The 2012 Online Film Critics Society Awards have been announced and “Argo” heads the honors winning Best Picture. While also nominated, “Zero Dark Thirty” has proven contentious in its depiction of torture. While every American should see it, the politically safer and entirely gripping “Argo” celebrates a triumphant American spirit and leaves its audience a little prouder.
There were no surprises in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories. Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln does a masterful portrayal of a president who changed the course of American political culture. Jessica Chastain, in “Zero Dark Thirty,” has even been touted by CIA agents as nailing this characterization of their driven colleague in this movie journalism dedicated to coming as close to the truth as possible.
Winning Best Supporting Actor and Actress, were Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role in the offbeat and little seen “The Master” and Anne Hathaway for her hands-down phenomenal performance in “Les Miserables.”
Winning the Best Film not in the English Language is a weird Franco-German fantasy drama, “Holy Motors,” that has received strong reviews by critics but been a bust at the world-wide box office.
Though there have been many superb docs on worthy topics, it is “This is Not a Film” that got the nod for Best Documentary. I suspect the vote was less on the expertise it took to make this rebellious $3,000 film in four days than on the fact that it had to be smuggled into Cannes as a an unofficial Iranian entry just days before the film festival began.
While the winners were not always surprising, the OFCS nominees in each category were sometimes downright bizarre. Several films, like “Holy Motors” and “The Master” are so edgy I will go out of my way to make sure I never view them. One, like “Moonrise Kingdom,” exclusively for unemotional Asberger types, was an unfortunate waste of my time.
The OFCS, founded in 1997, is the largest online critic association in the world. Its winners don’t always align so well with Oscar choices, but the diversity of its interesting nominees comes from the choices of 235 critics from around 20 countries.
What follows is the complete list of its 2012 winners.
2012 OFCS Award-Winners – Nominees in brackets
Best Picture: “Argo”
[“Holy Motors,” “The Master”, “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Zero Dark Thirty”]
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
[John Hawkes –“ The Sessions,” Denis Lavant – “Holy Motors,” Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master,” Denzel Washington – “Flight”]
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
[Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook,” Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour,” Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Rachel Weisz – “The Deep Blue Sea”
Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
[Alan Arkin – “Argo,” Dwight Henry – “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln,” Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained”]
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
[Amy Adams – “The Master,” Ann Dowd – “Compliance,” Sally Field – “Lincoln,” Helen Hunt –“ The Sessions”]
Best Film Not in the English Language: “Holy Motors”
[“Amour,” “Rust and Bone,”This Is Not a Film,” “The Turin Horse”]
Best Documentary: “This Is Not a Film”
[“The Imposter,” “The Invisible War,” “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” The Queen of Versailles”]
OTHER AWARDS
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, “Moonrise Kingdom”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, “Argo”
Best Editing: Alexander Berner, “Cloud Atlas”
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, “Skyfall”
Best Animated Feature: “ParaNorman”
. . .
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