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