'Amour,' 'Life of Pi,' 'The Master' win big as London critics spread the love
Daniel Day-Lewis misses a rare stop on the precursor trail
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix both won awards from the London Film Critics' Circle for "The Master."
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One of the few downsides of being at Sundance this year is that I missed the awards ceremony of my own critics' group, the London Film Critics' Circle. They've just been handed out at a classy gathering at London's Mayfair Hotel, and I'm pleased to see that a good half-dozen of the nominees I voted for took home awards -- not that I'm inclined to complain about any of the winners on this well-balanced list.
"Amour" was the night's top winner, taking Best Film, Screenplay and Actress for Emmanuelle Riva, but no one film was allowed to dominate too heavily. In something of a surprise, Ang Lee took the Best Director award for "Life of Pi," which took an additional technical achievement award for its visual effects.
"The Master" was also a double winner, taking acting awards for Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Meanwhile, runaway precursor favorite Daniel Day-Lewis got a night off, losing not only Best Actor to Phoenix, but Best British Actor to Toby Jones for "Berberian Sound Studio" -- which, I'm thrilled to report, also won Best British Film. (In case you've forgotten, it was #4 in my top 10 of 2012.) Nice job, fellow Londoners.
Full list of winners below. You can remind yourself of the nominees at The Circuit.
Film of the Year: "Amour"
British Film of the Year: "Berberian Sound Studio"
Foreign Language Film of the Year: "Rust and Bone"
Documentary of the Year: "The Imposter"
Director of the Year: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
Actor of the Year: Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Actress of the Year: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
British Actor of the Year: Toby Jones, "Berberian Sound Studio"
British Actress of the Year: Andrea Riseborough, "Shadow Dancer"
Supporting Actor of the Year: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Supporting Actress of the Year: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Screenwriter of the Year: Michael Haneke, "Amour"
Young British Performer of the Year: Tom Holland, "The Impossible"
Breakthrough British Filmmaker of the Year: Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, "Sightseers"
Technical Achievement of the Year: Bill Westenhofer (visual effects), "Life of Pi"
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupDanny
January 20, 2013 at 7:04PM EST Reply to CommentJust saw "Life of Pi" again and agree that Ang Lee deserves Best Director, even if another movie ends up with Best Film. In a year of many great achievements, his brilliant visionary direction of this singular (and singularly difficult to make) movie does stand out.
Jay
January 20, 2013 at 8:02PM EST Reply to CommentI saw Life of Pi twice in theaters. I can't remember the last time I saw a film more than once on the big screen. Mr. Lee really did do an exceptional job on this relatively tough project. I wouldn't say that it was a 'surprise' that he won. I would say that it was well deserved.
Guy Lodge Plenty of surprise wins are well deserved.
January 20, 2013 at 8:56PM ESTXavier
January 20, 2013 at 8:41PM EST Reply to CommentI'm really curious to no how the technical achievement category works. It seems a fairly vague and wide spanning definition. Can it specifically be for sound, cinematography, production design etc? Can a film win based on overall achievement as well?
Xavier *know*
January 20, 2013 at 8:42PM ESTGuy Lodge If you look at the list of nominations, you'll see that 10 achievements were shortlisted, ranging from cinematography to makeup to editing. A smaller committee of Circle members (of which I'm one) decides on the shortlist, and the whole membership then votes on the winner.
January 20, 2013 at 9:00PM ESTGuy Lodge And no, we wouldn't include a film for overall achievement, though it can be cited more than once -- Life of Pi was also shortlisted for its cinematography.
January 20, 2013 at 9:01PM ESTXavier Thanks for the explanation, it must be difficult to whittle the years films across all the different tech categories down to just 10, I don't envy your task.
January 20, 2013 at 9:04PM ESTGuy Lodge It is! And it's certainly not a perfect process, but we try to ensure a diverse list.
January 21, 2013 at 5:40AM ESTjanice
January 20, 2013 at 8:47PM EST Reply to CommentI have seen all of the 9 best picture nominated films in this year of some very competitive great ones, and Life of Pi touched me like no other. I am in awe of Mr. Ang Lee's brilliant vision.
Michael
January 20, 2013 at 11:08PM EST Reply to CommentGuy, this may be strange, but I've been a fanatical reader of ya'll for like 3 years. As it turns out, I'm at the festival. Maybe I'll see you!
Guy Lodge Say hi if you do! I'm the guy in the orange parka.
January 21, 2013 at 5:41AM ESTrobin_kinloch
January 21, 2013 at 4:32AM EST Reply to CommentThese are great if only for the Lee win. Of all the BP nominees this one by far touched me the most and I'm still thinking about it weeks later.
nixon
January 21, 2013 at 11:09AM EST Reply to CommentAng Lee deserves to win Oscars and DGA