As the awards season heats up and critics’ groups start delivering their verdicts on the year in cinema, the Toronto Film Critics Association stands out from the crowd this week. (Full disclosure: I’m not only a member of the TFCA, but also the current vice-president and secretary.)
[rssbreak]
While the National Board of Review has named Clint Eastwood’s Invictus its best picture, and New York, Los Angeles and Boston are lining up behind Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, the TFCA has produced the first best-picture tie in the organization’s 13-year history.
Steve McQueen’s Hunger and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds share the top award, with The Hurt Locker landing in the runner-up slot. (Hunger was also named best first feature.) But Bigelow wound up winning the best-director prize, with McQueen and Tarantino as runners-up – which should give you a sense of how tight the voting was in all categories.
The TFCA also announced its finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Feature Award, which carries a cash prize of $10,000: Benoit Pilon’s The Necessities Of Life, Denis Villeneuve’s Polytechnique and Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool. The winner will be named at the association’s awards dinner next month, along with the first winner of the $5,000 Jay Scott Award for emerging talent.
Here’s the full list of winners:
BEST PICTURE (tie):
Hunger and Inglourious Basterds runner-up: The Hurt Locker
BEST PERFORMANCE, MALE:
Nicolas Cage (Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans) runners-up: George Clooney (Up In The Air) Michael Fassbender (Hunger) Colin Firth (A Single Man) Viggo Mortensen (The Road)
BEST PERFORMANCE, FEMALE:
Carey Mulligan (An Education) runners-up: Arta Dobroshi (Le Silence De Lorna) Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, MALE:
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) runners-up: Christian McKay (Me & Orson Welles) Timothy Olyphant (A Perfect Getaway)
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE, FEMALE:
Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air) runners-up: Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air) Mo’Nique (Precious)
BEST DIRECTOR:
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) runners-up: Steve McQueen (Hunger) Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
BEST SCREENPLAY (TIE):
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air) runner-up: Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man)
BEST FIRST FEATURE:
Hunger runners-up: District 9 (500) Days Of Summer
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
Fantastic Mr. Fox runners-up: Coraline Up
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM:
The White Ribbon runners-up: Police, Adjective Summer Hours
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
The Cove runners-up: Anvil! The Story Of Anvil The Beaches of Agnes
