Best Picture by Boston Society of Film Critics
All winners of the 'Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film' from 1980 through 2021.
Last updated: May 3rd, 2022
Weight: 25
Detractions
- Limited to ~50 years or less (-50)
- Yearly award (-25)
Films (43)
1. Drive My Car
Directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Rated Unrated | 179 min | 2021
A renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with his wife's unexpected passing when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
2. Nomadland
Directed by Chloé Zhao | Rated R | 107 min | 2020
After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
3. Little Women
Directed by Greta Gerwig | Rated PG | 135 min | 2019
Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on their own terms.
4. If Beale Street Could Talk
Directed by Barry Jenkins | Rated N/A | 119 min | 2018
A woman in Harlem embraces her pregnancy while she and her family struggle to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime.
5. Phantom Thread
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson | Rated R | 130 min | 2017
Set in 1950's London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.
6. La La Land
Directed by Damien Chazelle | Rated PG-13 | 128 min | 2016
A jazz pianist falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles.
7. Spotlight
Directed by Tom McCarthy | Rated R | 128 min | 2015
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
8. Boyhood
Directed by Richard Linklater | Rated R | 165 min | 2014
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
9. 12 Years a Slave
Directed by Steve McQueen | Rated R | 134 min | 2013
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
10. Zero Dark Thirty
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow | Rated R | 157 min | 2012
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
11. The Artist
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius | Rated PG-13 | 100 min | 2011
A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
12. The Social Network
Directed by David Fincher | Rated PG-13 | 120 min | 2010
Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
13. Slumdog Millionaire
Directed by Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Rated R | 120 min | 2008
A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
14. WALL·E
Directed by Andrew Stanton | Rated G | 98 min | 2008
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
15. The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow | Rated R | 131 min | 2008
During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
16. No Country for Old Men
Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Rated R | 122 min | 2007
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
17. The Departed
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 151 min | 2006
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
18. Brokeback Mountain
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated R | 134 min | 2005
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
19. Sideways
Directed by Alexander Payne | Rated R | 126 min | 2004
Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.
20. Mystic River
Directed by Clint Eastwood | Rated R | 138 min | 2003
With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one has a family tragedy.
21. The Pianist
Directed by Roman Polanski | Rated R | 150 min | 2002
A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.
22. Mulholland Drive
Directed by David Lynch | Rated R | 147 min | 2001
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
23. Almost Famous
Directed by Cameron Crowe | Rated R | 122 min | 2000
A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour.
24. Three Kings
Directed by David O. Russell | Rated R | 114 min | 1999
In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, 4 soldiers set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help.
25. Out of Sight
Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Rated R | 123 min | 1998
A career bank robber breaks out of jail and shares a moment of mutual attraction with a US Marshall he has kidnapped.
26. L.A. Confidential
Directed by Curtis Hanson | Rated R | 138 min | 1997
As corruption grows in 1950s LA, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
27. Trainspotting
Directed by Danny Boyle | Rated R | 94 min | 1996
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
28. Sense and Sensibility
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated PG | 136 min | 1995
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the titular opposites.
29. Pulp Fiction
Directed by Quentin Tarantino | Rated R | 154 min | 1994
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
30. Schindler's List
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated R | 195 min | 1993
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.
31. Unforgiven
Directed by Clint Eastwood | Rated R | 131 min | 1992
Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.
32. The Silence of the Lambs
Directed by Jonathan Demme | Rated R | 118 min | 1991
A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
33. Goodfellas
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 146 min | 1990
Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy.
34. Crimes and Misdemeanors
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG-13 | 104 min | 1989
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife, while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated by another woman.
35. Bull Durham
Directed by Ron Shelton | Rated R | 108 min | 1988
A fan who has an affair with one minor-league baseball player each season meets an up-and-coming pitcher and the experienced catcher assigned to him.
36. Hope and Glory
Directed by John Boorman | Rated PG-13 | 113 min | 1987
A semi-autobiographical project by John Boorman about a nine year old boy called Bill as he grows up in London during the blitz of World War 2. For a young boy, this time in history was ...
37. Blue Velvet
Directed by David Lynch | Rated R | 120 min | 1986
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
38. Ran
Directed by Akira Kurosawa | Rated R | 162 min | 1985
Set in Japan in the 16th century (or so), an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them, or cause them to turn on each other...and him...
39. The Killing Fields
Directed by Roland Joffé | Rated R | 141 min | 1984
A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody "Year Zero" cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million "undesirable" civilians.
40. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 115 min | 1982
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home-world.
41. The Night of the Shooting Stars
Directed by Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani | Rated R | 105 min | 1982
The Night of San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. In 1944, a group of Italians flee their town after hearing rumours that ...
42. Pixote
Directed by Hector Babenco | Rated R | 128 min | 1981
The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with little crimes, prostitution, etc
43. Raging Bull
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 129 min | 1980
An emotionally self-destructive boxer's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside it.