career-best” in a film that might be too weird for the Academy’s taste.
But let’s talk about who isn’t here. Jennifer Lawrence.
MUBI paid $24 million for Die, My Love at Sundance. They banked everything on J-Law’s star power carrying an arthouse nightmare. The result? Silence. She hasn’t appeared on a single major critics’ list. The film bombed. The investment evaporated. That is the smell of burning money—burning. Smoldering. Gone.
Visuals That Actually Matter
One specific observation: The Cinematography prize went to Train Dreams. Good. Adolpho Veloso’s work in that film uses natural light in a way that makes most digital productions look like they were shot in a parking lot. It’s tactile. It’s dirty. It’s real cinema—the kind where shadows fall wrong on purpose, forcing you to lean in. It beat out Sinners, which looks great but feels manufactured, with that glossy sheen that screams “post-production polish over raw vision.”
The documentary prize went to the 5-hour-plus epic My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow. I haven’t seen it. You haven’t seen it. Nobody has seen it except the jurors because distribution for 5-hour docs is non-existent. But hey, it sounds important.
What This Means for March
Winning the LAFCA/NYFCC/NBR trifecta puts One Battle After Another in the history books, but it also puts a target on its back. The Academy rarely likes to just rubber-stamp the critics’ choices. They want to feel like they discovered something.
Anderson is the frontrunner, undeniably. But watch out for Sinners. Ryan Coogler was the runner-up for Director, and the film took Production Design. It’s hovering. Waiting.
The complete list of winners is below. Read it and weep (or yawn).
LAFCA 2025 Winners List
Best Picture
One Battle After Another
Runner-up: The Secret Agent
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Best Lead Performance
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon and Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Tie)
Runners-up: Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme and Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Best Supporting Performance
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value and Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another (Tie)
Runners-up: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value and Andrew Scott, Blue Moon
Best Screenplay
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Runner-up: Eva Victor, Sorry Baby
Best Cinematography
Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams
Runner-up: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Best Documentary/Nonfiction
My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow
Runner-up: The Perfect Neighbor
Best Animation
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Runner-up: KPop Demon Hunters
Best Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Runner-up: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another
Best Production Design
Hannah Beachler, Sinners
Runner-up: Tamara Deverell, Frankenstein
Best Music Score
Kangding Ray, Sirât
Runner-up: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners
Best Foreign Film
The Secret Agent
Runner-up: It Was Just an Accident
What the LAFCA Results Actually Signal
- The PTA Coronation: The trifecta win makes Anderson the statistical favorite, but historically, early sweepers often fatigue before the Oscars, like The Social Network did.
- The Indie Gap: The disconnect between critics’ darlings (5-hour docs) and audience realities (box office bombs like Die, My Love) is widening, highlighting the growing divide between prestige and popularity.
- Gender Neutrality: LAFCA continuing with gender-neutral acting categories highlights performances like Teyana Taylor’s that might get siloed elsewhere, forcing the Academy to catch up.
- The Netflix/Streamer Void: Notable absence of streamer-heavy projects in the top tier, signaling a return to theatrical preference among critics who value the big screen experience.
FAQ
Why does ‘One Battle After Another’ winning the LAFCA matter for the Oscars?
Because it completes a rare “Triple Crown” of critics’ awards (NYFCC, NBR, LAFCA), a feat only four films have achieved in 45 years. This overwhelming early consensus creates momentum that’s nearly impossible for Oscar voters to ignore, turning Anderson’s film into the one to beat—though the Academy often rebels against such clear frontrunners to assert their independence.
Why wasn’t Jennifer Lawrence nominated for ‘Die, My Love’?
Because the film was a commercial disaster that alienated both audiences and critics despite MUBI’s $24M bet. Star power can’t save a project with a tone too abrasive for mainstream appeal, and when the box office bombs while the execution feels pretentious, voters prioritize genuine breakthroughs over name recognition—it’s a harsh but fair reality of awards season.
Do LAFCA awards predict Oscar winners accurately?
They predict the conversation and nominations more than the final winners, as LAFCA often favors adventurous choices the Academy finds too risky. When they align with NYFCC and NBR like this year, it creates unbeatable momentum, but the Oscars love a contrarian twist—remember The Social Network? It won everything early on, then lost to The King’s Speech. The pattern is clear: early sweeps guarantee attention, not the trophy.
