Going out on a limb, the San Diego critics made some strange and unusual choices. Picking a handful of Oscar contenders, but otherwise going straight for non-competitors, their selections are idiosyncratic, which is interesting, but inconsequential.

Award Tallies

(3) Leave No Trace
(2) The Favourite

The Awards

Best Picture

Leave No Trace (Runner-Up: Green Book)

Best Animated Film

Isle of Dogs (Runner-Up: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)

Best Director

Leave No Trace – Debra Granik (Runner-Up: Green Book – Peter Farrelly)

Best Actor

Ethan Hawke – First Reformed (Runner-Up: Viggo Mortensen – Green Book)

Best Actress

Glenn Close – The Wife (Runner-Up: Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Supporting Actor

TIE:
Timothée Chalamet – Beautiful Boy
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Supporting Actress

Nicole Kidman – Boy Erased (Runner-Up: Nina Arianda – Stan & Ollie)

Best Original Screenplay

Eighth Grade (Runner-Up: Green Book)

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Death of Stalin (Runner-Up: Boy Erased)

Best Use of Music in a Film

Bad Times at the El Royale (Runner-Up: Bohemian Rhapsody)

Best Editing

Game Night (Runner-Up: A Quiet Place)

Best Cinematography

TIE:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Rider

Best Production Design

The Favourite (Runner-Up: Stan & Ollie)

Best Costume Design

The Favourite (Runner-Up: Paddington 2)

Best Visual Effects

Ready Player One (Runner-Up: Christopher Robin)

Best Foreign Film

Shoplifters (Runner-Up: Capernaum)

Best Documentary

Three Identical Strangers (Runner-Up: Free Solo)

Best Ensemble

Game Night (Runner-Up: The Favourite)

Best Comedic Performance

Hugh Grant – Paddington 2 (Runner-Up: Jesse Plemons – Game Night)

Breakthrough Artist

Thomasin McKenzie – Leave No Trace (Runner-Up: Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete)

Body of Work

John C. Reilly – The Sisters Brothers, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Stan & Ollie

San Diego Film Critics Society Data

First Awards: 1996 (23)