While Oscar prognosticators tend to overanalyze each set of awards from various organizations and critics group, they are mostly interesting to see how various films play with different organizations.
The 110-member National Board Of Review has handed out their awards for this year, and while Oscar favorite “The Social Network” walked away with Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, their announcement is almost just as notable for what’s missing. Three very high profile, awards season candidates — Danny Boyle‘s “127 Hours,” Darren Aronofsky‘s “Black Swan” and Lisa Cholodenko‘s “The Kids Are All Right” — are nowhere to be found, not even in the Top Eleven Films (“Hereafter“? Really?) or Top Ten Independent Films (“Buried“? “Youth In Revolt“? Really?) lists. Perhaps Fox Searchlight didn’t get their screeners out in time? Or maybe Focus Features only sent them copies of Sofia Coppola‘s “Somewhere“? Regardless, they are some pretty glaring omissions.
So, how does this bode for Oscar season? Well, last year the NBR fell in love with “Up In The Air” which did zilch at the Academy Awards, however, in the previous two years, the winner of the NBR’s best picture award has gone on to take home the Oscar. So take that for whatever it’s worth. Full list of winners after the jump. [IndieWire]
Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Film: Of Gods and Men
Best Documentary: Waiting For “Superman”
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast: The Town
Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo
Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola, for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere
William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin
NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl
Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order):
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order):
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt
Top Six Foreign Films (In alphabetical order):
I Am Love
Incendies
Life, Above All
Of Gods And Men
Soul Kitchen
White Material
Top Six Documentary Films (In alphabetical order):
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story
Waiting For “Superman”