'Social Network' Sweeps National Society of Film Critics' Awards ...

David Fincher’s exploration of the story behind Facebook, “The Social Network,” has completed its essentially sweep of the 2010 critics awards, taking best picture honors with the National Society of Film Critics’ 45th annual kudos. The film also won awards for best director (Fincher), best actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and best screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).

This is the second year in a row that the NSFC has agreed with both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on their top prize. Last year, “The Hurt Locker” swept all three and then went on to win Best Picture at the Oscar. Before that, these groups had only agreed three times: with “L.A. Confidential” (1997), “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “GoodFellas” (1990).

Other major winners included “Vincere”‘s Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who won best actress, “The King’s Speech”‘s Geoffrey Rush, who took best supporting actor, and “The Ghost Writer”‘s Olivia Williams, who was awarded best supporting actress. Olivier Assayas’ “Carlos” took the foreign language film prize, while Charles Ferguson’s “Inside Job” won best documentary.

The National Society of Film Critics is made up of 61 critics from across the United States. In addition to voting on their awards today, they issued statements calling for a re-examination of the MPAA rating system and another condemning Iran’s recent sentencing of Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. Read the full statements on the next page of this article. They also dedicated the meeting to “the memory of our colleague Peter Brunette.”

Full list of winners and runners-up are published below with vote counts. Check out a “Social Network”-dominant list of all the awards so far this year here.

BEST PICTURE
*1. The Social Network 61
2. Carlos 28
3. Winter’s Bone 18

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. David Fincher 66 â€" The Social Network
2. Olivier Assayas 36 â€" Carlos
3. Roman Polanski 29 â€" The Ghost Writer

BEST ACTOR
*1. Jesse Eisenberg 30 â€" The Social Network
2. Colin Firth 29 â€" The King’s Speech
2. Edgar Ramirez 29 â€" Carlos

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Giovanna Mezzogiorno 33 â€" Vincere
2. Annette Bening 28 â€" The Kids Are All Right
3. Lesley Manville 27 â€" Another Year

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
*1. Geoffrey Rush 33 â€" The King’s Speech
2.  Christian Bale 32 â€" The Fighter
3.  Jeremy Renner 30 â€" The Town

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
*1. Olivia Williams 37 â€" The Ghost Writer
2. Amy Adams 28 â€" The Fighter
3. Melissa Leo 23 â€" The Fighter
3. Jacki Weaver 23 â€" Animal Kingdom

BEST NONFICTION
*1. Inside Job 25 (Charles Ferguson)
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop 21 (Banksy)
3. Last Train Home 15 (Lixin Fan)

BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. Aaron Sorkin 73 â€" The Social Network
2. David Seidler 25 â€" The King’s Speech
3. Roman Polanski and Robert Harris 19 - The Ghost Writer
 
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
*1. Carlos 31
2. A Prophet 22
3. White Material 16

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1.  True Grit 31 (Roger Deakins)
2. Black Swan 27 (Matthew Libatique)
3. Somewhere 18 (Harris Savides)

FILM HERITAGE AWARDS:
1. “The Film Foundation (20-year anniversary)
2. “Chaplin at Keystone” Flicker Alley
3. “Elia Kazan Collection” (Fox)
4. “Upstream,” rediscovered 1927 film dir. by John Ford.  (National Film Preservation Foundation. )
5. “On the Bowery” (Milestone)
6. “Word Is Out”  (Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and distributed by Milestone)

-This article continues on the following page with statements by the NSFC calling for a re-examination of the MPAA rating system and another condemning Iran’s recent sentencing of Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.-