Boston Film Critics' Winners

[Greg]

On a related note, I read that Margaret was shot in 2005. The dysfunctional multi-year editing process brough about two lawsuits.

[FilmFan720]

Press release that went out with winner's announcements today:

The Boston Society of Film Critics expresses its regret that Fox Searchlight refused to distribute screeners of the film "Margaret" and scheduling only a last-minute screening after numerous requests. The film, which received an extremely limited release, was a favorite of many BSFC members and could have won several awards had it been made available for viewing within a reasonable timeframe. Despite this disadvantage, "Margaret" was a runner up in three of the BSFC’s award categories. We encourage Fox Searchlight not compound this oversight and to make screeners available to the voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and so give the film a fair chance in the upcoming awards competition.

[Big Magilla]

Full list of winners and runners-up:

From The Wrap:
By Steve Pond

The Boston Society of Film Critics has named Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white silent film "The Artist" the best film of 2011.

Martin Scorsese won the group's best director award for "Hugo."

Lead acting awards went to Brad Pitt for "Moneyball" and Michelle Williams for "My Week With Marilyn."

In the supporting categories, the critics honored Albert Brooks for "Drive" and, in something of a surprise, Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids." The ensemble cast award went to Roman Polanski's "Carnage," whose cast consisted of Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly and Kate Winslet.

Sean Durkin was named Best New Filmmaker for "Martha Marcy May Marlene."

Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret," which many of the critics did not get a chance to see, was runner up in three different categories, including Best Picture, according to the BSFC Twitter feed.

One particularly unconventional choice came in the editing category, where the winner was the 24-hour art installation "The Clock," which consists of painstakingly selected scenes from films in which onscreen clocks give the correct time every minute for an entire day.

The BSFC consists of 18 critics based in the Boston area. Last year, "The Social Network" swept its awards, with wins for picture, director, actor, screenplay and music. In only won in the last two of those categories at the Oscars.

Overall, four of the last five Boston winners and five of the last eight have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

The awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Boston on February 2.

The winners (runners-up are not officially announced but were indicated by the BSFC on Twitter):

Best Picture: "The Artist"
Runners-up: "Hugo" and "Margaret"
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
Runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Best Actor: Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
Runners-up: George Clooney, "The Descendants" and Michael Fassbender, "Shame"
Best Actress: Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Runner-up: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Runner-up: Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Runner-up: Jeannie Berlin, "Margaret"
Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, "Moneyball"
Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, "Margaret"
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Runner-up: Robert Richardson, "Hugo"
Best Documentary: "Project Nim"
Runner-up: "Bill Cunningham New York"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "Incendies"
Runners-up: "A Separation" and "Poetry"
Best Animated Film: "Rango"
Best Film Editing: Christian Marclay, "The Clock"
Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, "Hugo"
Best New Filmmaker: Sean Durkin, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Runner-up: J.C. Chandor, "Margin Call"
Best Ensemble Cast: "Carnage"
Runner-up: "Margaret"
Best Use of Music in a Film: (tie) "Drive" and "The Artist"
Runner-up: "The Descendants"
Special Commendations:
Ben Fowlie, Sara Archambault and Sean Flynn of DocYard
The Museum of Fine Arts for "The Clock"
The Brattle Film Foundation
Best Rediscoveries:
"The Shooting" at the Harvard Film Achive
"The Makota Sisters" at the Museum of Fine Arts
"Deep End" at the HFA
"Days and Nights in the Forest" at the HFA
"Children of Hiroshima" at the HFA

[bizarre]

The Clock is a video installation of time-based film clips that automatically rearrange themselves to match local time.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (BRIDESMAIDS) Runner up: (A BLAST FROM THE PAST!) Jeannie Berlin (MARGARET)

Any love for Margaret is good love, but Jeannie Berlin is the performer who suffers the most from erratic pacing of Margaret. She's quite good but the film doesn't really allow her fascinating creation to breathe. I wish that Anna Paquin or J. Smith-Cameron would pick something up.

[Mister Tee]

What is The Clock?

ETA: Just read Mister Tee's comment re: the above. You callin' me a nerd, Tee?

I went right to IMDB myself

[Reza]

What is The Clock?

A documentary.

[Sonic Youth]

What is The Clock?

ETA: Just read Mister Tee's comment re: the above. You callin' me a nerd, Tee?

[Sabin]

I get the Albert Brooks hype. I just don't agree with it. Having just seen Drive again last night I'm inclined to say that it's the idea of Albert Brooks in this role and not anything that the role actually provides. He doesn't have any substantial menace in the film because his character is too casually profane and raged.

Anyway, I'm of the same opinion. I like the first half of Drive quite a bit but it becomes a very boring movie in the second half.

[Reza]

I don't get this Albert Brooks hype. He's not even the best supporting actor in his own movie. I don't really get the hype behind Drive in general. It's a well-made piece of showboating, and proves that Ryan Gosling has star presence, but it's nothing that Walter HIll couldn't have made more interesting, more thematically complex, and more fun.

It's a ''different'' Albert Brooks. Not anal.

[dws1982]

I don't get this Albert Brooks hype. He's not even the best supporting actor in his own movie. I don't really get the hype behind Drive in general. It's a well-made piece of showboating, and proves that Ryan Gosling has star presence, but it's nothing that Walter HIll couldn't have made more interesting, more thematically complex, and more fun.

[Mister Tee]

I'll update this post as more info becomes available.

Two initial thoughts:

Finally, some good news for Martha Marcy.

IMDB should crash today as film nerds search to find out WTF is The Clock!

Best PIcture: THE ARTIST Runners up: HUGO & MARGARET
Best Foreign Language Film: INCENDIES Runners up: A SEPARATION & POETRY
Best Documentary: PROJECT NIM Runner up: BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
Best Director: Martin Scorcese for HUGO Runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius for THE ARTIST (APPARENTLY THE ONLY TWO POSSIBLE VOTES THIS YEAR)
Best Screenplay: MONEYBALL Runner up: MARGARET
Best Ensemble: CARNAGE Runner up: MARGARET
Best Actress: Michelle Williams (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN) Runner up: Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY
Best Actor: Brad Pitt for MONEYBALL Runners up: George Clooney for THE DESCENDANTS, Michael Fassbender for SHAME)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (BRIDESMAIDS) Runner up: (A BLAST FROM THE PAST!) Jeannie Berlin (MARGARET)
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, DRIVE (no runner-up indicated)
Best Use of Music: Cliff Martinez, DRIVE and Ludovic Bource, THE ARTIST! (a tie) Runner up: THE DESCENDANTS
Best Editing: Christian Marclay for THE CLOCK! Runner-up: HUGO.
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, THE TREE OF LIFE. Runner-up: HUGO.
Best New Filmmaker (David Brudnoy Award): Sean Durkin for MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE. Runner-up: J. C. Chandor for MARIN CALL.