LA Film Critics annoint The Descendants

It's been a busy day for critics awards, starting off with the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online handing out their year-end accolades, and capping off with the renowned LA Film Critics Association. But while the BSFC and NYFCO were trend-following, handing top honours to current Oscar frontrunner The Artist, the LAFCA was going their own way, shutting out the crowd-pleasing silent film entirely in favour of some more offbeat choices.

Ultimately, however, it was Alexander Payne's overrated The Descendants coming out on top, but I absolutely dig the support shown for The Tree of Life, with Terrence Malick winning his first directing prize of the season, while Emmanuel Lubezki remains undefeated on the year for cinematography awards. In addition, I love that they gave Best Screenplay to Asghar Farhadi's brilliant Iranian drama A Separation, for which I will post a brief review sometime this week.

By the way, someone should tell these critics groups that they aren't doing Jessica Chastain any favours by giving her these blanket awards that encompass her entire 2011 filmography. They need to get behind ONE performance in order to help her to a nomination

Best Picture
The Descendants

Runner-up: The Tree of Life

Best Director
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

(Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, Hugo)

Best Actor
Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class

(Runner-up: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter)

Best Actress
Yun Jung-hee, Poetry

(Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst Melancholia)

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

(Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult)

Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, Tree of Life

(Runner-up: Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs)

Best Screenplay
A Separation, Asghar Farahdi

(Runner-up: The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash)

Best Cinematography
The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki

(Runner-up: City of Life and Death, Cao Yu)

Best Production Design
Hugo, Dante Ferretti

(Runner-up: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Maria Djurkovic)

Best Music Score
Hanna, The Chemical Brothers

(Runner-up: Drive, Cliff Martinez)

Best Foreign-Language Film
City of Life and Death, Chuan Lu

(Runner-up: A Separation, Asghar Farhadi)

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog

(Runner-up: The Arbor, Clio Barnard)

Best Animation
Rango, Gore Verbinksi

(Runner-up: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Steven Spielberg)

New Generation
Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Career Achievement
Doris Day

The Douglas Edwards Experimental/ Independent Film/Video Award:
Bill Morrison, Spark of Being