NYFCC. (Ready, Set, Go: Awards Season!)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 10:16AM 
Here we go...
Picture THE ARTIST
Director MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS (The Artist)
Actress MERYL STREEP (The Iron Lady)
Actor BRAD PITT (Moneyball and The Tree of Life)
• Big day for The Artist (top two prizes and also the leader at the Spirit Award nominations) and The Tree of Life (three prizes) and Moneyball (two prizes)
• So pleased to see Brad Pitt rewarded for two very different but totally compelling and soulful performances. Pitt's awards history has been strange so it could well be time for career honors.
• They first listed Meryl Streep's win as for "The Lady". Do you think Michelle Yeoh got her hopes up for a minute? This is Streep's fifth win from NYFCC. They also gave her the title for Julie & Julia, A Cry in the Dark, Sophie's Choice and a multiple films win in 1979.
Supporting Actor ALBERT BROOKS (Drive)
Supporting Actress JESSICA CHASTAIN (Tree of Life, The Help and Take Shelter)
Screenplay STEVEN ZAILLIAN and AARON SORKIN (Moneyball)
Cinematography EMMANUEL LUBEZKI (The Tree of Life)
• Happy for Lubezki & Moneyball. Fine choices and NYFCC had me worried at the beginning.
• Does this mean they thought Jessica Chastian sucked in The Debt and Coriolanus? If you're going for multiples go for multiples. P.S. Chastain's best performance this year was in The Help. It's true and you know it!
Foreign Film A SEPARATION (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
Documentary CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (dir. Werner Herzog)
Animated Film no prize this year? we're awaiting confirmation...
First Film MARGIN CALL (dir. JC Chandor)
Special 2011 Prize a posthumous honor for filmmaker Raoul Ruiz
• I wish Sony Pictures Classic would push A Separation harder and release it earlier. It shouldn't be content with just a few foreign film wins here and there.
• More bad news for Martha Marcy May Marlene after its empty-handed night at the Gothams, it loses best first feature this morning.
• Is the Herzog vote in documentary a "take that, Oscars!" jab... (it didn't even make the finalists with Oscar. They have intermittent Herzog allergies over there in California) or their genuine favorite?
To give you a little more perspective on the New York Film Critics Circle, herewith a list of previous top awards they've handed out over the past 15 years. For all of New York City's reputation as the iconoclastic hotbed of film criticism, the members of the NYFCC actually hew pretty close to Oscar buzz each year in the major categories. They have soft spots, fairly regularly, for the work of Alexander Payne and Mike Leigh.
Key: Oscar winners in red. Oscar nominees in black. Rare Oscar Snubs in blue.
(Year: Picture; Director; Actress; Actor; Screenplay)
2010: The Social Network; David Fincher; Annette Bening; Colin Firth; The Kids Are All Right
2009: The Hurt Locker; Kathryn Bigelow; Meryl Streep; George Clooney; In the Loop
2008: Milk; Mike Leigh; Sally Hawkins; Sean Penn; Rachel Getting Married
2007: No Country For Old Men; Joel and Ethan Coen; Julie Christie; Daniel Day-Lewis; No Country For Old Men
2006: United 93; Martin Scorsese; Helen Mirren; Forest Whitaker; The Queen
2005: Brokeback Mountain; Ang Lee; Reese Witherspoon; Heath Ledger; The Squid and the Whale
2004: Sideways; Clint Eastwood; Imelda Staunton; Paul Giamatti; Sideways
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Sofia Coppola; Hope Davis (multiple films); Bill Murray; The Secret Lives of Dentists
2002: Far From Heaven; Todd Haynes; Diane Lane; Daniel Day-Lewis; Adaptation
2001: Mulholland Drive; Robert Altman; Sissy Spacek; Tom Wilkinson; Gosford Park
2000: Traffic; Steven Soderbergh; Laura Linney; Tom Hanks; You Can Count on Me
1999: Topsy Turvy; Mike Leigh; Hilary Swank, Richard Farnsworth; Election
1998: Saving Private Ryan; Terence Malick; Cameron Diaz; Nick Nolte; Shakespeare in Love
1997: LA Confidential; Curtis Hanson; Julie Christie; Peter Fonda; LA Confidential
1996: Fargo; Lars von Trier; Emily Watson; Geoffrey Rush; Mother
Alexander Payne, NYC, Oscars (11), critics awards
Reader Comments (88)
The Social Network won Best Picture last year? Who knew?
lol.
In my mind it did ;)
Thanks for this! You are golden!
first feature just got announced
Carl -- i am following along. refresh screen for updates as it goes along.
i'd be totally thrilled if i see a separation wins something here hehe
i wonder if enough people have seen it? to me it's starting way too slowly for such a great film
Election shouldn't be in blue. It was nominated for Adapted Screenplay.
totally forgot they awarded cameron diaz for there's something about mary. what was going on then?
Chastain is a great call. She didn't make a huge impression in Tree of Life (and I didn't see The Help), but she is INCREDIBLE in Take Shelter.
Jessica Chastain won Supporting Actress, I think she´ll get Oscar nominated for Tree of Life, although that´s not her best this year
I liked your Twitter suggestion, Nathaniel. The cast of Bridesmaids was robbed of Supporting Actress.
Meryl wins. I feel very meh about that.
both paul giamatti and mulholland drive should be in blue (though if things were right in the world, they wouldn't be).
And Meryl won for playing Thatcher!!!
Albert Brooks won supporting actor, he is a lock for the Oscars
Hm. Though I haven't seen The Iron Lady and therefore can't judge this win, I'm also feeling very meh. I hoped for Kiki or Viola Davis.
Are they really deciding at the same time they're announcing? I thought critics prizes worked like festivals, they meet, discuss, decide and then announce the winners.
NYFCC updates their results live. If Supporting Actress was the sticking point, we'll know the rest soon enough.
i really wish that they'd throw in something really realllly unexpected.
Ugh I was really hoping for Kiki to pull off a win for Melancholia :(
I wanted KiKi or Viola to win. :((((
Well, if anyone was doubting Meryl being an Oscar nominee, they can throw that doubt out the window.
catch22 -- d'oh. i knew that. too manyu things going on this morning. I have fixed. thanks for the catch.
From the limited amount of knowledge I have of the critics awards process, I believe that if you win for "multiples", it isn't every film you've done that year, it's any film that people put you forward for on the ballot. So I guess the different supporters of Chastain put her name down in their individual for "The Help" and "Take Shelter" and "Tree Of Life", and no one put her down for the other two films, which is why they aren't included. (If that makes any sense?)
Have you guys checked out the Spirit nominees yet? I'm shocked at how well 50/50 did (though I did love it) and shocked that Shame is only nominated for foreign film. No Fassy!
Jon -- me too.
Jack -- thanks. that makes sense but i hadn't worked that out for myself cuz i'm slow this morning.
Fassbender will win here for Shame
@Peggy Sue That's pretty likely. But still.
Also... Why does everyone loooooove The Descendants??? Thank God for Stephanie Zacharek and Dana Stevens for convincing me I'm not crazy. (I really need to let this go.)
I am very glad that Meryl won for The Iron Lady! She needs critics to go for her in a big way for the industry to notice. She deserves it! She's been robbed so many times and always delivers great work! And they actually were very quick with lead actress, so I believe there was consensus. It took them more than 40 minutes to decide supporting actress.
Ah, and Brad Pitt for Moneyball and Tree of Life. Yeah, okay. Still pretty meh.
Very mainstream choices in the lead categories. We will have to wait for the National Society then.
I think The Tree of Life will win Best Picture now
finally got my wish :D now i can sleep
Let's remember Rachel Getting Married wasn't nominated at the Oscars (though it should've been)
Oh! I also think The Tree is gonna get picture and director
Happy for Brad, he's doing some incredible work. Meh on the Meryl win...they should've went for someone who needed the boost. It's a great year for actresses, there was plenty to choose from.
I'm peeing that Jessica Chastain won!!!
In my mind, the big question is what will be animated feature-with no obvious contender to sweep the awards, it will be interesting to see if there's a consensus pick or an all-over-the-map approach.
Director: HAZANAVICIUS.
Woah! The Artist gets director! Alright alright alright... (Didn't realize I was rooting for it until right this second.)
Lubezski wins for 'The Tree of Life'. But of course.
Nathaniel... you don't seem happy with Streep's win!!?????
^ I think people know she gives a good performance, but in such a strong actress year, most people wanted something more risky, someone who needed a boost, someone who gave a just as great a performance and needed some love. Le sigh.
If Meryl easily won this, I assume it is because she is fantastic.
July -- not necessarily. The NYFCC loves her. She also won for Julie & Julia
Rick -- i guess i'm just tired of Streep constantly winning combined with her winning for biopic performances which have been her past three wins with the NYFCC. She's such a great actor and I get so tired of biopics being the only thing people can win prizes for. I was hoping they'd think a little outside the box.
What a weird set of results. I love The Artist, but can't agree with either of its wins today.
I can't speak to The Debt but there is nothing award-worthy about Chastain's work in Coriolanus, surely. Those other three perfs all have strong fan bases. I disagree that they ought to include everything just because they liked a lot of what she did.
I definitely thought Meryl was better in Julie & Julia than Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, so I agree with their choice. She may simply be better than everyone else, again.
Chastain's best performance? I'd actually go with Take Shelter, but The Help would be a close second.
And I share your exasperation with the Meryl Streep biopic love, Nathaniel.