I am confident in saying Waltz with Bashir will not be winning Best Picture at the 2009 Oscars, but the fact the National Society of Film Critics have chosen it as the Best Picture of 2008 doesn’t hurt its chances for Best Foreign Film as the animated biography directed by Ari Folman is certainly gaining steam heading into the final days of the Award push.
Outside of Bashir, Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky was really the big winner taking home awards for Director (Leigh), Actress (Sally Hawkins), Supporting Actor (Eddie Marsan) and ironically enough Screenplay (Leigh). I say it is ironic Leigh would win for Screenplay because he is well known for approaching his films without a screenplay as much as he comes to a film with an idea and puts everything together with his actors.
It’s also nice to see The Edge of Heaven get some love as it showed up on my Honorable Mention when I named the year’s best films. Slumdog Millionaire takes home Cinematography and Man on Wire continues its onslaught in the Documentary (Non-Fiction) category. The complete list is below.
BEST PICTURE: Waltz with Bashir directed by Ari Folman
BEST DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST ACTOR: Sean Penn, Milk
BEST ACTRESS: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Hanna Schygulla, The Edge of Heaven
BEST SCREENPLAY: Happy-Go-Lucky written by Mike Leigh
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Man on Wire directed by James Marsh
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM: Razzle Dazzle directed by Ken Jacobs
