Best Movie

The Hurt Locker – A fine-grained study of a three-man American bomb squad unit in Iraq.
Director Kathryn Bigelow focuses on the psychological effects of war on a single soldier who is both heroic and reckless. Ace camerawork and editing give the film a sense of you-are-there realism while building the tension of a classic thriller. The viewer, like Bravo Company, is gradually worn down by fear, repetition, moral questions, failure, and hate. A very powerful statement about the complexity of violence and war. –djy

35 Shots of Rhum – Although one could easily edit its narrative arc (the relationship between a single father his adult daughter) down to a half-hour short, 35 SHOTS OF RUM lingers long after its symmetrical final shot of a rice-cooker due to all the scenes that unfurl sideways from this central strand: the meditative, point-of-view tableaus of Paris taken from a commuter train, the yearning glances and movements at the café scored by The Commodores’ “Nightshift”, the unexpected moment in Germany where the little singing kids with their lanterns appear. None of these are integral to the story, but they add texture and create an aura that’s present in all of director Claire Denis’ work: what we so easily ignore in the everyday reaps lyrical rewards when paid the utmost attention. –ck

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans – Nobody makes films quite like Werner Herzog. THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL – NEW ORLEANS at the outset plays like a typical Hollywood detective crime flick. Nicolas Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a corrupt, drug addicted, sociopathic cop solving a murder case in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Yet, if the viewer is patient, the film becomes ever more unhinged and evolves into something more twisted and bizarre. This well-overdue union between Herzog and Cage makes The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans a delightfully strange and creative work of art wrapped in the camouflage of a typical detective thriller. –bca

Still Walking – The inspiration for STILL WALKING, admittedly writer/director/editor Hirokazu Kore-eda’s most personal film, came from his mother’s death in 2005. In his words, ‘Those annoying things that I greeted with ambivalence – the bickering, broken promises and misunderstandings – now seem precious.’ This poetic yet achingly realistic film about family tensions surrounding hopeless expectations and bitter disappointments seems inspired by Ozu. Not so, claims Kore-eda. It is closer to a Mikio Naruse film, one about loveable, sloppy losers. ‘No one in my family would pass an audition for an Ozu film,’ claims the director. Luckily, Kore-eda found an excellent ensemble of actors to create a pitch perfect film from a first-rate script. –bk

The White Ribbon – THE WHITE RIBBON is a story of untoward events occurring in rapid succession in a small German village. Although the film has all the trappings of a jolly good whodunit, Haneke coerces his viewers to step back and look at the larger picture, abandoning the details of the multiple unsolved mysteries which appeared ever so important. It is the myriad of rules governing this society: the entitlement of the upper classes, the dogma of religion, the privileges of patriarchy, and the prerogatives of the elders which are the essence of the film. –bk

Buried Treasure

Bronson – Biopic of a violent criminal who’s spent a couple dozen years in solitary. FIGHT CLUB meets BEING THERE meets CABARET. When Bronson isn’t derangedly attacking someone or himself, he’s the epitome of quiet and stillness. It’s not the calm before the storm, but an absence–of thought? So the movie alternates between chaos and static shots. Helmer Refn’s approach is stylized and displays an attitude: characters are listed in the credits as ‘homo con,’ ‘loons,’ etc. Grandiose soundtrack of Verdi, Wagner, etc. is fitting. Tom Hardy is outstanding as the muscular, mustachioed Bronson, channeling Jim Carrey in his elastic face. He gained 100 pounds to play the part, eating 6,000 calories a day, and working out the way you’d have to if you only had four walls and a bed. The question remains: what is society to do with people like Bronson? –djy

Cherry Blossoms – After learning of her husband’s fatal diagnosis, Trudi decided not to tell him and plans a trip first to visit their children in Berlin (which ends up being a disaster) and then to the Baltic Sea where the movie takes a sharp turn and Trudi suddenly dies. The remainder of the film depicts Rudi on a strange odyssey learning more about his wife that he ever knew. Visually beautiful even in its starkness. –bl

The New Year Parade – Having lived in Philadelphia but never having seen ˆ or understood the origins of ˆ the traditional New Year’s Day Mummer‚s Parade, the subject of this film immediately appealed to me. After seeing it, I consider it to be one of the best independent films of the year. The film revolves around a South Philadelphia family dealing with the parents‚ impending divorce, with the father‚s and son‚s preparations for the annual Mummer‚s Parade as a backdrop. Working with a small budget and a cast of mainly non-professional actors, director Tom Quinn seamlessly blends documentary footage with narrative and extracts impressive performances from the cast. –ad

Of Time and the City – OF TIME AND THE CITY is a visual memoir of director Terence Davies’ Liverpool. Combining archival film clips and images with current footage of the city of his birth and youth, Davies tells the story of the city as it evolved as he grew. It’s a profoundly personal film, and Davies holds nothing back as he shares via voice-over his fondest memories and lingering resentments against and on behalf of the town he knows so well. The soundtrack is equally as personal, as songs from his past are mixed with current music, and used as much for counterpoint as underscore to the visual story. And like the best confessional memoirs, the film’s ultimate revelation is a universal one – that home is as much a temporal and emotional place as it is a physical space – OF TIME AND THE CITY reminds us that we all carry within us our own Liverpool, no matter how near or far we are from our birthplace. –bcu

Somers Town – Two misfit boys meet up in London and compose a life around themselves out of their circumstances and their surroundings. It’s a bit of a fairy tale, where dreams after all come true. People are sensible and nice. Nothing gets too badly out of hand. Romance is innocent. It’s the kind of movie that leaves you grinning and thinking the old world really isn’t so bad after all. At
only 70 minutes, it’s a cinematic amouse bouche. –jp

Best Director

Hirokazu Kore-eda for Still Walking –

Claire Denis for 35 Shots of Rhum –

Werner Herzog for The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans –

Gotz Spielmann for Revanche – After losing his girlfriend, an ex-con finds his life entwined with that of a neighboring police officer and his wife. Director Spielmann (who also wrote the screenplay) makes a mythic-level film out of what might have merely been a thriller or morality tale. Noteworthy are the angle and distance of each shot, the pacing, and the performances. Spielmann‚s self-assured direction yields a complex, creative, suspenseful, pitch-perfect film. –djy

Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon – Many filmmakers could have conceivably crafted a thriller about a provincial German village plagued by a series of mysterious, violent crimes at the onset of World War I but only Michael Haneke would do so with such asceticism. One gets the impression that Haneke does not suffer fools gladly, and THE WHITE RIBBON is full of scenes astonishing for their austerity and economy, from an uncomfortable interrogation of a father to his son to what may be the most blunt, merciless verbal dismissal of a lover ever seen on film. Even as he allows us a narrator who serves as an actual protagonist, Haneke’s worldview is unswerving, fixating on the worst aspects of human behavior while encouraging the audience to understand, if not make excuses for them. –ck

Best Actress

Gabourey Sidibe for the role of Precious in Precious, Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – Since PRECIOUS centers on a character one would never see in a Hollywood film, it makes sense that the young woman portraying her is not a Hollywood actress—in fact, Sidibe was a Psychology student who had never previously acted when she attended an open casting call for the film. Given this lack of polish and her hefty physique, it’s not hard to see why she was picked to play a poor, abused, overweight teen. However, to comprehend just how remarkable her performance is, compare the normally sullen and monosyllabic Precious to her glamorous, imagined self in the film’s dazzling fantasy sequences and to Sidibe’s own remarkably different, bubbly off-screen persona—it’s an utterly convincing transformation that lends the film credibility and occasionally makes it soar. –ck

Nisreen Faour for the role of Muna Farah in Amreeka– The immigrant story is not a new one, but Amreeka is one of the better ones. As Muna, a divorced Palestinian woman who moves with her son to Illinois post-9/11, Nisreen Faour carries the film. She gives a nuanced performance that is both funny and touching, elevating her character from what could have been a cliché to a real, believable person. –ad

Charlotte Gainsbourg for the role of Her in Antichrist –

Abbie Cornish for the role of Fanny Brawne in Bright Star – Jane Campion‚s film, of the last years and days of Romantic Poet John Keats, is framed as a love story, with Abbie Cornish as Frances Fanny‚ Brawne , the object of his affections. Cornish must portray a seemingly-ordinary young woman who is at first noticed for superficial reasons: her insistence on designing and making her own unusual clothes. As her unique inner qualities unfold, we se why Keats became devoted to her: she is compassionate, sensitive, open-minded and unwilling to be swayed by the negative opinions of others. Cornish is an Australian actress who has also appeared in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Stop-Loss, as well as many Australian television productions. She is luminous in the role of Fanny, capturing wordlessly with her face and her body the character‚s fascination with the world, her love of nature and beauty, and the deepening passion she feels for Keats, who wrote a number of poems dedicated to her. –pa

Casey Mulligan for the role of Jenny Mellor in An Education – Sixteen year old Jenny, superior, witty, and eager to get out of her dull London suburb, is swept up by a dashing “older” man in his mid-thirties. Mulligan, playing the role at 23, brings an irresistibly appealing shine to the young girl‚s face, even when she is drenched by rain. As the older David introduces her to a life of glamour, she transforms into an Audrey Hepburn-like sophistiquée. Finally,
Mulligan’s Jenny is a poignant mix of wisdom and innocence. –djy

Catalina Saavedra for the role of Racquel in The Maid – In Sebastian Silva’s Chilean film, THE MAID, Saavedra plays the title character, Racquel. She has been working as a maid to the same family for 23 years and therein lies the character’s conflict. For while she has raised the children and cooked and cleaned for the family, she is not really a part of the family. When the mother of the family notices that Racquel is looking more haggard than usual, she determines that it is time to hire a second maid. With this decision, it becomes apparent to Racquel that whatever status she once held is about to be diminished with the hiring of another servant. In playing this role, Saavedra taps into the internal despair of the character that is unwilling to relent the little control that she has acquired over the tenure of her job. As the film progresses, Saavedra’s performance becomes even more nuanced as Racquel comes to terms with her job and her identity. –gc

Yolande Moreau for the title role in Seraphine – The versatile Belgian actress Yolande Moreau, born in 1953, received numerous awards and nominations for best actress for her role as Seraphine, in the homonymous movie, including the French Cesar award in 2009. The versatile actress, who has also done some share of writing and directing, plays Seraphine, a rough, anti-social cleaning lady who has an amazing passion and devotion for painting. During the film, most of what we learn about this strange, dark, lonely but extremely enchanting and mysterious character is conveyed by minimal words, quite a bit of silence, and a very precise body language. Just observing Seraphine walking the old cobble stone streets of Senlis (France) seems to convey the burden that weighs upon the mind, soul and body of the character, who only finds relief and enlightenment when painting. Yolande brings Seraphine to life on the screen in a stunning yet contained manner. Her acting is the definitely what makes Seraphine a great film. –iq

Best Actor

Colin Firth for the role of George in A Single Man – Colin Firth has played some iconic screen roles: Mr. Darcy in “Pride and Prejudice,” the libertine lover VALMONT in Milos Forman’s eponymous epic, the other Mr. Darcy in the Bridget Jones films. He has hosted “Saturday Night Live” an amazing eight times! He is known for his elegance, physical grace and finely-pitched voice. And of course those devilish good looks. But in Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel, Firth plays George, a man who must live in secrecy, exercising preternatural control over every aspect of his life: his emotions, his closeted sexual identity, his long-term partnership with his lover. Ford‚s intimate direction, featuring many intense close-ups, lay bare the enormous effort made by George to constantly keep himself in check. It‚s a testament to Firth’s great talent that the camera‚s close scrutiny never once reveals that there is an actor beneath that character: he fully inhabits his skin, his clothing, his carefully arranged home, his every gesture and careful, calculated smile. –pa

Nicolas Cage for the role of Terence McDonagh in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans – There are times when the right combination of director and actor can bring glorious results and such is the case with BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL – NEW ORLEANS. Inspired by director Werner Herzog to “turn the hog loose”, Cage throws everything into the role of Terrence McDonaugh, a New Orleans police detective, who is battling his drug and gambling addictions while trying to investigate the murders of five Senalese immigrants. It should be noted that McDonaugh is losing this battle and losing it in a bad way. Whether he’s shaking down old ladies at nursing homes or smoking crack with drug kingpins, you can’t help but wonder if McDonaugh even remembers the purpose of his investigation and Cage takes the performance to another level by going from jaw-dropping intimidation in one moment to unhinged madness a few moments later. And right when you think Cage has gone too far, he reins it in just enough to keep the film going. While we know that Cage will need to return to giving his standard performances in the Hollywood big-budget blockbusters, we hope it isn’t too long before he turns the hog loose in another indie film. –gc

Jeremy Renner for the role of Sergeant First Class William James in The Hurt Locker – ‘Overnight sensation’ is almost always technically a misnomer, a case in point being Jeremy Renner, who had been working for over a decade in TV and film before his explosive breakout as Will James. The charismatic and reckless soldier, who feels more at home disarming bombs than grocery shopping, is a study in deflection, intensity, nihilism and dark humor. He stares down death, endures purgatory, and then emerges as if reborn – a life’s worth of emotions in the space it takes to defuse another IED, and Renner’s face registers every subtlety. While Will James may be trapped by his inability to express his interior state, Renner is not constrained by the few words his character speaks – his whole body vibrates from the force of his character’s unspoken passions, fears and frustrations. His performance is a sensation, overnight or otherwise. –bcu

Sam Rockwell for the role of Sam Bell in Moon –

Bård Owe for the role of Odd Horetn in O’Horten – Baard Owe portrays O’Horten, a taciturn man who, after ending by retirement his ordinary life as a locomotive engineer, undergoes a series of ever more fantastical encounters, which he ends in an act of almost unimaginable faith and bravery. As O’Horten, Owe reacts to these events the way an ordinary
man like O’Horten would react, nonplussed but a little amused. At first,
he’s detached, as if not quite ready to surrender to them. But with good sport, he endures and, at last, learns from them. Owe is masterful at conveying O’Horten’s battling emotions upon a mostly straight face. He gives a graceful and unforced performance. –jp

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique for the role of Mary in – Precious, Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire – As Mary, the Mother of all cinematic Mothers from Hell, Mo’nique could easily have turned in a camp performance worthy of Mommie Dearest. Instead, the performer proves she is an actress of depth and range, roundly conveying a tortured˜and tortuous˜woman. Even as she maintains a rage that is alternately simmering and boiling, we see Mary‚s confusion, fear, and vulnerability bubble through from time to time. Mo’nique‚s delivery of Mary‚s climactic speech is a tour de force of self-pity and self-loathing, and quite a feat of evasion: she uses her copious tears to distract you from the anger which lives where her shame should be. –dvg

Rinko Kikuchi for the role of Bang Bang in The Brothers Bloom – THE BROTHERS BLOOM is a troubled little film: it begins as a whimsical romp through heist-film territory but tries to unfold into a poignant redemption tale as well, a feat it can‚t quite pull off. It glides along largely on the strength of its appealing cast: critical darling Mark Ruffalo, and Oscar winners Rachel Weisz and Adrian Brody. But none of the leads can hold a candle to Rinko Kikuchi, who plays the ironically near-silent explosives expert, Bang Bang. That Kikuchi can command the screen so memorably with almost no lines is a testament to her ability to inhabit a character. The intensely wry amusement that seems present in Bang Bang‚s watchful eyes adds an aura of mystery and interest to every scene she‚s in˜a case of the flair of the actress exceeding the material she’s been given. –dvg

Alycia Delmore for the role of Anna in Humpday –

Ursula Strauss for the role of Susanne in Revanche – Ursula Strauss is one of the highlights in REVANCHE. She plays a woman who is a devoted wife to one man, a kindly caretaker for another and a passionate lover to a third. –bk

Julianne Moore for the role of Charley in A Single Man –

Best Supporting Actor

Peter Capaldi for the role of Malcolm Tucker in In the Loop – Most likely anyone who has worked in big business, the military or professional sports has encountered at least one insensitive, foul-mouthed, underhanded man like Malcolm Tucker, the character Peter Capaldi has brought to the screen, larger than life. Everything about Capaldi‚s performance is over the top yet the total effect remains grounded in reality. A lesser actor could never pull it off. –bk

Alfred Molina for the role of Jack Mellor in An Education – Lone Scherfig’s story of Jenny, a smart and savvy schoolgirl who finds herself in over her head creates an effective balanced portrayal of the two worlds inhabited by the young protagonist: the glamorous, Continental nightlife offered by her lover, and the staid, conventional existence offered by her parents. As her father Jack, Alfred Molina (noted for powerful supporting performances in Chocolat, Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Dead Man, among many others, a veteran English screen actor who grows better with age, is the perfect denizen of the London suburbs, though Molina himself was born in the city of London. Jack is stubborn, self-satisfied, penny-pinching and hopelessly provincial, but determined to offer his daughter the best future he can. When he realizes he‚s had a hand in running her life by failing to protect her, his pain is palpable, his shame, though he tries to hide it, etched clearly on his large, soft features. Not blessed with ordinary handsomeness, Molina uses his large-featured face like a child with a large but limited box of paints, creating complex hues through dogged mastery. –pa

Mads Mikkelsen for the role of Citronen in Flame and Citron –

Anthony Mackie for the role of Sergeant JT Sanborn in The Hurt Locker- In Kathryn Bigelow’s tension-filled war film, THE HURT LOCKER, Anthony Mackie plays Sgt. JT Sanborn, the voice of reason in the three-man Explosive Ordinance Unit that is led by adrenaline junkie, Sgt. William James. When James goes to defuse the bomb, it is the job of Sanborn to communicate with James via radio while also providing cover for James from nearby snipers. In most cases, the three men would work as a unit to complete the mission yet what has made James so effective in his job is his reckless nature even if this leads to more risk for the other two men in his unit. In playing the level-headed yet cautious Sanborn, Mackie proves to be a tremendous supporting actor to Jeremy Renner who plays James. Throughout the film, Mackie shows the warmth of Sanborn as that character relies on the teamwork from his fellow soldiers. Yet in working with the more experienced James, Mackie provides a complex performance in showing Sanborn’s frustration and despair in realizing that James is working on a different mentality than himself – whereas Sanborn is trying to cope with the pressure that comes from his position, James needs it. –gc

Christian McKay for the role of Orson Welles in Me and Orson Welles – It’s always a dangerous thing, for an actor to take on the role of an iconic figure. How to convey enough of the heart of the original to ring true, without veering too far into impersonation? How to make the character one’s own, without distorting the icon beyond recognition? In the case of Christian McKay and Orson Welles, it helps to have a mellifluous voice. But beyond the few points of commonality (McKay has a slight resemblance), what was most impressive about his portrayal of Welles was the way he captured the underlying emotion behind Welles’ expressive face – the restless and probing intelligence and curiosity, the impishness, the ego, and the hair trigger swings between all of his high emotions. Me and Orson Welles could have been a silent film, and still McKay’s performance would have conveyed volumes – the plummy speech winds up being merely the cherry on the top. –bcu

Best Original Screenplay

In the Loop, screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, and Ian Martin – Director Armando Ianucci’s film, a fake-documentary style romp similar to “The Office,” and based upon his successful series “The Thick of It,” brings together the high-powered and ill-tempered people who make decisions in the upper echelons of government in Washington and London. The first-rate cast are given priceless dialogue and situations to play with, and the screenplay manages to create letter-perfect language for a wide variety of iconoclastic characters, such as Peter Capaldi‚s profane, apoplectic Malcolm Tucker, who, when telling off the excellent Gina McKee‚s Judy Molloy, utters lines like “Within your ‘purview’? Where do you think you are, some fucking regency costume drama? This is a government department, not some fucking Jane fucking Austen novel! Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up your shitter with a lubricated horse cock!” Or Tom Hollander‚s Simon Foster sparring with Chris Addison‚s Toby Wright: Simon: “It‚ll be easy peasy, lemon-squeezy. Toby:” “No, it‚ll be difficult, difficult, lemon-difficult.” The American characters are given similarly hilarious lines, not as quaintly colorful and idiomatic as the Brits, perhaps, but screamingly funny all the same, and often based on pop-culture references. One of my favorites of these characters was Chad, played by Zach Woods, who has, ironically, recently appeared in “The Office.” Chad‚s an ingratiating lower-level assistant, and when his arch-rival Liza (Anna Chlumsky) is dealing with her boss Mimi Kennedy‚s sudden mouth bleeding from a broken crown, he says “Go, Buffy, the vampire queen needs you now.” –pa

(500) Days of Summer, screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – Love means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To some it‚s just a word, to others it‚s the be-all and end-all∑ and to writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber it‚s the focus of one of the best films of 2009. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER is the story of Tom, who believes in the concept of True Love, and Summer, who doesn‚t. So naturally, they meet and fall in∑ in∑ um∑ it‚s kind of hard to explain. It has to be seen. Bitingly funny, sharply sweet, with moments that made me laugh with tears in my eyes, Mr. Neustadter and Mr. Weber have created a screenplay full of people that you genuinely care about, and truly want the best for. –kb

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call — New Orleans , screenplay by William Finkelstein –

The Hurt Locker, screenplay by Mark Boal – Screenwriter Mark Boal has written one of the most well-crafted screenplays of recent days, blending drama, extreme tension, pathos, and deftly crafted streaks of dark humor in the story of three members of the Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad who are battling insurgents, and their own conflicting emotions, trying to make the streets of Baghdad safe for the natives and for the brave American soldiers who are trying to protect them. Brought to the screen by the deft touch of director Kathryn Bigalow, it is a story you will remember forever –tck

Still Walking, screenplay by Hirokazu Kore-eda – Kore-eda‚s poetic, languorous screenplay highlights interactions, not events. Sensitive and deceptively simple, the story builds through gestures, looks, and conversations, as reuniting family members encounter one another in the house over the course of a day. “Oh, you‚re here,” states a father on seeing his long-gone son. We all know thoughtlessness, yearning for acceptance, and suppressed grief as parts of family dynamics, but here they are distilled into art. The details of fried corn cakes, the taking of a family photo, a yellow butterfly, a remark intended to sting: Kore-eda lays out this family’s story with specificity and humanity. –djy

Best Adapted Screenplay

Precious, Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher, based on the novel by Sapphire – It is easy to see why PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE, the story of a sixteen year old obese black girl who is pregnant with her father‚s second child, took so long to make it to the screen ˆ it is not what Hollywood considers entertainment. Geoffrey Fletcher has adapted what was long considered a novel unsuited for the screen into a gritty yet poignant tale that is simultaneously entertaining and horrifying. –bk

The Class, screenplay by Laurent Cantet,Robin Campillo, and François Bégaudeau, inspired by the book by François Bégaudeau – Having seen THE CLASS and then, out of curiosity, read the novel on which it was based, I am impressed with how the book was adapted for the screen. The screenplay skillfully captures the mood of the novel and the dynamics between the teacher (François Bégaudeau‚s character), the students, and the high school administration in a low-income, diverse suburban Parisian high school. Like most screenplays, it necessarily consolidates some plot points and characters, but it manages to do so without detracting from the overall story. — ad

An Education, screenplay by Nick Hornby, based on the memoir by Lynn Barber – The three-act story structure isn‚t dead after all˜in fact, as An Education proves, in the right hands, it can still engage and even provoke. In his crafting of the story of a British schoolgirl who puts dreams of college at risk by dallying with a dapper man twice her age, Nick Hornby trusts his audience enough to deprive us of any happy fix for the inherent problem posed by the couple‚s age˜and life experience˜gap. And yet it‚s not a film about a pure imbalance: Hornby does a fine job of not only showing us why Jenny, bored with homework and constricted at home, would want to follow her heart with David, but also what makes him see this smart, cultured girl as an improvement to his station. At times, it is supremely difficult to know what to root for or against˜and that is a testament to Hornby’s gift. –dvg

Gomorrah, screenplay by Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone Massimo Gaudiosoi and Roberto Saviano based on the book by Roberto Saviano – A gritty, realistic look at the Neopolitan Mafia. Five stories depict the effect that the criminal enterprise has on a Mafia money distributor, a grocery delivery boy, a toxic waste management employee, a hig end tailor and two young men who aspire to be real gangsters. These five stories are woven together seamlessly and there is no soft selling of the reach that the Gomorrah has on everyday life in the region. — bl

Pontypool, screenplay by Tony Burgess based on his novel –
Tony Burgess does a remarkable job slicing out one small portion of his sprawling novel and blowing it up into an intellectual zombie movie of sorts. The twist is how the disease that turns people into mad, tic-ridden monsters, and that is language. So what better setting for a disease spread by language than a radio station. PONTYPOOL is clever, insightful, witty and thoroughly original, and with characters beautifully drawn and heartfelt. –mrc

Best Cinematography

Christian Berger for The White Ribbon – Certainly one of the most haunting and intense works of Michael Haneke’s distinguished career, THE WHITE RIBBON possesses a stunning visual sensibility, simple and straightforward but also lush and intimate. The film was originally shot in color and changed to black and white in post-production. The simple interiors and exteriors of a small rural village in turn of the century Germany are authentic and yet eerily surreal, acting as backdrops for the simple emotions and calculated sins of the villagers. Cinematographer Christian Berger has previously worked with Haneke on CACHE (Best Director Award from Chlotrudis in 2007), TTHE PIANO TEACHER, 71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE, and BENNY’S VIDEO, as well as with Ulrike Ottinger and Amos Gitai. The camera work is simply unparalleled, resulting in a masterful work full of quiet suspense and intensity. Production Designer Christoph Kanter also worked with Haneke on CACHE, TIME OF THE WOLF, TTHE CASTLE, 71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE, and THE PIANO TEACHER. This simple but layered story might have bowed under the weight of an overly-complex production design; Kanter has created a plausibly tactile world, inhabited by people whose cunning, cruelty and denial threaten to undermine their entire community. The village setting is timeless and yet a perfect relic of its moment in history. –pa

Agnes Godard for 35 Shots of Rum –

Anthony Dod Mantle for Antichrist –

John Christian Rosenlund for O’Horten – Cinematographer, John Christian Rosenlund, has succeeded in shooting one of the most beautiful films ever made. From the very first frame, O’HORTEN, directed by Brent Hamer, is a breathtaking movie to watch. The film opens with a conductor’s-eye view while a train pulses through a dark tunnel, emerging into a pristine and soothing snow-filled landscape. All at once the viewers are shifted to see the entire mountainside. Every last frame shot in the film is beautiful. The film’s gentle and thoughtful story works in large part due to its excellent cinematography. O’HORTEN is beyond deserving of Chlotrudis’ nomination for Best Cinematography. –bca

Alexis Zabe for Silent Light – From the opening shot of a sunrise (in what appears to be real-time) until the closing crepuscular shot, the cinematography dictates the pace and mood of SILENT LIGHT, a film in which dialogue is a rarity. The story takes place in a Mennonite community on a bleak Mexican plateau. Through Alexis Zabe‚s lens, the simplicity of life and land is given an eerie beauty. –bk

Best Production Design

A Single Man –

The Beaches of Agnes – One doesn’t often think of a documentary as having a design, but then again, Agnes Varda’s poetic, personal essays are as far from cinema verite as one can get in the world of nonfiction film. While wistfully musing on everything from her Belgian childhood to her late filmmaker husband Jacques Demy, Varda is in a constant state of creation. The opening sequence finds her and her crew installing mirrors on a beach in order to discover what visual juxtapositions result; later, she constructs a makeshift beach on a crowded Parisian street which she then revels in as the camera captures curious onlookers. As with most films, we see the world via the director’s eye, but Varda lets us in on the process and demonstrates how thrillingly life and art intersect. –ck

Me and Orson Welles – At heart, the film is about how a young man’s view of the world and the people around him changes as he becomes a man and starts to make a way through that world. New York in 1937 was a world of passion bubbling under the surface. In addition to nailing the specific details of late Depression Era Big Apple, what I enjoyed about the production design was its close mirroring of the mood and tone of the environment as Richard’s perception changed. Props are crammed about and tossed around while the camera never stops, so the viewer shares the exhilaration and intimidation Richard feels as he enters the crazy world of Mercury; later on, it’s the sets and backdrops that become primary, as Richard begins to realize the bigger picture forces at play, and his limitations to control their effect upon him. –bcu

Moon – In Duncan Jones’ debut feature, MOON, Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, the only person on the lunar station that is responsible for mining resources to provide energy for the earth. As the film progresses, the audience gets more familiar with the solitary existence of Bell. Day after day, Bell spends hours walking through the white-walled, claustrophobic space station filled with computer screens. By doing such an effective job of displaying the sterile, artificial world of Bell, Jones brilliantly emphasizes the inquisitive nature of the film and the inner turmoil of the main character who is struggling to complete the last few days of his mission. And as we learn, there is more to the mission than he realized. –gc

Sita Sings the Blues – the story of the Ramayana brought to the screen by writer/producer/director/animator Nina Paley sparkles with life in all aspects. Paley has used several different types of animation to follow both the Indian legend and events in her own life, and has produced visually dazzling results. A combination of computer animation and traditional animation along with the wonderful songs of 1920’s recording artist Annette Hanshaw combine to make one of the most enjoyable films of the year, and IMHO, one of the best animated features of all time. –tck

Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast

In the Loop – On paper, the sprawling, transatlantic cast of IN THE LOOP looks like a mess, teeming with British comedy icons, American stars, character actors and young unknowns. In practice, this meshing of disparate types is as essential to the film’s success as its rapid-fire dialogue and outrageous (but frighteningly plausible) satire. Watch sparks fly as people pair off: Tom Hollander’s overconfident, inarticulate Prime Minister with (an unrecognizable) Steve Coogan’s disgruntled citizen, Mimi Kennedy’s no-nonsense U.S. senior political official with Chris Addison’s British, low-level political assistant, James Gandolfini’s peace-advocating Army General with Peter Capaldi’s profane, temperamental public relations director. Then, watch as they all pair off again in a variety of configurations, keeping in line with the film’s ever entangling, engrossing narrative. –ck

35 Shots of Rum – The ensemble acting of 35 SHOTS OF RUM is a joy to experience. The sparse dialogue dictates that the characters incorporate an exceptional use of body language and facial expression to connect with one another. The performances are well-balanced and even; never once does one actor upstage another as is too frequently the case. As in any Denis film, both the director and cinematographer are instrumental in eliciting and capturing the magic that the actors generate. –bk

Still Walking – Hirokazo Koreeda’s story of a family’s reunion on the fifteenth anniversary of its eldest son’s drowning slowly teases out the unresolved conflicts that still keep relations between it members prickly. The cast, portraying the still grieving parents, the remaining son and daughter and their spouses and children talk and argue, observe ritual and family traditions, and pass through the range of emotions one would expect a family in these straits might feel: Anger, nostalgia, longing, and grief, but, as well, celebration, wonder, contentment, and reassurance, so that, in the end, we have this extraordinarily faceted portrait of an ordinary, yet still complex, family. –jp

Summer Hours – Summer Hours tells the story of a French family, and in particular three adult children, trying to come to terms with what to do with their mother‚s house and art collection after her death. The multigenerational family dynamics make the film relatable and provide dramatic tension, and the beautiful setting in the French countryside and gorgeous old house and art collection make the film a pleasure to watch. But for me, what really made the film effective was the strength of the performances by the ensemble cast, especially by Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, and Jérémie Renier as the „children,‰ Edith Scob as the mother, and Isabelle Sadoyen as her longtime housekeeper. –ad

The White Ribbon – THE WHITE RIBBON features a diverse cast of characters, all carefully chosen by the film’s director, Michael Haneke, to convey a story of a community of people in pre-World War I Germany. These individuals are a complex blend of adults and children, and the character development employs many layers of complexity. The children of this period will eventually grow up to be avid supporters of Hitler’s Germany. Therefore the film assigns a certain moral condemnation to various members of the community (the adults who raise these future Nazis) and alternatively assigns compassion and forgiveness to others. Every single actor in the cast of The White Ribbon delivers a near-perfect performance. From the youngest characters to the more seasoned adult actors, this group works harmoniously to deliver a work of unbelievable brilliance. –bca

Best Documentary

It’s a Tie!

The Beaches of Agnes – This one almost defies definition. The outrageously playful and brilliant artist and director Agnes Varda ambles her way through a visual autobiography of sorts. Of course it’s not linear, or comprehensive – this is not the way Agnes rolls. Instead it’s evocative and whimsical, transliminal and provocative – a feast for the eyes, and for anyone young at heart. You need not know a thing about her history to be mesmerized and enchanted. Her love of the sea and the men in her life, her freedom to pursue her heart’s own, her defiant joyful laughter – constant threads woven throughout what is undeniably a remarkable history. This film needs to be seen beyond those devotees of French cinema and its history – I kept thinking as I watched that Varda was film’s Mame Dennis, and that this film was saying“life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” Agnes wants us all eating at her table – by the water’s edge, of course. –bcu

Herb & Dorothy – The highest compliment I can give a documentary is coming out of it saying I learned something I didn‚t know going into it. The story of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, captured brilliantly by Megumi Sasaki in „Herb and Dorothy‰ is just such a piece. At a time their lives when most couples are thinking about retiring in Florida, the Vogels have devoted themselves and their small New York apartment to their shared passion ˆ Minimalist Art. These is hardly a space in their place that isn‚t devoted to their amazing collection, and thanks to this film we get to see some fascinating pieces of art, along with interviews of the Vogels, friends and family, and other members of the art world. Charming and funny, utterly captivating and downright sweet, „Herb and Dorothy‰ shows that age really is just a number, and that what (and who) you love you should keep very close to your heart. –kb

La Danse – LA DANSE is a beautiful, beautiful film. Frankly this is what the category “best cinematography” was made to represent. I’m particularly impressed that the cinematography was so rich and diverse in a place where the camera needed to be unobtrusive, avoiding mirrors, and following an unpredictably moving target. Breathtakingly beautiful, creative, and compelling, this film is definitely NOT TOO LONG at 2.5 hours. If you love the art form of dance and you love the art form of film, this is the best marriage of the two. Wiseman is very indulgent, giving us lots and lots and lots of dance. I worried it would be mostly talking heads with a number of dance scenes scattered along the way, but no, it was mostly dance. I’m also impressed with the way Wiseman balanced quiet scenes with music, a technique which I believe kept viewers from getting fatigued with any particular sequence. Quiet and inquisitive, we get to watch dancers and choreographers interact, and we see costume and makeup designers, reminding us that many artists contribute to the final product. I was stunned by the beauty of this film. –bca

Good Hair – The best documentaries entertain and educate. It’s always great fun to watch an entertaining movie, but it’s even better to have fun and learn something too! Chris Rock knows this and he does a terrific job spinning a movie out of a simple question, and that movie is GOOD HAIR. When approached by his young daughter and asked, ‘Daddy, why don’t I have good hair?’ Chris Rock senses there’s something looming large behind the question, and he is absolutely right. Good hair is more than just a descriptive phrase, it’s a compound noun, and a quick check in the urban dictionary reveals the following definition, ‘A popular term in the African-American community, used to describe an black person’s hair that closely resembles the hair of a typical white person (i.e. soft, manageable, long, as opposed to “nappy” or “bad” hair). The closer your hair is to a white person’s, the “better” your hair is.’ With thoughts of body image and self-esteem on his mind, and searching for a good answer for his daughter, Chris begins a lengthy trek in search of ‘good hair. –mrc

Theater of War – Who would have thought that a documentary on the life of Bertold Brecht, politics, and the rehearsals and staging of ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ in Central Park starring Meryl Streep would make such compelling theater? Well we would have, obviously, or we wouldn’t have gone to see this outstanding film at the festival. THEATER OF WAR is one of those documentaries that entertain and educate at the same time. –mrc

Unmistaken Child – Unmistaken Child by Israeli filmmaker Nati Baratz documents the four year journey of Tenzin Zopa as he looks for the reincarnation of his master, Lama Konchog. Lama Konchog was a world-renowned Tibetan master who passed away in 2001 at the age of 84, while Tenzin was his devoted disciple since the age of 7. Tenzin is devastated by his death, feeling he’s been left alone in the world. He confides in the filmmaker that finding the reincarnation is too large a responsibility for him. The viewer gets to take a trip with Tenzin, by foot, mule and helicopter to the beautiful and remote villages of Tibet, in search of the reincarnation. Tenzin is given clues by an astrologer, signs from dreams and thoughts from villagers as to who he should be looking for. Ritualistic tests are done and conclusions are made. Along the way, the viewer gets an inside glimpse of seldom seen rituals and practices of the Buddhist faith. While this is all very intriguing, what is most memorable is the impact on all parties concerned of potentially taking a young child away from his family, to live in a monastery, forever. The transformation of Tenzin during this journey is also noteworthy. –jb