Sunday December 9th marked another big milestone for director Kathryn Bigelow and her military thriller Zero Dark Thirty, as it was picked as the best film of the year by both the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) and New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO). Both groups also honored Bigelow for her direction while NYFCO picked Mark Boal’s screenplay as the best of the year.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association often thought to be contrarian to the New York Film Critics’ picks, decided that Michael Haneke’s foreign language drama Amour was more worthy of awards, giving it their top film award, while honoring director Paul Thomas Anderson for his quizzical drama The Master.
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis was honored by NYFCO and BSFC for his performance as the 16th President of the United States in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, an award that LAFCA gave to Joaquin Phoenix for Anderson’s film. Lincoln‘s screenplay by playwright Tony Kushner was honored by Boston, while LAFCA gave it to Chris Terrio’s screenplay for Ben Affleck’s Argo.
85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva, a veteran French film actress, came out of retirement to star in Michael Haneke’s Amour, a performance all three critics’ groups honored, although LAFCA gave it to her in a tie with Jennifer Lawrence for David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. Of interest was that NYFCO gave its Breakthrough Performer award to 8-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis for Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, which may represent the largest age gap between two awards winners in recorded history. NYFCO also honored Zeitlin for Best Debut Director.
On Friday, the fairly new and significantly smaller Boston Online Film Critics Association also announced their awards, giving their top film award to Zero Dark Thirty and director to Bigelow, while both they and NYFCO gave their supporting awards to Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln and Anne Hathaway for Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. LAFCA, by comparison, gave their supporting awards to Amy Adams for The Master and Dwight Henry for “Beasts.”
Below, you can read the list of winners from each group announced over this past weekend.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA)
BEST PICTURE: Amour
Runner-up: The Master
BEST DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ACTRESS (TIE): Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook; Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Runner-up: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, The Master
Runner-up: Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises & Les Miserables
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-up: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
BEST SCREENPLAY: Chris Terrio, Argo
Runner-up: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST EDITING: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
Runner-up: William Goldenberg, Argo
BEST ANIMATION: Frankenweenie
Runner-up: Its Such A Beautiful Day
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, Skyfall
Runner-up: Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master
BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Gatekeepers
Runner-up: Searching For Sugar Man
BEST MUSIC SCORE Winner: Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, The Master
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN, Winner: David Crank and Jack Fisk, The Master
Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom
DOUGLAS EDWARDS EXPERIMENTAL/INDEPENDENT FILM/VIDEO AWARD: Leviathan
The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO)
FILM Zero Dark Thirty (Sony)
DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
ACTOR Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
ACTRESS Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
SUPPORTING ACTOR Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
SCREENPLAY Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE Amour (Sony Pictures Classics)
DOCUMENTARY The Central Park FIve (Sundance Selects)
ANIMATED FEATURE Chico and Rita (GKIDS)
CINEMATOGRAPHY Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)
USE OF MUSIC Django Unchained (Mary Ramos, music supervisor)
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
DEBUT AS DIRECTOR Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
ENSEMBLE CAST Argo
NYFCO’S TOP TEN FILMS OF 2012 (alphabetical)
Argo (Warner Bros)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)
Les Misérables (Universal)
Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Lincoln (DreamWorks)
The Master (The Weinstein Company)
Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features)
Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company)
Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures)
Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC)
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
(tied for 2nd: Moonrise Kingdom and Amour)
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
(2nd: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
(2nd: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors)
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva , Amour
(2nd: Deanie Yip, A Simple Life)
Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, Lincoln
(2nd: Emma Watson, Perks of Being a Wallflower)
Best Supporting Actor: Ezra Miller, Perks of Being a Wallflower
(2nd: Christof Waltz, Django Unchained)
Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner,Lincoln
(2nd: Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom)
Best Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare Jr, The Master
(tied for 2nd: Moonrise Kingdon, Life of Pi)
Best Editing: William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor, Zero Dark Thirty
(2nd: Argo)
Best Use of Music: Moonrise Kingdom
(2nd: Django Unchained)
Best New Filmmaker: David France, How to Survive a Plague
(2nd: Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Documentary: How to Survive a Plague
(2nd: Queen of Versailles)
Best Animated: Frankenweenie
(2nd: ParaNorman)
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
(2nd: Holy Motors)
Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA)
BEST PICTURE: ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, LINCOLN
BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tommy Lee Jones, LINCOLN
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, LES MISERABLES
BEST SCREENPLAY: Tony Kushner, LINCOLN
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: OSLO, AUGUST 31ST
BEST DOCUMENTARY: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE
BEST ANIMATED FILM: PARANORMAN
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, SKYFALL
BEST EDITING: William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor, ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Jonny Greenwood, THE MASTER
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: MOONRISE KINGDOM
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
DJANGO UNCHAINED
OSLO, AUGUST 31ST
HOLY MOTORS
THE MASTER
ARGO
CLOUD ATLAS
