National Critics Pick 'Waltz with Bashir' while 'Happy-Go-Lucky' Takes Home Four Kudos
Well, this doesn't do much to clear up Best Picture
I am confident in saying Waltz with Bashir will not be winning Best Picture at the 2009 Oscars, but the fact the National Society of Film Critics have chosen it as the Best Picture of 2008 doesn't hurt its chances for Best Foreign Film as the animated biography directed by Ari Folman is certainly gaining steam heading into the final days of the Award push.
Outside of Bashir, Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky was really the big winner taking home awards for Director (Leigh), Actress (Sally Hawkins), Supporting Actor (Eddie Marsan) and ironically enough Screenplay (Leigh). I say it is ironic Leigh would win for Screenplay because he is well known for approaching his films without a screenplay as much as he comes to a film with an idea and puts everything together with his actors.
It's also nice to see The Edge of Heaven get some love as it showed up on my Honorable Mention when I named the year's best films. Slumdog Millionaire takes home Cinematography and Man on Wire continues its onslaught in the Documentary (Non-Fiction) category. The complete list is below.
BEST PICTURE: Waltz with Bashir directed by Ari Folman
BEST DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST ACTOR: Sean Penn, Milk
BEST ACTRESS: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Hanna Schygulla, The Edge of Heaven
BEST SCREENPLAY: Happy-Go-Lucky written by Mike Leigh
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle
BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Man on Wire directed by James Marsh
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM: Razzle Dazzle directed by Ken Jacobs
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Best Experimental Film? These awards are as meaningless as they get!
@joker47: Au contraire, The National Society of Film Critics gave Capote a big boost after naming it Best Picture in 2005.
@jokery47: On the other hand, the NSFC also gave their best actor award to Phillip Seymour Hoffman that year. And if _that_ helped get him the Oscar, they should be cursed with a thousand yeast infections. NOT because Hoffman isn't a great actor, and NOT because his performance in that role wasn't damned good — deserving of a nomination — but because Hoffman's win edged out the more deserving performance (in my humble opinion) by Jauquin Phoenix (his portrayal of Johnny Cash was one of those once in a lifetime, tour-de-force performances that always seem to get overlooked by the Oscar voters).