Over at Gold Derby, Tom O’Neil lists all the runners-up (with points tallies) from yesterday’s National Society of Film Critics awards, along with other gossipy tidbits from the days proceedings. (Most stupid/amusing nugget: Eve, the eerily Applesque female robot from “WALL-E,” garnered a lone Best Actress vote.)
The full list is below the cut, but here are a couple of bits and bobs that jumped out at me. It’s interesting to see that Sally Hawkins and Sean Penn won their respective categories by a landslide, in a single round of voting. (Seriously, what does distant runner-up Mickey Rourke have to do to gain some traction?)
Meanwhile, “Waltz With Bashir” pulled off its stunning Best Picture victory in the second round of voting, after its animated cohort “WALL-E” led in the first round. Talk about a good day for the animated medium. What a second Best Picture citation from one of the ‘big three’ critics groups could have done for “WALL-E”s chances is a matter for contemplation, but it’s still very much on the radar — I’m still betting (naively, perhaps) it’ll make the Academy’s top five.
Elsewhere it’s nice to see Michelle Williams’ extraordinary work in “Wendy and Lucy” at least appearing in the mix, while “Synecdoche, New York” and “A Christmas Tale” (narrowly behind “Happy-Go-Lucky”) make the NSFC’s Best Screenplay table a very classy one indeed. An interesting oddity in the Best Supporting Actress category is that Viola Davis actually tied on points with winner Hanna Schygulla (a truly inspired choice, for my money), but was placed second as she appeared on fewer ballots.
Finally, can I just say how much I love these guys for giving Eddie Marsan some props? Finally.
BEST PICTURE
1. “Waltz With Bashir” — 26 points
2. “Happy-Go-Lucky” — 20
2. “Wall-E” — 20
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Mike Leigh (“Happy-Go-Lucky”) — 36
2. Gus Van Sant (“Milk”) — 20
3. Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) — 16
BEST ACTOR
1. Sean Penn (“Milk”) — 87
2. Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”) — 40
3. Clint Eastwood (“Gran Torino”) — 38
BEST ACTRESS
1. Sally Hawkins (“Happy-Go-Lucky”) — 65
2. Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”) — 33
3. Michelle Williams (“Wendy and Lucy”) — 31
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Eddie Marsan (“Happy-Go-Lucky”) — 41
2. Heath Ledger (“The Dark Knight”) — 35
3. Josh Brolin (“Milk”) — 29
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Hanna Schygulla (“The Edge of Heaven) — 29
2. Viola Davis (“Doubt”) — 29
3. Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) — 24
BEST NONFICTION FILM
1. “Man on Wire” — 55
2. “Trouble the Water” — 34
3. “Encounters at the End of the World” — 26
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. “Happy-Go-Lucky,” Mike Leigh — 29
2. “A Christmas Tale,” Arnaud Desplechin — 24
3. “Synecdoche, New York,” Charlie Kaufman — 17
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. “Slumdog Millionaire,” Anthony Dod Mantle — 29
2. “Flight of the Red Balloon,” Lee Ping-Bing — 22
3. “The Dark Knight,” Wally Pfister — 18
4. “Still Life, “Yu Lik-Wai”
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
“Razzle Dazzle”
Comments
11 responses to “For the completists”
I liked, but wasn’t overly impressed with, Happy-Go-Lucky. Marsan wouldn’t make my Top 5 amongst supporting actors this year: I mostly just found his character irritating. Of course, Hawkins’ character was wilfully antagonizing him in their scenes together, so she irritated me even more. It’s a 3-star (out-of-4) film that’s been overpraised due to the critics’ blind devotion to Mike Leigh.
I find my stomach getting queasy the more awards get announced this year: It’s ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, Sean Penn, ‘Man on Wire’, etc. etc…
Can’t say that without telling us what you’re backing this year, Chase…
I like Kris’ 5 for Best Picture- I have held strong to those 5 for at least one month now. Ironically, the one film that seems to be losing some steam, at least with critics, is Button.
I am convinced it will be a great week for TDK at DGA & PGA and that it will help propel it to a BP nod.
FAST FOOD TIE-IN TOYS FOR THE DARK KNIGHT THAT NEVER QUITE MADE IT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7DNnyZsw7k
I always look forward to the NSOFC awards, as they are always the ones that buck trends and award those films and performances that duly need to be recognized. Given that Mike Leigh is one of the five greatest English-speaking directors on the planet, I sound a rousing huzzah for the wins accorded to HAPPY-GO-LUCKY.
Eve > Sally Hawkins.
This reminded me of something I’ve thought of before Guy. Is there somewhere we can find out how the Oscar voting finishes? For instance, last year, No Country For Old Men won. But is there a way to find out where the Academy placed There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, Juno, and Atonement behind it? Does the Academy even release this information after the show? To anybody who knows this, thanks for sharing.
Scott: Sadly not.
No. They don’t release numbers ever.
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