new york film critics circle award for best film

After her father had an affair and her mother passed away, Clara's stepmother moved in with her illegitimate son, throwing Clara into a world of trouble. The scheming stepmother wanted her own son to study abroad, so she pressured Clara to drop out of school and get married, using the dowry to fund her son's education. But Clara, determined not to give up on her dreams, took on all sorts of part-time jobs. One day, she saved an elderly lady, and through a twist of fate, ended up marrying the woman's grandson. Clara was ready to keep working hard to support herself, only to find out her new husband was actually a super-rich tycoon pretending to be a poor employee! Deciding to play along with his charade, a hilarious and absurd drama ensued!

Julian Hall, a billionaire with a strict no-office-romance rule, found himself breaking his own code when he fell for his new secretary, Iselin Wenton. Summoning all his courage, he confessed his feelings, only to be rejected and sent packing. Determined to win her over, Julian enlisted the help of his young son, Charlie, as his secret wingman. What Julian didn't realize was that Charlie was actually the son he unknowingly shared with Iselin. Unwavering in their loyalty, Charlie and his sister, Bonnie, sided with their mom. But the clever siblings had a plan of their own—they decided to play matchmakers and bring their parents back together. After a series of unexpected twists and hilarious turns, the two little agents succeeded in reuniting their family and giving Julian and Iselin a second chance at love!

Murphy was once a "simp" who misused company funds to support his girlfriend's family, nearly driving the company to bankruptcy. His girlfriend cheated on him with her first love and tried to steal a project, putting Murphy at risk of a $50 million compensation. At this moment, he awakened a system that promised to "Employee Spending Rebate System." With only six remaining employees wanting to resign, Murphy lied about being a wealthy heir and fulfilled their needs. The employees gradually began to believe in him and started working overtime to finish the project. After completion, Murphy not only avoided the $50 million compensation but also hit back at his ex-girlfriend's family. When they sought to reconcile or join the company during their downfall, Murphy rejected and humiliated them. He continued to invest in new employees, and his career began to turn around.

After her father had an affair and her mother passed away, Clara's stepmother moved in with her illegitimate son, throwing Clara into a world of trouble. The scheming stepmother wanted her own son to study abroad, so she pressured Clara to drop out of school and get married, using the dowry to fund her son's education. But Clara, determined not to give up on her dreams, took on all sorts of part-time jobs. One day, she saved an elderly lady, and through a twist of fate, ended up marrying the woman's grandson. Clara was ready to keep working hard to support herself, only to find out her new husband was actually a super-rich tycoon pretending to be a poor employee! Deciding to play along with his charade, a hilarious and absurd drama ensued!

As the only daughter of the Merrick family, Kirsty Merrick bears the responsibility of marrying into the prestigious Bartley family to lead the Merrick family to new heights, as carefully orchestrated by her mother Evanna Taylor. Kirsty successfully secures a betrothal with Morgan Bartley, the playboy son of the Bartley family's second heir. Unknown to Kirsty, Morgan has been secretly involved with Jess Merrick, Kirsty's only friend who grew up with her in an orphanage. Years later, when brought back to the Merrick family, the kindhearted Kirsty could not bear to abandon Jess, and thus pleaded with her parents to take Jess in as well. Now, Jess has begun an affair with Kirsty's fiance Morgan. To get back at Morgan, Kirsty designs a plan to seduce and intoxicate Nicolai Bartley, the young CEO of the Bartley Group, leading to the start of a dangerous "underground affair."

Due to an arranged engagement, Marie Hodge marries a scumbag, Sean Logan, in her previous life. Sean steals her university acceptance and gives it to his mistress, Brittany. For fifty years of marriage, Sean secretly takes half his salary to support Brittany while Marie works herself to death managing the household for family and husband. Neighbors call her a virtuous wife, but when his first love dies, Sean doesn’t hesitate to follow her in death, leaving a will to be buried with his Brittany and giving his property to Brittany’s daughter Kimberly. Getting another chance, Marie secretly intercepts the acceptance letter. With the wedding approaching, Marie only prepares for university enrollment, waiting for the wedding day to stand up the groom, kick Sean to the curb, and welcome her new life.

Jana was the ultimate admirer of the school heartthrob Zell for three long years. She brought him breakfast, bought him medicine,and was on call 24/7, 365 days a year. On New Year's Eve, after her 1,081st confession was publicly humiliated, she declared "game over" and walked away. It turned out that she was actually the heir to the Carter Group. Three years ago, to win a bet with her childhood friend Zed, Jana had pretended to be a poor girl to pursue Zell. Three years later, with the bet concluded, Jana reclaimed her identity and left Zell. When Zell learned the truth, he was filled with regret. He teamed up with the malicious Wendy to seek revenge at Jana and Zed's wedding, but their plan backfired and they were utterly defeated!

Customs officer Wynne Sutton died in the line of duty, only to wake up in the body of a character from a novel. She was now the wife of the hero, Lance Shelton. In this new world, she weighed 200 pounds and was mocked by everyone as Madma Pig. She also had a five-year-old son, Henry, who was considered slow-witted. Armed with a weight-loss system, Wynne was determined to turn her life around—and soon discovered that Henry possessed the power of prophecy: his words could come true, he could see people's nationalities, and he could hear their thoughts. When Henry said, "Aunt Lane has 'I am Gapanese' written on her head," Wynne became alert. Riding her motorcycle, she crashed a banquet and confronted Lance, who dared not acknowledge her. Thus began the dramatic tale of her spectacular rise.

Three years ago, Jenny's mother passed away after a serious illness. On her deathbed, she entrusted Jenny to her best friend Mia, who was the richest person. Under Mia's arrangement, Jenny entered into a flash marriage with Mia's son Charles. Right after the marriage, Charles went abroad for work. Three years later, Charles returned home. He mistook Jenny for someone else and accused her of infidelity. Jenny, having waited for her husband in vain for a long time, also felt resentful towards him. Charles hired a detective to investigate Jenny, and by a strange twist of fate, Jenny herself was the one who took on the investigation assignment. During their work interactions, the two developed admiration for each other. Persuaded by Mia, Jenny also rekindled her hope for her husband. However, they missed the chance to clear up misunderstandings at a family gathering. Charles mistakenly thought Jenny was late, left in a fit of pique, and insisted on getting a divorce. Later, Jenny was framed by Jennifer and Johnson. At the critical moment, Charles arrived and rescued her. In an attempt to bring the two together, Mia arranged a bidding conference. At the conference, Charles made a high-profile bid to humiliate Jenny's ex-boyfriend. But due to another misunderstanding, the two missed the opportunity to recognize each other once again...

In her past life, Tracy Harper faced a chilling demise—buried alive by her own husband, Ian Lander, and her sister, Lucy Harper. But fate offered her a second chance when she awoke, thrust back three years in time. Desperate to escape Ian's clutches, Tracy's path collided with Troy Smith, her former fiancé who had once shattered their engagement. Little did she know, Troy too had been reborn. In his previous life, Troy met a tragic end at the hands of Megan Horris, the woman he loved, and her lover. Consumed by a seething hatred towards Megan, Troy found unexpected solace in Tracy's compassion during his final moments. The two, granted a new lease on life, saw their affection grow as they made the scoundrels who had killed them in their past lives pay the price.

Lisa Philip had an affair during her marriage. She trusted Elvis Turner,her first love, and mistakenly believed her husband, Allen Lucas,married her only for her money and was using their daughter to extort wealth from her. This led her to abandon her own child in a critical moment. However, what she didn't know was that Allen had been secretly supporting her career all along, hiding his true identity.Meanwhile, Elvis was just using Lisa, aiming to steal Allen's research results and swindle her family fortune. When the truth finally came to light, Lisa was filled with regret. But Allen and their daughter chose not to forgive her. Allen turned to his long-time secret admirer, his junior schoolmate. And Ann, their daughter, also wanted her to be her new mother, leaving Lisa to wallow in her remorse.

Leah, the daughter of the chairman of CloudSky Airlines, had always dreamed of becoming a pilot. In high school, she fell in love with Harvey and chose to abandon her aspirations to become an air traffic controller for him. Seven years into their marriage, she waited in the control room for his return, only to discover his ambiguous relationship with flight attendant Sheila, leading to their divorce. By then, Leah had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. To ensure Harvey's flying safety, she decided to forgo treatment and continued working. When he confronted her about neglecting her health, Leah realized she could no longer sacrifice herself for someone who didn’t value her. She chose to divorce Harvey. After Leah left, Harvey felt the void in his life without her care. He longed for her return, but she was already building a new life.

In his past life, musician Zack Shelley was framed by his adopted brother Zed Shelley and fiancée Ruby Lewis, left disabled after seven days trapped in a mudslide, and died betrayed by his own sisters. Reborn on the day of the disaster, he is determined to survive and reclaim his stolen life. Despite Zed's efforts to sabotage rescue attempts, Zack endures six grueling days and escapes. He exposes Zed's plagiarism at a pivotal piano competition, but his sisters, Flora and Luna, turn against him even more. Heartbroken, he severs ties with his family. With the help of business titan Whitney Lynd, he defeats Flora in a public contest and unmasks Zed at a high-society banquet. By the time his sisters overhear the truth, it's too late—Zack has already moved on, ready to start a new life abroad, leaving his past behind for good.

Jodie Walsh finds herself transmigrated into a romance novel as the ex-wife who got screwed over. The original character spent five years in an arranged marriage with a CEO tyrant, giving him everything—money, property, her whole heart—only to end up with her family destroyed and herself behind bars. And it gets worse. Her parents, best friend, childhood friends, and basically everyone connected to her was just cannon fodder in the story. Well, time for Jodie to roll up her sleeves and rewrite this mess. Mr. Hotshot CEO? She's going to see how mighty he is after bankruptcy. The pure, innocent female lead? Honey, let's add some darkness to that light. Her parents jumping to their deaths? Not in her version. They'll be doing the disco on her ex-mother-in-law's grave instead. Her bestie killed by her abusive husband? Hmm... such a "wonderful" husband. Let's save him for the female lead's bestie. Her broke aristocratic childhood friends? Here, one business opportunity each, and boom, instant CEOs, easy peasy. And the supposed villain? With that face and those abs? No one's going to object to him being the male protagonist. What's that? You're asking what makes her so badass? Jodie beckons to the mafia boss. "Babe, you tell them." "Simple." Mafia boss grins. "She's the boss lady."

April Simpson takes the blame for murder to protect Reuben Rogers.Seven years later, now facing execution, she's granted ten days of compassionate leave to earn money for her mother's surgery by working as a hostess. There she encounters Reuben, who has become a business mogul. Believing she abandoned him for money years ago, he humiliates her with his wealth. On execution day, Dexter Edwards arrives with new evidence that saves her life.After her release, April desperately needs a liver transplant due to complications from her previous donation. But Reuben forcibly takes the donor liver for Kiara Simpson instead, causing April's mother to die suddenly. In despair, April attempts suicide. Finally learning the truth, a maddened Reuben searches frantically until he finds April, but she now suffers from amnesia. He carefully guards this final tenderness between them, but the truth will eventually shatter this fragile peace.

Leon sacrificed his own career to be a stay-at-home husband for five years, supporting Janice's professional ambitions. However, his silent dedication was met with nothing but cold indifference. After a terminal cancer diagnosis, he left her the divorce papers and disappeared. Janice was initially unmoved, but the growing void in her life and the revelation of all he had done for her—followed by the false news of his death—plunged her into desperate regret, sparking a frantic search. Unknown to her, Leon had been saved and nursed back to health by his doctor, Lydia. As he healed emotionally with her support, their relationship deepened into love. When a remorseful Janice found him and begged for another chance, he firmly rejected her. Instead, he and Lydia, who had cherished him for a decade, committed to marriage. At their wedding, Janice confronted the full reality of her loss, while Leon and Lydia embarked on their new life together.

Six years ago, war god Jake Steel was betrayed by his subordinate Jacob Yeager and left critically wounded. On a stormy night, he rescued Jane Morgan, who had been drugged, and their fates became intertwined. Six years later, Jake goes on a blind date and unexpectedly saves Lailah Morgan and Olivia, Jane's foster daughter and biological daughter, subsequently being appointed by Lailah as Jane's husband. Jane is now in a vegetative state, and Jake uses his medical skills to awaken her, becoming entangled in the Morgan family's conflicts. Morgan Group faces multiple crises, with Zane Hughes harboring ulterior motives. Jake collaborates with business tycoon Ryan Simpson to expose his schemes. Jacob and Yohan Waldorf's conspiracy is ultimately revealed, and Jake defeats them, elevating his relationship with Jane. The family lives happily, with Lydia Green, head of the Windsong Society, joining them and opening a new chapter.

In a calculated move to align herself with the illustrious Grey family, Baird Grey's former lover, Muriel Will, drugged him. However, her plan backfired when Baird eluded her trap and found himself slept with Tess Yule. Fearing exposure, Muriel bribed Ken Aly to falsely claim responsibility for what happened. Unaware of the deception, Tess brought forth a set of quadruplets, only to have three of them callously discarded by Muriel, while the remaining child, Joy, was placed under Ken's guardianship. For seven long years, Ken deceived Tess, exploiting her trust until, upon his promotion, he heartlessly cast her aside and seized her new home. Luckily, in a twist of fate, Tess's act of kindness towards Baird's grandfather led to a reconnection with Baird. In this unexpected reunion, she made a startling realization: the one she had tirelessly sought for years had been a constant presence in her life.