The National Board of Review announcement is historically considered the “official” start of the film awards season, but with things like the Gotham Awards, Indie Spirit nominations and even the Hollywood Film Awards creeping more and more into mid-fall, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
Today the organization announced winners in the usual categories, winners to be honored at a New York ceremony in January. Last year the organization picked “Up in the Air” as its Best Film winner, greatly solidifying the buzz of early December 2009. This year, they’ve gone with David Fincher’s “The Social Network.”
The film also took home awards for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Most exciting for me is to see that Lesley Manville won Best Actress for her performance in “Another Year.” The flames seemed to be dying as of late. Christian Bale and Jacki Weaver won in the supporting races for “The Fighter” and “Animal Kingdom,” respectively.