23rd NSFC Awards

January 9, 1989

---- Best Film:
The Unbearable
Lightness of Being

The 23rd National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 9 January 1989, honored the best filmmaking of

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Winners

Best Picture

1. '' The Unbearable Lightness of Being''
2. '' Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' (''Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios'')
3. ''

Wings of Desire ''Wings of Desire'' (, ; ) is a 1987 romantic fantasy film written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke and Richard Reitinger, and directed by Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its hu ...

'' (''Der Himmel über Berlin'')
3. '' A World Apart''

Best Director

Philip Kaufman Philip Kaufman (born October 23, 1936) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed fifteen films over a career spanning more than six decades. He has been described as a "maverick" and an "iconoclast," notable for his versati ...

– '' The Unbearable Lightness of Being''
2. Chris Menges – '' A World Apart''
3.

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

– ''

'' (''Der Himmel über Berlin'')

Best Actor

1. Michael Keaton – '' Beetlejuice'' and ''

Clean and Sober ''Clean and Sober'' is a 1988 American drama film directed by Glenn Gordon Caron and starring Michael Keaton as a real estate agent struggling with a substance abuse problem. This film served as Keaton's first dramatic departure from comedies. Th ...

''
2.

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...

– ''

Mississippi Burning ''Mississippi Burning'' is a 1988 American crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker that is loosely based on the 1964 murder investigation of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Mississippi. It stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as two FBI ...

''
3. Dustin Hoffman – '' Rain Man''
3. Max von Sydow – '' Pelle the Conqueror'' (''Pelle erobreren'')

Best Actress

1. Judy Davis – '' High Tide''
2. Carmen Maura – '' Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' (''Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios'')
3.

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

– '' Working Girl''
3. Barbara Hershey – '' A World Apart''

Best Supporting Actor

1. Dean Stockwell – '' Married to the Mob'' and '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream''
2.

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

– '' Little Dorrit''
3. Tim Robbins – '' Bull Durham''

Best Supporting Actress

Mercedes Ruehl Mercedes J. Ruehl (; born February 28, 1948) is an American screen, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards, an ...

– '' Married to the Mob''
2. Lena Olin – '' The Unbearable Lightness of Being''
3.

Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and ...

– '' Dangerous Liaisons''

Best Screenplay

1. Ron Shelton – '' Bull Durham''
2.

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

and Norman Snider – '' Dead Ringers''
3.

Shawn Slovo Shawn Slovo (born 1950) is a South African screenwriter, best known for the film '' A World Apart'', based on her childhood under apartheid. She is the daughter of South African Communist Party leaders Joe Slovo and Ruth First. She wrote the screen ...

– '' A World Apart''

Best Cinematography

1. Henri Alekan – ''

'' (''Der Himmel über Berlin'')''
2. Sven Nykvist – '' The Unbearable Lightness of Being''
3. Philippe Rousselot – '' Dangerous Liaisons''
3.

Conrad L. Hall Conrad Lafcadio Hall, (June 21, 1926 – January 4, 2003) was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing such films as '' In Cold Blood'', ...

– '' Tequila Sunrise''
3.

Vittorio Storaro Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940) is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including ''The Conformist,'' ''Apocalypse Now ...

– '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream''

Best Documentary

1. '' The Thin Blue Line''
2. '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie''
3. '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (''Tôkyô orimpikku'')

Special Award

* Pedro Almodóvar

References

External links

Past Awards
{{NSFC Awards Chron

National Society of Film Critics Awards National Society of Film Critics Awards National Society of Film Critics Awards