The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) showed they’re still big fans of Alexander Payne’s work, handing the director his seventh award from the group by naming The Descendants best film of 2011. And in a departure from tradition, the group named Asghar Farhadi as the winner of the best screenplay award for A Separation, marking the first time the LAFCA has given that award to a foreign film.
“I think the diversity of the slate of our winners indicates the fact that there are a broad range of films this year that struck a chord with critics, in various ways,” stated Brent Simon, President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. “In particular, our selections of Yun Jung-Hee’s lead performance for Poetry and Asghar Farhadi’s screenplay for A Separation show LAFCA’s continuing commitment to looking beyond its borders for the best performances and films of the year. Likewise, the Chemical Brothers’ bristling, innovative score for Hanna, which alternately gurgles, throbs and pulsates, sounding at times like a Madhatter’s rave, is exceptionally imaginative work that, like last year’s Best Music/Score selection of The Social Network’s soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, expands upon staid notions of film scoring.”
The LAFCA’s awards ceremony will take place on January 13, 2012.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 2011 Winners:
PICTURE: “The Descendants”
Runner-up: “The Tree of Life”
DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
ACTOR: Michael Fassbender, “A Dangerous Method,” “Jane Eyre,” “Shame,” “X-Men: First Class”
Runner-up: Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”
ACTRESS: Yun Jung-hee, “Poetry”
Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst, “Melancholia”
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, “Young Adult”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, “Coriolanus,” “The Debt,” “The Help,” “Take Shelter,” “Texas Killing Fields,” “Tree of Life”
Runner-up: Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
SCREENPLAY: Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation”
Runner-up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
ANIMATION: “Rango”
Runner-Up: “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “City of Life and Death”
Runner-up: “A Separation”
DOCUMENTARY / NON-FICTION FILM: “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
Runner-up: “The Arbor”
NEW GENERATION: Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond, Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”
Runner-up: Cao Yu, “City of Life and Death”
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Dante Ferretti, “Hugo”
Runner-up: Maria Djurkovic, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
MUSIC/SCORE: The Chemical Brothers, “Hanna”
Runner-up: Cliff Martinez, “Drive”
DOUGLAS E. EDWARDS INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL FILM/VIDEO: “Spark of Being”
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Doris Day
