National Society of Film Critics Award Winners [Updated]

BEST PICTURE
*1. The Social Network 61
2. Carlos 28
3. Winter’s Bone 18

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. David Fincher 66 – The Social Network
2. Olivier Assayas 36 – Carlos
3. Roman Polanski 29 – The Ghost Writer

BEST ACTOR
*1. Jesse Eisenberg 30 – The Social Network
2. Colin Firth 29 – The King’s Speech
2. Edgar Ramirez 29 – Carlos

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Giovanna Mezzogiorno 33 – Vincere
2. Annette Bening 28 – The Kids Are All Right
3. Lesley Manville 27 – Another Year

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
*1. Geoffrey Rush 33 – The King’s Speech
2. Christian Bale 32 – The Fighter
3. Jeremy Renner 30 – The Town

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
*1. Olivia Williams 37 – The Ghost Writer
2. Amy Adams 28 – The Fighter
3. Melissa Leo 23 – The Fighter
3. Jacki Weaver 23 – Animal Kingdom

BEST NONFICTION
*1. Inside Job 25 (Charles Ferguson)
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop 21 (Banksy)
3. Last Train Home 15 (Lixin Fan)

BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. Aaron Sorkin 73 – The Social Network
2. David Seidler 25 – The King’s Speech
3. Roman Polanski and Robert Harris 19 - The Ghost Writer

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
*1. Carlos 31
2. A Prophet 22
3. White Material 16

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1. True Grit 31 (Roger Deakins)
2. Black Swan 27 (Matthew Libatique)
3. Somewhere 18 (Harris Savides)

FILM HERITAGE AWARDS:
1. “The Film Foundation (20-year anniversary)
2. “Chaplin at Keystone” Flicker Alley
3. “Elia Kazan Collection” (Fox)
4. “Upstream,” rediscovered 1927 film dir. by John Ford. (National Film Preservation Foundation. )
5. “On the Bowery” (Milestone)
6. “Word Is Out” (Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and distributed by Milestone)

Overall, I'm a big fan of these picks, especially for best actress/supporting actress. Mezzogiorno's film got a spring release in the US and is in a foreign language, which is two strikes against her, but obviously the voters at the NSFC remembered her strong work. The same goes for Williams, although her performance was in English. Had the film been given a November or December release, I have a feeling she would have picked up many more awards. I am surprised that Christian Bale didn't prevail here over Rush, seeing as he's barely lost a single critics award so far. But in some ways I can't complain. Even with the glut of critics awards this year, maybe there might actually be some difficult-to-predict categories come Oscar night.