NEW YORK – The New York Film Critics Circle on Friday voted Kelly Reichardt's Western fable “First Cow” the best film of 2020, while also giving special honors to Spike Lee and the art-house distributor Kino Lorber for their roles in a movie year deeply marred by the pandemic.The film critics, assembling virtually, gave its top award to “First Cow,” a delicate tale of friendship and capitalism in mid-1800s Oregon Territory.
Reichardt's film, released in theaters in March just days before the onset of COVID-19 forced cinemas to close nationwide, hasn't been widely seen but remains one of the year's most critically acclaimed film.