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Best Movie
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  Winter’s Bone – Winter’s Bone immerses you in another culture, one that both familiar as a true, unflinching portrait of our heartland, yet one that is so particular to one part of our vast country as to be nearly unrecognizable. Director Debra Granick and her outstanding team recreate this world so vividly and so hauntingly that the film lingers with you long after the final credits have rolled. Jennifer Lawrence embodies Ree, the tough 17-year-old girl trying to keep her family afloat. The tension infusing Winter’s Bone is definitely on a slow burn, but the harrowing climax is legendary. There isn’t a misstep in this film and as the multiple awards and nominations have shown, Granik and company should be very proud of their cinematic achievement. — mrc |
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 I Killed My Mother – I Killed My Mother is an insightful comedy about the anxiety of coming out, loosely based on personal experience and spiced with an abundance of marvelous fantasy. Xavier Dolan began writing his script I KILLED MY MOTHER when he was sixteen with the (outrageous) goal in mind of getting his film into the Cannes Film Festival. Not only did he achieve that goal but he won three awards at Cannes in 2009 at the age of 20. — bk |
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 Jack Goes Boating – Jack Goes Boating is a deceptively simple-seeming movie about a man, a woman and the two friends who will do anything to help their friends’ relationship work, despite their own marriage coming increasingly and painfully undone. Jack (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a quiet and unassuming NYC taxi driver, is set up on a blind date with Connie (Amy Ryan) by his friends – married couple Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega) – and finds himself interested in being with her. He promises to fulfill two of her wishes — to be cooked a meal and to be taken boating — even though he can neither cook nor swim. His friends rally to teach him both and what unfolds is a carefully-paced, character-driven exploration of the dynamics between the characters, their histories and their dreams. — so |
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 The King’s Speech – An impressive period drama set in England right before World War 2, The King’s Speech tells the story of George VI who becomes king after his brother, Edward VII abdicates. Berte (Colin Firth) cannot make a speech without stammering so his wife (Helen Bonham Carter) engages the services of an unconventional Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to work with Berte on reclaiming his voice. Held together by magnificent performances and an eloquent script, the heart of the movie centers on the unlikely relationship that develops between teacher and student. — vo |
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 Mother – Mother straddles the genres of melodrama, psychological thriller and black comedy. The title character of the film struggles to acquit her mentally challenged son when he is charged with murder. Mother and son live together, even share the same bed. She has spent her life protecting him and feels she know him well enough to proclaim his innocence at the murdered girl’s funeral. Nonetheless, things are not always what they may seem; many twists and turns occur by the film’s startling ending. — bk |
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 Undertow – Gentle and understated, but with real emotion that resonates, Javier Fuentes-León’s debut feature UNDERTOW touches upon love, death, and what it means to be a man in South America. Set in a visually stunning village on the coast of Peru, UNDERTOW Miguel, his pregnant wife Mariela, and Santiago, the man he loves as they negotiate their complex relationships in a culture that can be less than accepting. UNDERTOW is a unique film that couldn’t be set anywhere else as the traditions and cultures are so specific to that place. Cristian Mercado’s powerful performance as Miguel is filled with layers of emotion, and Tatiana Astengo’s Mariela takes what could be a stock character and fills her with complexity and sympathy. Fuentes-Leon proves to be a master storyteller, with a gentle screenplay that packs an emotional wallop, and a visual sense that goes far beyond what must surely been a limited budget. — mrc
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Buried Treasure
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 Dogtooth – In his first effort to garner much attention outside Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos presents a cautionary tale that plays like an extended car crash: often brutal and horrifying, yet so unique and compelling that you never want to look away. Following an undisclosed crisis, a man keeps his family members safe by isolating them in his home and creating an entirely skewed reality for them, complete with its own rules and language. Thankfully, a steady current of dark humor suitably lessens the story’s bleaker elements. Lanthimos commits to and sustains his extreme but startlingly plausible scenario to its bitter (if delightfully ironic) end. — ck |
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 Down Terrace – What a wonderful selection for Chlotrudis’ signature award! Despite the film’s limited US release and modest gross, the film-makers have been praised by a variety of film festivals and several British Independent Film Awards. Down Terrace works as a quintessential dark comedy, and the emphasis here should be on dark, telling such a good story, the script deserves yet another Chlotrudis nomination. The plot allows increasingly more intimate profiles of characters as the film unwinds. Another phenomenal quality about the film is that the cinematography is beautifully used to introduce each character to the viewer from a different, intimately drawn, angle. In short Down Terrace is one of the most delightful, high-tension, suspense-filled candidates I have seen nominated to the buried treasure category. — bca |
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 Mary and Max – Mary and Max is an independently animated, written, and directed gem of a film which lost out on an animated feature nomination to last year’s Secret of Kells. I mention this because this often happens to the few adult independent animations that get lost in the shuffle each year. The voice acting is compelling – you would be hard-pressed to identify the actors without reading the credits. The title characters are Max, a middle-aged man in New York City, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and a young girl Mary, his Australian pen pal, played by Toni Collette. It is a beautiful story of the friendship over many years between two lonely misfits. Mary has no friends and cannot connect with a soul in the world, and Max suffers from Asperger’s, with a number of odd habits and a general disconnection from the world. Through the traditional means of old-fashioned letter writing, the two build a bond, and the viewer experiences a roller-coaster of emotions throughout their twenty years of friendship. The story is loosely based on Australian Adam Elliot’s real writings to a pen pal in New York. The stop-motion character design and props are fantastic and were made by a very small team. The distinctive animation allows a bit of surreal quality to the storytelling but doesn’t veer into excess; the emotional core of the film is always front-and-center. Haunting, beautiful and heartfelt! — tp |
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 Mine – When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, rescuers raced to remove people from danger. Amidst all of the chaos, rescuers were often unable, unprepared or unwilling to rescue the thousands of domestic animals victimized by the storm and pet owners were often forced to leave their beloved pets behind as they fled to safety. Geralyn Pezanski’s Mine documents the aftereffects of the disaster in the context of the ongoing drama: displaced hurricane survivors who are now trying desperately to locate their displaced pets, many of whom who are living in shelters or even have already been placed in new homes all over the country. A lack of a central system of reconnecting pets and owners only makes this process even more difficult and gut-wrenching. An emotional film for animal lovers, it shows in detail the connection between the owners (both old and new) and their pets while posing questions about the ethicality around how pets are perceived and treated… as well as asking the hard question: if a pet has been separated from its owner and adopted by a new one, whose pet is it? Pezanski does a very good job of allowing the multiple sides of the discussion (hurricane survivors, current pet owners, hurricane rescuers, animal rescuers) their own space and voice. — so |
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 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee – Rebecca Miller’s directorial adaptation of her novel THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is a refreshingly sharp and emotionally rich exploration of how we got to be the people we are today — and what happened to the people we were in years past. As Pippa (Robin Wright in an understatedly witty performance) adjusts to her new home in an assisted living community, caring for her older husband (Alan Arkin), she reviews her life from childhood forward and quietly embarks on an inevitable nervous breakdown. Surrounded by a diverse cast of characters dealing with fallout from their own behavioral quirks proves to be sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, and always enlightening for Pippa. The ensemble features many small gems of performance by respected actors Maria Bello, Julianne Moore, Robin Weigert, and Zoe Kazan. And here’s one thing I never thought I’d write in a Chlotrudis summary the casting of Keanu Reaves and Winona Ryder are absolutely perfect. — sc |
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 Terribly Happy – Henrik Ruben Genz’s thriller comedy Terribly Happy is liking watching a Twilight Zone episode directed by the Coen Brothers. When a big city sheriff ends up in small town Denmark, his moral universe gets murkier by the minute. Sartre wrote “Hell is other people” and the sheriff finds he has a town full of evidence that this is true. Deadpan humor keeps the movie humming along toward the violence you know must eventually come. — dvg |
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Best Director
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 Debra Granik for Winter’s Bone – Communicating the emotional and political undercurrent of a society that values stoicism, quietude and individuals staying out of each others’ way is not an easy task, but Debra Granik achieves this amazingly well in Winter’s Bone. Lucid storytelling, clear characterization and strong direction provide a movie that is alternately brutal, tender, gut-wrenching, hopeful and sad, while always compelling. It is almost as though Granik is presenting Ree’s (Jennifer Lawrence) slice of Ozark Mountain community to her audience as it unfolds. Granik’s second film proves that Granik is not afraid of portraying difficult situations whose conclusion may not be entirely satisfactory for an audience looking for closure. Moreover, her storytelling does not shy away from the brutality that is built into the movie’s Ozark Mountain community, which appears both overtly and in the undercurrents of all interactions between protagonist Ree’s (Jennifer Lawrence) and everyone outside of her immediate family. — so |
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 Tze Chun for Children of Invention – This is a strong effort by a relative-newcomer to the industry. Tze Chun takes on the unenviable task of directing two young children, who are featured in a majority of scenes in the film, and elicits performances that seem as natural and unrehearsed as a home movie or documentary film. When their mother is arrested after being used as the patsy in a pyramid scheme, the brother and sister manage to fend for themselves with pluck and creativity. The story is loosely based on Tze Chun’s own childhood experiences, and revealed with humor, pathos, and tender style. — kp |
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 Banksy for Exit Through the Gift Shop – At one point in history, film’s legitimacy as a medium of art was debated in much the same way that graffiti art is today. With Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy leaves the viewer no lingering doubt on either question. Cinema becomes yet another art form Banksy has triumphed over as he gives the same treatment to the film that he’s given to the walls all over the world that have make him arguably the most iconic and sought after contemporary visual artist of our time. We see so clearly his touch, his influence, his trademark embedded over every square inch of the film that makes it such a remarkable debut of visionary work. His film carries the same layers as his other works, from its generally light hearted tone to more thought provoking commentary that may well be making a mockery out of you as a viewer. We never know. But unlike the other documentaries of this banner year that blur the line between truth and fiction, the film remains strong as a stand alone piece. It doesn’t matter whether the events are forged or authentic, or what precisely Banksy’s intentions from the film were. It simply works on every level. — is |
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Xavier Dolan for I Killed My Mother – Can a teenager make a film that remains true to the emotional hurricane of youth while also revealing maturity in cinematic techniques and sophisticated storytelling? If that teen is Xavier Dolan, the answer is yes. By age 19, he’d completed I Killed My Mother, a prize-winning film about the love and tension between mother and gay son, both of whom have very strong personalities. Wrangling a cast of veteran actors, mixing heady formalist techniques with a naturalistic story, and generally kicking the shit out of the standard coming-out tale, Dolan (now all of 21) has made a debut that heralds a stunning career to come.–dvg |
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 Joon-ho Bong for Mother – Director Joon-ho Bong deserves worlds of acclaim for his work on the film, Mother. The film is filled with many deep and unseen realities, hidden from the viewer. A film this kind is difficult to direct in such a manner that audiences don’t see through to the end what is likely to be reality. In addition, the characters are given only fragmented representation throughout the film, so we are left to make our own judgments of the people, judgments that morph again and again as the plot moves along. Very few directors today create a film with such fine balance. Ever since he succeeded in capturing the favor of Chlotrudis members, Joon-ho Boon has kept these cinephiles truly satisfied, directing films like Memories of Murder and Host. Now, with this, arguably his finest work, Chlotrudis members are raving about Mother, a work of serious, artistic genius. — bca |
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 John Cameron Mitchell for Rabbit Hole – Mitchell received critical acclaim for the brilliant theatre piece he adapted for the big screen, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The controversial but ambitious Shortbusdivided critics and audiences. But Rabbit Hole, a straightforward drama (also a stage play adaptation from David Lindsay-Abaire) about a couple grieving for their lost child, anchors Mitchell as a gifted and confident cinematic artist. The unusual casting pays off, and Nicole Kidman in particular continues to impress with her gifts, as does Dianne Wiest, a more mature actress whose understated performance is nevertheless gut-wrenching. Mitchell melds moments of quiet, of absurdity, and of violent anger into a plausible, memorable chamber piece of grief and redemption. — pa |
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Best Actress
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 Hye-ja Kim for the role of Moher in Mother – Hye-Ja Kim shines as the tenacious, loving, and and dedicated mother of her simple-minded son. Her task is to ferret out the clues that will solve a mystery and exonerate him. Kim makes clear the mother’s single-mindedness, but also makes room in the role for developing her as a fully complete person in her own right, in possession of a manic streak that sometimes expresses itself in an impromptu rhumba dance. By the end of the film we have seen the answer to the mystery revealed as well as plumbed the depths of this mysterious woman’s character. — jp |
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 Paprika Steen for the role of Thea Barfoed in Applause – A role like Thea Barfoed is something that many actresses would kill for. A diva actress emerges from rehab after losing custody of her children because of her excessive drinking. It’s also a role that many… maybe even most actresses would tend to overplay. In the hands of the masterful Paprika Steen, Thea truly comes to life in all her monstrous yet sympathetic humanity. Paprika’s performance cuts to the heart of an illness. Her struggle between an addiction, her desire to be a good mother and the love she feels for her children wrestle palpably throughout her being. We are appalled even as we are sympathetic. We are horrified by her behavior even as we are touched by her insight and her decisions as a parent. And we are amazed by yet another award-worthy performance by Paprika Steen. — mrc |
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 Katie Jarvis for the role of Mia Williams in Fish Tank – Director Andrea Arnold spotted Katie Jarvis in the middle of an argument with her boyfriend on a train platform, and decided to cast her as Mia in Fish Tank. Jarvis, this year’s youngest nominee for best actress, delivers an impressive debut as a teenager trapped in a dreary existence in a British housing project with an alcoholic single mother, and a sassy younger sister. She shines in her tough yet tender portrayal of adolescent angst, as she reacts to the inured brutality of Mia’s world. — sb |
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 Anne Dorval for the role of Chantale Lemming in I Killed My Mother -Anne Dorval delivers an earth-shattering performance in the film I Killed My Mother. This is an actress whose talents combine style, wit, comic-timing, physical expression and most important, a genuine embodiment of the character she portrays. Ann Dorval pulls the viewer in to the struggles she faces as a single mother trapped in a home, rocked by a moody, adolescent son. At times her character is gentle and thoughtful, while other times we see her at her breaking point, throwing fits of rage. And then there are the times when she lays bare her own flaws as a neurotic single mother. Most compelling about Ann Dorval’s performance is her ability to portray her character with very real human textures, so that the viewer isn’t drawn into the mother-son conflict with the need to take sides. The film could not have succeeded without such a brilliant performance by this actress.– bca |
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 Jennifer Lawrence for the role of Ree in Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik’s film has so much going for it—a gripping mystery narrative, a vivid sense of place, a colorful supporting cast—but it would not make as a strong of an impact without Lawrence as its anchor. Her character, a teenager forced to raise two younger siblings and locate her missing father after he disappears following selling the family house as a jail bond, emerges as an uncommonly intricate heroine. Lawrence confidently balances a calm, self-sufficient exterior with a vulnerability even the most mature teenager could not fully mask. She’s both our guide and surrogate to the film’s Ozarks woods community. — ck |
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Best Actor
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It’s a Tie!
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 Ryan Gosling for the role of Dean in Blue Valentine – Gosling, like his counterpart Michelle Williams, plays two roles inthis film: a blue-collar romantic in his early twenties, funny and charming, and a dragged-down husband and father of thirty with areceding hairline, mightily unattractive mustache, and total lack of ambition. In between flashbacks and the present, Gosling shows how his character of Dean has changed with age. Once a protector, now he’s someone other people are afraid of; once the responsible caregiver in his relationship with girlfriend/wife Cindy, now he’s the petulant and stubborn child. Nevertheless, Gosling preserves an intensely sympathetic angle to this man who cares so much about family life that he can’t see his marriage is ending. — djy |
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 Philip Seymour Hoffman for the role of Jack in Jack Goes Boating – An exercise often presented to beginning actors involves scenework featuring shy, quiet, and introspective characters because it’s soon apparent that one can’t “play” these qualities in the way anger, joy, or frustration can be displayed. As the titular character in JACK GOES BOATING, deftly overcomes the dilemma by portaying the inarticulate, tender, and hesitant cab driver for all the remarkable things he does rather than is. Working persistently to please his new romantic interest, Hoffman concentrates on all the activities Jack persues to become a better, more rounded person. And when things don’t go well, his reaction is so visceral and real that the audience is treated to one of the best screen depictions of the internal life of a character in recent years. JACK is certainly one of Hoffman’s best screen performances and should not be missed. — sc |
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 Alexander Siddig for the role of Tarek Khalifa in Cairo Time – In this evocative mood piece of a film, Siddig pulls off a master class of ‘show don’t tell’. Tareq is a taciturn man, but his face and eyes reveal deep emotion and sensitivity as he plays tour guide and travel companion to the waiting wife of his friend. Siddig draws the viewer in as readily and mysteriously as Cairo does for Patricia Clarkson’s Juliette. — bcu |
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 Colin Firth for the role of King George VI in The King’s Speech – Following up his performance in the prior year’s A Single Man, Colin Firth perfectly presents the hopes and fears of King George VI in The King’s Speech.Suffering from a severe stammer, the king (who starts the film as Prince Albert) is conflicted between a need to present a commanding public presence and his natural tendency to withdraw. Firth ably portrays the human frailty behind the royal façade, showing tenderness to his wife and children, a combination of awkwardness and bluster as he works with speech therapist Lionel (played Geoffrey Rush – if there were a “chemistry” award, these two would be shoe-ins), and frustrated imperiousness as he tries and generally fails to attend to duties in the political realm. These conflicting emotions build to a head as, following his brother’s (Guy Pierce) abdication, Albert assumes the throne and must give the most important speech of his life, rallying the nation to war against Nazi Germany. In the climax of the film, the King struggles, with the help of Lionel, to make it through this speech in a small makeshift room in the palace. In this one scene, Firth masterfully traverses the feelings of nervousness, anticipation, fear, yearning, and finally triumph and vindication. To make a film about seemingly dry subject matter into a compelling human drama is testament to all involved in the film, and in particular the acting of Firth. — pe |
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 Vincent Cassel for the role of Jacques Mesrine n in Mesrine: Killer Instinct – Jacques Mesrine is many things at once: a refined society man, an easy-going acquaintance, a romantic lover and a hardened con man and killer. Vincent Cassel seems to slide effortlessly into all of these roles, many of which coexist in the same scenes, even the same actions, glances and reactions. His portrayal of Mesrine is riveting, brutal and sentimental at the same time; the viewer never doubts for a second that calculating wariness, loyalty to his friends, and an opportunistic joy lives behind every action, thought and choice. — so |
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 Anthony Mackie for the role of Marcus Washington in Night Catches Us – Another compelling, charismatic turn by Mackie. His Marcus, a former Black Panther, has returned to his old Philadelphia neighborhood, hoping that the years have healed the wounds that forced him into exile, labeling him a snitch. Mackie portrays a man torn by the hopes and fears of both his past and present, placing at the movie’s foreground the emotional journey taken by this man, and those he loves, to keep their dreams alive. — bcu |
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Best Supporting Actress
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 Jacki Weaver for the role of Janine Cody in Animal Kingdom – For most of her lengthy career, Australia’s Jacki Weaver has been often been called her country’s version of Sally Field – versatile but best known for friendly, funny ladies, with the occasional dramatic turn. But when she got involved with David Michod’s hard-bitten crime thriller Animal Kingdom, she couldn’t wait to really show off her nasty side. And she somehow manages to do so with the complete sweetness and light that most of her earlier roles have known. As Janine “Smurf” Cody, Weaver is just like your average every day mother and grandmother…if she had a heart of ice. Able to help her grandson prepare for his mother’s funeral one day, and cheerfully about to write his death warrant the next, you can bet she’s “done some bad things, sweetie…”— tck |
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 Kierston Waering for the role of Joanne Williams (mother) in Fish Tank – You are forgiven if you at first presume Wareing to be playing 15-year-old protagonist Mia’s (Katie Jarvis) sister instead of her mother. Not only did her character, Joanne, give birth to Mia when she was a teenager herself, she also still acts like one, spending less time attending to traditional motherly duties and more sprawled on the couch, watching TV and recklessly partying into the night. Bitter, immature and often drunk, Joanne is far from an ideal parent, but Wareing gives her depth and keeps her from lapsing into cartoonish inanity—most notably near the film’s end, when she and Mia quietly but significantly share a moment of genuine mother-daughter bonding without saying a single word to each other. — ck |
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 Sissy Spacek for the role of Mattie Darrow in Get Low – Some of the best acting performances are the subtler ones. A good example of this is Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of Mattie in Get Low, a film about a mysterious hermit, Felix Bush, who plans to host his own funeral party while still alive. Sissy shines in her portrayal of Mattie, the younger sister of a woman who was linked to Felix and was killed in a fire years ago. Sissy captures the restraint, confusion, and timidity of Mattie, with her need for some sort of understanding and closure of the prior events relating to her sister’s death. A long-extinguished romantic flame informs some of the interaction between Mattie and Felix; as a member of an older generation, she is reluctant to give into emotions. A key to her elegant performance is her showing Mattie’s internal pain both through facial expressions and in the way she expresses her words. — tp |
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 Dianne Wiest for the role of Nat in Rabbit Hole – On paper, the role of a working class mother whose mantra is “I know just how you feel” might appear to be a throwaway part. Cast Dianne Wiest and bingo, the character becomes full-blown and memorable. Wiest has the knack of adding another layer to her parts, and that talent is abundantly on display in Rabbit Hole. — bk |
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 Dale Dickey for the role of Merab in Winter’s Bone – Merab, Dale Dickey’s character in Winter’s Bone, is not a pleasant person. She is menacing and violent and mean. But she isn’t a one-note villain. She is of a piece with the place she lives and understands the traits of character necessary to survive a tough and hardscrabble existence, one which requires strict adherence to a specific code of conduct. She must necessarily adopt her hard persona when it falls to her to enforce that code. Once she has bent someone to her will, though, and has witnessed lessons being learned, she can marginally drop that persona to offer a meager, but not inconsequential hand, and bring resolution. Ms. Dickey’s masterful performance allows all of Merab’s facets to shine through. –jp |
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Best Supporting Actor
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 Geoffrey Rush for the role of Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech – Rush earns his nomination for the role of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, employed by King George VI to help the King overcome his stutter. The Australian Rush, whose character is also a failed Shakespearean actor, plays Logue as a ham and an entertainer of his indulgent sons. The actor’s long limbs, cartoonishly stretchable face, joggly jowls, and gentle eyes are used to great effect as Logue challenges the King, moving nimbly from clowning to utter seriousness. His persistent familiarity and confidence in his unorthodox methods clash with the royal family’s propriety. Ultimately, Logue achieves an intimacy with the King that serves the entire nation. Rush is why a movie about a stutter moves you to tears. — djy |
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 Michael Fassbender for the role of Connor in Fish Tank – Fassbender manages the tricky feat of holding in balance multiple perspectives on his character, that of the younger, attractive lover of lead character Mia’s mum. We see him from Mia’s teenaged crush perspective as well as her mother’s giddy from a man’s attention perspective, while Connor’s own words and actions have the audience hoping for his best intentions while dreading the worst. It’s an impressive and assured portrayal of a man trying to hide his own confusion behind too-easy charisma, unprepared for the consequences of that subterfuge. — bcu |
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 John Ortiz for the role of Clyde in Jack Goes Boating – When we first meet Clyde, he’s the proverbial best friend offering encouragement and support to the film’s protagonist, Jack (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Ortiz plays the role to the hilt—in his scenes teaching Hoffman how to swim, he conveys infectious energy and a nurturing spirit that’s rare among films centered on male bonding. However, as Clyde reveals more about himself to Jack and we see the cracks in his deceptively happy marriage, Ortiz superbly displays a different range of emotions: jealously, rage, hurt and grief. Although Jack remains the central figure and Hoffman delivers another fine performance, Ortiz gives the film much of its soul. — ck |
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 Miles Teller for the role of Jason in Rabbit Hole – As Jason, a high school kid with a unique talent and a tragic accident on his resumé, Miles Teller captures the perfect blend of outward teenage awkwardness, quiet intellect and impressive emotional reserve. His performance is poignant and understated. — bk |
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 John Hawkes for the role of Teardrop in Winter’s Bone – In Winter’s Bone, John Hawkes fully embodies Teardrop, a respected and feared member of the Ozark Mountain drug community and uncle to Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) whose brother has disappeared after being released from prison on the bail transaction that has endangered Ree’s family’s home. Teardrop is restrained, rough around the edges, and increasingly impressed by his niece’s tenacity and will to survive. Hawkes does an amazing job of embodying a man who is torn between two entirely conflicting loyalties; Teardrop deeply understands, and perhaps has even helped create, his community’s unspoken rules of behavior and the cost of violating them yet at the same time ultimately understands and respects his niece’s will to keep her household and family intact. — so |
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Best Original Screenplay
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| Mother, screenplay by Eun-kyo Park and Joon-ho Bong – South Korean writer/director Joon-Ho Bong doesn’t care for genres or conventions–as evidenced by his mash-up of sci fi and politics The Host and now, again, in his mystery melodrama Mother. The film plays with its audience in myriad ways, encouraging us to root for the title character as she seeks to prove her son innocent of murder, even as we question her methods. From lyrical opening to unsettling close, it’s a gem that proves Joon-Ho Bong’s gifts lies not only behind the camera but on the page.–dvg |
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 Animal Kingdom, screenplay by David Michôd – Too often crime dramas fail to rise above the mediocre, largely because there is no emotional stake involved. Not so with ANIMAL KINGDOM. Director/Writer David Michôd has fashioned a riveting drama that concentrates on the emotional toll of crime. Simultaneously, Michôd manages to keep the film suspenseful and amass an impressive body count in the process. — bk |
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 Everyone Else , screenplay by Maren Ade – Maren Ade’s screenplay for Everyone Else is a rare one; few else are out there that are so tender and unflinchingly authentic in such naked emotion than this. The film chronicles the doomed relationship of two idealistic youths whose being together slowly destroys the both of them, in spite of the enormous love they have for one another. The central characters, Chris and Gitti, are outlined with such beautiful detail. The slightest gestures and the most casual phrases and mapped out in such a way that are hardly noticed at the moment but hold unfortunate impact in retrospect. There are moments of small outbursts throughout but Ade never allows for a satisfyingly explosive climax of emotion — simply utter tenseness throughout. The viewing experience becomes a remarkable incarnation of the very relationship the film documents. — is |
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 I Killed My Mother, screenplay by Xavier Dolan – Much has been said about the age of director, screenwriter, actor Xavier Dolan and the talent he shows in his debut feature I Killed My Mother, and I must add to that. This screenplay shows a maturity that belies this talented auteur’s chonological age. And I’m not saying that talent only comes with experience, but the very nature of this film’s storyline reflects a young man looking back on his realtionship with his mother afgter year’s have passed. The insight and clarity exhibited here is not only what we would expect from someone with years of experience, but packaged in such a unique and entertaining way that never betrays our symapthies for the characters. — mrc |
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 The King’s Speech, screenplay by David Seidler – David Seidler’s original screenplay created that rare example of a biopic that actually enlightens and entertains without resorting to re-invention of historical facts or glamorization of the protagonist’s character or actions. As the story opens, we see Bertie, the Duke of York (and the future King George VI) struggling to give a speech via radio broadcast from Wembley Stadium. From there we follow Bertie and his wife Elizabeth to a miserable session with a speech therapist after which each seems ready to concede defeat. But, the determined Elizabeth continues to search for the therapist that might help her husband conquer his speech impediment. Although she is initially skeptical of Lionel Logue’s unconventional methods and unimpressed with his shabby offices, ultimately she trusts her instincts and tricks her husband into meeting with this aspiring actor and self-taught therapist. From there, the relationship between the future king and his decidedly un-humble “servant” clatters, falters, stumbles and stomps along its way to their ultimate lifelong friendship. The dialogue in every scene rings true, through each stuttered syllable, graceful recitation, profane outburst, or angry diatribe uttered. The script reveals Bertie as the man who would most reluctantly be king, and who must unearth the painful memories of his childhood in order to conquer these stumbling blocks and fulfill his royal duties; and Lionel, as a teacher and mentor demanding to be accepted as an equal, who confronts and challenges Bertie to leap the verbal hurdles and move forward toward his destiny. — kp |
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 Night Catches Us, screenplay by Tanya Hamilton – Tanya Hamilton’s truly independent, long-gestating project is personal cinema of the sort one rarely sees anymore. Set in 1976 Philadelphia, it reunites two former Black Panthers: Marcus (Anthony Mackie), who returns to his old neighborhood after years in exile and his old friend Patricia (Kerry Washington), who stayed behind to raise her daughter and foster a career. Hamilton’s evocation of a specific time and place matches her skillfulness in expressing its cultural meaning and significance: the film’s look (mixing in occasional archival documentary footage) and sound (vintage songs complemented by a score from The Roots) both feel utterly authentic and complement a heartfelt, passionately told story. — ck |
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Best Adapted Screenplay
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 Winter’s Bone, screenplay by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell – The screenplay for Winter’s Bone outlines the plot that drives the adaptation’s source material, but more than anything else it provided Debra Granik the framework to create a largely immersive portrait of an entire community and way of life not often portrayed. The most remarkable thing about the screenplay’s construction is how much is said with so little. The characters’ motivations and pasts are not expressly elaborated upon, but still imbued with much depth. Lines of dialogue can give the appearance of the simplistic caricatures with which these people are usually portrayed, but imply volumes more. Take when Teardrop appears suddenly to Rhee and simply states that he knows where his brother is. In that very quote is embedded with layers of subtext — not only does he know who killed his brother, but he was going to go out and get them and needed Rhee to go with him. It’s this level of subtle sophistication that gives the adaptation by Granik and Rossellini its true power and helps the film at large work in all the ways it does. — is |
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  Fair Game, screenplay by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, based on the book by Joseph Wilsonand the book by Valerie Plame – Fair Game, which won the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review, is based on the memoirs of Valerie Plame, the CIA agent who fell from grace, and Joseph Wilson, her husband, whose op-ed article criticizing the administration’s justification for invading Iraq, ignited the fall and subsequent betrayal. The Butterworth brothers’ adaptation is superb; the script crackles with realistic and meaningful dialogue. They manage to strike a perfect balance between the couple’s stressed personal life and the vituperative political atmosphere in which they find themselves. — vo |
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 The Ghost Writer, screenplay by Robert Harris, and Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Robert Harris – One need not have read the book upon which this film was based to understand how well it was adapted. The story, nominally about an unnamed writer aiding a tainted politician in the composition of his memoirs, is filled with Polanski’s typical Byzantine twists and twisted relationships. His hand is everywhere. The dialog snaps, and carries the requisite menace woven into its ordinary conversations. It is over the top in its voluptuous worship of intrigue, but it makes a rousing good movie, daring you to pursue it to its foregone and appallingly bitter end. — jp |
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 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, screenplay by Nikolaj Arceland Rasmus Heisterberg based on the novel by Stieg Larsson – Adapted from the first in a series of crime novels by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larson, this sharp-edged thriller cuts and carves through a complex web of lies, murder and sexual violence. A journalist Michael Blomkvist is asked by prominent business man Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his young niece, more than 40 years after this case has gone dead-cold. Relocating to the tiny island community that is home to Vanger’s extended family, and using research of the family history for a magazine article as his cover for delving into their past, Blomkvist is stymied and thwarted at every turn – the island seethes with secrets and sins its citizens would rather not see uncovered. He enlists the aid of a mysterious young woman, Lizbeth Salander, whose computer-hacking skills provide him with damning evidence against the Vangers. Meanwhile, Salander is dealing with her own demons, and goes to extraordinary lengths to exact her revenge upon a greedy and sadistic guardian. The screenplay is taut and tense, and carries through on the twists and tangled plot-lines that made the book series so immensely popular. — kp |
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 Rabbit Hole, screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire based on his play – Boston-born David Lindsay-Abaire, after writing a string of successful absurdist comedies, challenged himself to write an old-fashioned, ordinary, naturalistic play. In creating Rabbit Hole, Lindsay-Abaire followed the advice of his teacher at Juilliard, Marsha Norman, who told him to “write about the thing that frightens you most,” and chose to examine the lives of Becca and Howie, coming to terms with the death of their four year old son in a senseless car accident. In adapting his Pulitzer Prize winning play to the screen, Lindsay-Abaire creates an eerie atmosphere. Becca and Howie’s beautiful, perfectly appointed suburban home, which seems to become a character in its own right, is pervaded by a palpable sense of loss. — sb |
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Best Cinematography
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 Michael McDonough for Winter’s Bone– The mood of WINTER’S BONE, largely a result of expert cinematography, is as much a player in the success of the film as the acting. Protagonist Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) navigates through the Ozarks which are presented as a thing of beauty worth fighting for and as a harbinger of danger. Cinematographer Michael McDonough (DOWN TO THE BONE) strikes just the right balance. — bk |
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 Paul Sarossy for Chloe – Atom Egoyan never fails to entice and disturb audiences with his plaintive, erotic tales of dysfunctional relationships. But even when the visceral stories themselves are hard to watch, the gorgeous imagery Egoyan creates is haunting and unforgettable. Veteran Canadian Cinematographer Paul Sarossy has worked with Egoyan before, beginning with Speaking Parts in 1989, and also Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey and Ararat (and production designer Phillip Barker has worked with Sarossy on Ararat, The Sweet Hereafter and, oddly, The Wicker Man remake) The dreamy, sumptuous look of Chloe is similar in tone and control to these other works, but with an added gloss and sensuality that belies the precariousness of a loving marriage. It doesn’t hurt that the visual subjects are Amanda Seyfried, Julianna Moore, Liam Neeson and a stunning Toronto home that is a modernist wet dream. My favorite scene is the one where Seyfriend seduces Neeson in a lush greenhouse…or does she? — pa |
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 David Boyd for Get Low – Get Low is a mix of fable and real-life legend about Felix Bush, a mysterious hermit in Depression-era Tennessee, who famously threw his own funeral party while he was still alive. Capturing an authentic feel for the time period, cinematographer David Boyd works with a brownish grey “wintry” color palette, only occasionally punctuated with bright colors or sunlight, making those scenes have that much more impact when they do occur. A notable approach to this film, again lending authenticity to the period nature of the story, is the strict use of natural lighting and the willingness to shoot dark interiors without “cheats” by over-lighting scenes. Scenes in the Bush’s cabin are literally lit by candlelight, and the use of dark as well as light really establishes a mood to the film, particularly with such themes as isolation (Bush has been living alone in the woods for several decades) and secrets of his past. Boyd mentioned that his choice to shoot with anamorphic lenses was in part to evoke the heyday of widescreen cinematography of the late 1960s and 1970s, and with director Aaron Schneider, himself originally a cinematographer, he has created a beautiful film where the visual composition is always front and center in the storytelling. — pe |
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| Jérôme Krumenacker and Irina Lubtchansky for Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno – |
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 Yorick Le Saux for I Am Love – Sumptiously photographed by Yorick Le Saux (SWIMMING POOL, BOARDING GATE), I AM LOVE visually documents the last vestiges of old world opulence and captures the ambiance surrounding the passion and reckless abandon which is the core of the story. The Recchi home in Milan is stately, richly decorated and amply staffed; the countryside is lush and romantic, yet slightly foreboding. — bk |
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 Mauricio Vidal for Undertow – You would think that with the gorgeous coastal setting, Mauricio Vidal had it easy making Undertow look good. And sure, the gorgeous landscape helps the film look great, but Vidal’s skill is evident in the way he uses the natural lighting to startling effect, whether it is to underscore the somber tone of a funeral, to illuminate the celebration of a community dinner, or to lend an air of mystery and romance to a ghostly scene. In addition, Vidal’s camera placement is skillfully chosen to convey the powerful emotions ably performed by this tremendous cast. All in all, Undertow is a visual masterpiece, and it has a lot more to do with this director of photography’s skill than the beautiful Peruvian landscape. — mrc
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Best Production Design
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 I Am Love – I Am Love’s production designer — Francesca Balestra Di Mottola – uses the stark light and patterned shades of modern Milan as the backdrop in this portrait of a stagnated marriage and its stultified familial relationships. The wealth and power wielded by this family is revealed in the over-sized rooms of their villa, replete with marbled floors, walls festooned with frescoes and flourishes, piazzas leading from pools to manicured lawns. Each set design is studiously calm and reserved, almost the antithesis of the sultry stereotype of Italian loves and lusts, which allows the hot colors of the costumes and the food to dominate the screen – a vermillion red dress, golden-yellow shawl, pink prawns, tomato and asparagus. Tilda Swinton’s character of a Russian émigré married into a wealthy Italian family is trapped in this frigid environment, living the life expected of a woman in her position, watching her children hide the secrets of their own lives from their father – and desperately grasping at her last chance at passion and fulfillment in the arms of a much younger man. — kp |
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| Bunny and the Bull – |
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 The King’s Speech – For this period drama, production designer Eve Stewart re-creates two major sets: the imposing white and gold interiors of Buckingham Palace, and the dilapidated home of speech therapist Lionel Logue. The latter, with its warm browns in both paneling and bizarre wallpapers, seems vast with a dearth of furniture, like a stage for this man whose first love is the theater. Other London street and interior scenes are cast in icy blues, as war with Germany looms and fear rises. Stewart is also a frequent collaborator of Chlotrudis fave, director Mike Leigh. — djy |
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 Micmacs – Micmacs is a whimsical, surreal, and imaginative film packed with brilliant production design from Aline Bonetto. Bonetto is no stranger to supporting the visions of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, having worked as a set decorator on City of Lost Children and as Production Designer for both Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. The set design, props, costuming, and art direction physically create a magical environment that is rarely seen outside of an animated film. The world created includes a bleak, yet quirky, and colorful look of Moroccan deserts, junkyard dealers, bizarre superhero-like characters, and more. Particularly noteworthy is the “misfit lair” with a feel somewhere between a mad scientist’s laboratory and an offbeat circus. As the main character and his quirky associates seek revenge on the weapon manufacturers, every scene contains a delightful new prop, costume, or setting that propels the frenetic taste of the film, giving almost a Buster Keaton silent era feeling to the piece. — tp |
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 The Secret of Kells – Like its cinematic cousins, Sita Sings the Blues and Azur and Asmar, The Secret of Kells mines legend and folklore to tell a story of mystery, tragedy, and heroism. And like them, it is anchored in its place and time by the motifs that carry the story, suffused with beautifully intertwined Celtic, Catholic, and Pagan images. Pale landscapes float in soft greys and greens and blues, armies march, red and black, a monster in a cave gleams under water. The images render the film both story, and symbol of the legendary Book from which it is taken, at once its reflection and its complement. — jp |
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 Winter’s Bone – It’s hard to make a poverty-destroyed landscape look appealing. But the somber forest surrounding the home of Ree Dolly and her troubled family anchors the changing culture of Appalachia in centuries-old traditions and an eerie hoodoo energy. The mismatched clothing, messy homes, and pale, unhealthy pallor of the characters is crafted so mercilessly it’s like a hidden camera was worn by all players at all times. Production designer Mark White (Transamerica) and Cinematographer Michael McDonough (New York, I Love You) worked with director Deborah Granik to immerse viewers in a faraway, sad place of broken dreams and desperate actions. — pa |
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Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
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 The Kids Are All Right -It is not surprising that The Kids are All Right was the darling of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Lisa Cholodenko”s smartly directed film spins the story of Nic (Annette Bening), an intense type A personality, and Jules (Julianne Moore) the more laid back partner who live with their children, Joni and Laser in Southern California. When the children track down their ‘sperm donor’ dad, Paul, a free spirited organic farmer/restaurateur, played by Mark Ruffalo, life takes a 360 turn. What ensues is a family drama that is hilarious, poignant and impeccably acted. — vo |
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 Animal Kingdom – A good cast makes a great movie, sure, but a great cast makes an unforgettable movie, and that’s the case with Animal Kingdom . Based on a shocking series of events that grows and takes on a malevolent life of its own, this story flows and crests with amazing ease, due to the incredible ensemble. From the low-key intensity and drive of veteran Guy Pearce, to the heartbreaking, almost utterly soulless stare of newcomer James Frecheville, this cast runs the gamut of acting experience and proves that talent comes from both the old hand and the novice. The cheerful sociopathy of Jacki Weaver is mesmerizing to watch, like an exotic, poisonous flower. The terror invoked by Ben Mendelsohn proves that you don’t need and chainsaw or a hockey mask to portray a monster; he barely raised his voice in this film and managed to leave me whimpering in my seat. This is a film that will stick with you, and its stellar cast is one of the many reason why it will. – kb |
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 Down Terrace – This quirky, horrifying and hilarious little British indie about a suburban crime family is a masterpiece of subtlety and naturalistic acting. Most of the performers are virtually unknown, or known only to UK TV audiences, including the family duo team of Robert Hill and son (screenwriter) Robin, both of whom become gradually unhinged. Character actress Julia Deakin is the sweet and stalwart matriarch Maggie whose evil deeds come as naturally as putting kettle on, while EastEnders veteran David Schaal is Eric, a jovial, ruthless killer. The breezy authenticity of the performances gives this the feel of a documentary at times, and the comedy works via the legendary methodology of mockumentary pre-cursor Withnail and I: these people are funny because they take themselves very seriously. — pa |
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 Jack Goes Boating – An excellent ensemble cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega) — 4 characters whose paired relationships are revealed in counterpoint in this delicately played romantic comedy. The film opens with Jack and Connie (Hoffman and Ryan) on their first date, which was arranged through their respective co-workers, Clyde and Lucy (Ortiz and Rubin Vega), a long-term couple.Connie tells an odd story about her comatose mother, while Jack and Clyde offer their confused and conflicted supportive remarks. As the story unfolds, the faltering conversations between the characters ring true — we’ve all been faced with those awkward moments where no response seems apropos to the conversation, but at the same time giving no response would seem rude. The old maxim, “It’s not what you say, it’s what you DON’T say” is borne through the delivery of each pregnant pause. The climactic scene, in which the four friends gather for dinner, is simply delicious – as the actors convey the unspoken truths that may bind or break the ties between them –kp |
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 Micmacs – In Micmacs, Jeunet creates a Rube Goldberg-ish story of revenge, and as anyone knows, if even the smallest cog fails in a Goldberg contraption, the entire enterprise stops short. So it is with the cast of Micmacs. Each member plays a vital role in bringing to fruition a baroque and creaky plot.
This is a comedy, so the bad guys are comically bad and the gang who takes them down, a band of lovable crackpots. Crackpots unite!, though, because, as conceived by Jeunet and exquisitely cast, they form a compagnie mechanique, Dominique Pinon’s rubbery face and outrage, Dany Boon’s fluid athletics, Julie Ferrier’s smooth contortions, Michel Crémadès and his mad puppets, and Omar Sy, in equal parts, officious and steadfast. Were any one of them lacking, the plot would fail, and so each one of them makes it successful. — jp |
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 Please Give – What I like best about Nicole Holofcener’s marvelous films is the feeling of being dropped down in the middle of a groups of people, whether they be friends, family, scquaintences, or strangers, and getting to know them. This is in part due to her accomplished screenplays, and in part due to her outstanding casts, and Please Give is no exception. As always, this cast is led by the confounding and mesmerizing Catherine Keener in what is possibly simultaneously her warmest and most off-putting performance to date. Add to that Rebecca Hall, Amanda Peet and Ann Morgan Guilbert, and you’ve got a powerful female force leading this cast (and the also accomplished Oliver Platt). But even down to the cameos you’ve got some delightful surprises like Kevin Corrigan and Sarah Vowell. This is one director that knows how to cast a film, and one cast the knows how to inhabit a movie. — mrc . |
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Best Documentary
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 Marwencol – Mark Hogancamp suffered brain damage after being viciously beaten in his hometown of Kingston, New York. For physical and emotional therapy, he took up building a scale WWII-era town in his backyard. Using soldier dolls and Barbies, Mark has created an imaginary Belgian town called Marwencol, where his alter ego fights the SS and makes love to beautiful women. As the art world begins to discover Mark, director Jeff Malmberg parcels out hints of another aspect of his subject’s life. The film is a purveyor of Mark’s amazing narrative photographs of Marwencol and a sympathetic examination of the space between the artist’s reality and fantasy. — djy |
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 The Art of the Steal – Don Argott’s Art of the Steal tells the compelling story of the Barnes collection – a private and valuable collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art held in trust in Merion, PA that contains pieces by Matisse, Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso and Monet, among others, and is worth over $25 million. It was designed by its founder Dr. Albert C. Barnes as an educational institution, and the documentary tells several stories – how it came to be, how it has been managed (or mismanaged) and how it is now being moved to Philadelphia against the conditions outlined in Barnes’ will. It’s a fascinating telling, marked by lively personalities, political maneuverings, the continual battle between art as art and art as business and plenty of talking heads. Moreover, the film contains shots of the inside of the building where it was housed, where the art was displayed in a way that encouraged an intimate, experiential viewing of the art… especially poignant given that the collection is in the process of being dismantled and moved to an art museum in Philadelphia. — so |
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 Exit Through the Gift Shop – From its meta-cinematic origins and playful gimmicks (is “director” Bansky really the one behind all that derivative art?), this film dances with its own identity as a documentary. But as a portrait of a man obsessed and driven to garner mostly-undeserved fame, the film succeeds masterfully. Appealing but slightly scary French artist Thierry Guetta (who some claim is merely acting a role created by Banksy; the “hoax” accusations leveled at this film span a wide continuum) is captured at his most frenetic and deluded, and there can be nothing fake about that. The film manages to question notions of art, fame, fortune, identity, friendship and integrity while also being a wildly entertaining and hilarious send-up of consumer culture. — pa |
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 Inside Job – This dazzling film examines the recent financial crisis in an efficient, insightful way. For those of us who followed the debacle on a daily basis the basic facts are nothing new; for newcomers they are concisely summarized. The revelation of the film is the complicity of our esteemed universities in the world-wide economic crisis. Charles Ferguson (NO END IN SIGHT) knows how to entertain and educate the viewer in just the right portions. — bk |
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 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work – Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work on the surface appears like many other recent entries into the documentary genre; a very standard, by-the-numbers approach to documenting the life of trailblazing comedic icon Joan Rivers. But the result is a stunning reversal of every preconception you may have held of the woman, cracking open the shell you see of her public persona and allowing us unprecedented access that acts as a tragic exposé of both this individual woman and the world of fame at large. We see Joan Rivers as the prototypical “sad clown,” a woman insecure of her beauty and need to be loved all her life despite a lifetime full of remarkable achievement who started out, more than anything, wanting to be taken seriously as an actress. Following her through both low points and high peaks of her career, the film works best using Rivers to symbolize the world of stardom that should make anyone think twice before considering a career in the entertainment industry — as glamorous and glossy as it may appear at first glance. — is |
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 Prodigal Sons – Storytelling in documentary film is a tricky business. When a filmmaker gathers an abundance of footage that records an event or a series of them, the story emerges only when edited together. A good deal of luck affects the footage captured, but it still takes a skilled and sensitive director to weave the bits into a unique story with meaning. Kimberly Read succeeds — beyond her own expectations and initial comfort level, I suspect — in her very personal family saga PRODIGAL SONS. Reed, who was born Paul McKerrow but transitioned to female many years ago, intended to record her experience returning from New York to Montana to attend a high school reunion with her female lover. These circumstances certainly make for an exciting setup, but the story takes several unexpected turns as she reunites with her adopted brother Marc. Marc’s behavioral issues due to brain damage from a high school accident, and the bizzarre discovery of his biological heritage lead the whole family down a bumpy road to self-discovery and mutual acceptance. — sc |
