Toronto film critics champion Boyhood

Choosing between three very different films, the Toronto Film Critics Association embraced the sprawling experimental narrative of Boyhood over the immaculate design of The Grand Budapest Hotel and the shaggy-dog detective story of Inherent Vice.

Boyhood also won prizes for director Richard Linklater and supporting actress Patricia Arquette. The Grand Budapest Hotel saw Wes Anderson honoured for his screenplay, co-written with Hugo Guinness.

Tom Hardy was named best actor for his solo turn as a conflicted builder driving from Birmingham to London in Locke, while Marion Cotillard took best actress for her turn as a Polish émigrée in 1920s New York in The Immigrant, and J.K. Simmons best supporting actor for his role as a martinet conductor in Whiplash.

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox was named best first feature, while Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure took best foreign-language film.

Jesse Moss’s The Overnighters won the Allan King Documentary Award, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize Isao Takahata’s The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya won best animated feature.

The TFCA’s Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist was awarded to Albert Shin, whose South Korean drama In Her Place was hailed at TIFF and one of this year’s Canada’s Top Ten features.

Denis Villeneuve’s psychological thriller Enemy, Michael Dowse’s romantic comedy The F Word and Xavier Dolan’s Cannes-lauded psychodrama Mommy were announced as the finalists for this year’s Rogers Best Cana­dian Film Award, which comes with a $100,000 cash prize. The winner will be announced at the TFCA’s awards gala on January 6, 2015.

Disclosure: I’ve been the vice-president and secretary of the organization since 2008. It’s fun!

TFCA AWARDS 2014

BEST PICTURE

Boyhood

(Runners-up: The Grand Budapest ­Hotel Inherent Vice)

BEST ACTOR

Tom Hardy, Locke

(Runners-up: Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler)

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant

(Runners-up: Julianne Moore, Still Alice Reese Witherspoon, Wild)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

(Runners-up: Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice Edward Norton, Birdman Or (The ­Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

(Runners-up: Tilda Swinton, Snow­piercer Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice)

BEST DIRECTOR

Richard Linklater, Boyhood

(Runners-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel)

BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED OR ­ORIGINAL

The Grand Budapest Hotel, screenplay by Wes Anderson from a story by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

(Runners-up: Boyhood, written by Rich­ard Linklater Inherent Vice, screen­play by Paul Thomas Anderson based on the novel by Thomas ­Pynchon)

BEST FIRST FEATURE

The Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra

(Runners-up: John Wick, directed by Chad Stahelski Nightcrawler, directed by Dan Gilroy)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (GKids)

(Runners-up: Big Hero 6, Walt Disney Studios How to Train Your Dragon 2, 20th Century Fox The Lego Movie, Warner Bros.)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Force Majeure (filmswelike)

(Runners-up: Ida, filmswelike Leviathan, Mongrel Media)

ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD

The Overnighters (filmswelike)

(Runners-up: Citizenfour, Entertainment One Manakamana, filmswelike)

SCOTIABANK JAY SCOTT PRIZE FOR AN EMERGING ARTIST

Albert Shin, director of In Her Place

ROGERS BEST CANADIAN FILM AWARD CONTENDERS

Enemy (Entertainment One)

The F Word (Entertainment One) Mommy (Entertainment One)