Warning this post will contain no photos of Zero Dark Thirty in protest. It's a film I thoroughly enjoyed but critical sweeps do great injustice to the art of cinema each year. No film or performance has ever been so great as to be the only achievement worth rewarding in its calendar year. The modern age of hive-mindedness also does great injustice to awards season which needs drama as fuel. This is not to say that one shouldn't vote one's mind if a certain sweeper is also your personal favorite but if everyone's personal favorites are always the same we automatically a) need fewer groups trumpeting the collective opinion or b) we need more critics who have idiosyncratic taste to keep the art of the discussion of cinema at its liveliest.
LOS ANGELES
We've already heard from NYC's top critics who gave three awards each to Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln and today the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the LA wing of critical-consensus makers get their say. Given that this particular group is something like the Home Team for the bulk of AMPAS members, their votes matter. Stay tuned as voting commences!
FILM Amour (ru: The Master)
DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master (ru: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty)
ACTRESS (tie) Jennifer Lawrence Silver Linings Playbook and Emmanuelle Riva Amour
ACTOR Joaquin Phoenix The Master (ru: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams, The Master (ru: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables & The Dark Knight Rises)
SUPPORTING ACTOR Dwight Henry Beasts of the Southern Wild (ru: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained)
ANIMATED FILM Frankenweenie (ru: It's Such a Beautiful Day)
DOCUMENTARY The Gatekeepers (ru: Searching for Sugar Man)
FOREIGN FILM Holy Motors (ru: Footnote)
NEW GENERATION tba tba
SCREENPLAY Argo (ru: Silver Linings Playbook)
CINEMATOGRAPHY Roger Deakins Skyfall (ru: Mihai Malaiare, Jr. The Master)
PRODUCTION DESIGN David Crank & Jack Fisk The Master (ru: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom)
EDITING Zero Dark Thirty
INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL Leviathan
MUSIC SCORE Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Beasts of the Southern Wild (ru: Jonny Greenwood, The Master)
Last Year's LAFCA Winners if you'd like to compare them...
Boston & NYFCO after the jump
BOSTON
Yesterday we heard from an upstart Boston group but today the real deal, the Boston Society of Film Critics who have been voting for 32 years. They were quite adventurous in the 1990s (in comparison to most critics groups these days) and each year we cross our fingers that they'll become so again.
How to Survive a Plague won two prizes from BSFCPICTURE Zero Dark Thirty (ru: (tie) Moonrise Kingdom & Amour)
DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty (ru: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master)
SCREENPLAY Tony Kushner, Lincoln
ACTOR Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln (ru: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors)
ACTRESS Emmanuelle Riva, Amour (ru: Deanie Yip, A Simple Life)
FOREIGN FILM Amour (ru: Holy Motors)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Sally Field, Lincoln (ru: Emma Watson The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
SUPPORTING ACTOR Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (ru: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained)
ENSEMBLE Seven Psychopaths (ru: Moonrise Kingdom)
ANIMATED FILM Frankenweenie (ru: ParaNorman)
DOCUMENTARY How to Survive A Plague (ru: )
EDITING Zero Dark Thirty (ru: Argo)
NEW FILMMAKER David France How to Survive a Plague (ru: Benh Zeitlin Beasts...)
CINEMATOGRAPHY The Master (runner up: Life of Pi and Moonrise Kingdom)
USE OF MUSIC Moonrise Kingdom (runner up: Django Unchained)
NYFCO
In smaller type this Sunday, December 9th, the New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) -- some of my friends are members (including favored co-star Katey Rich) -- also held court to determine winners.
PICTURE Zero Dark Thirty
ACTRESS Emmanuelle Riva, Amour (ru:?)
ACTOR Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln (ru:)
DIRECTOR Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Dark Locker Thirty
FOREIGN FILM Amour
DOCUMENTARY Central Park Five
ANIMATED FILM Chico & Rita
DEBUT DIRECTOR Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild (ru: ?)
USE OF MUSIC Django Unchained
CINEMATOGRAPHY Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi (ru: ?)
SCREENPLAY Zero Dark Thirty (ru: Argo)
SUPPORTING ACTOR Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln (ru: Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
ENSEMBLE CAST Argo
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild