The awards season kicked off yesterday as the National Board of Review has given their Best Film honor to Clint Eastwood's Japan-centric World War II drama "Letters From Iwo Jima".
Forest Whitaker nabbed best actor for "The Last King of Scotland", Helen Mirren best actress for "The Queen", Djimon Hounsou best supporting actor for "Blood Diamond", and Catherine O'Hara best supporting actress for "For Your Consideration".
Ryan Gosling won for best breakthrough actor in "Half Nelson", Jennifer Hudson and Rinko Kikuchi best breakthrough actresses for "Dreamgirls" and "Babel" respectively.
Martin Scorsese scored best director for "The Departed" which also got the best ensemble cast award, Zak Helm won best original screenplay for "Stranger than Fiction", Ron Nyswaner best adapted screenplay for "The Painted Veil" and Jason Reitman best directorial debut for "Thank You for Smoking".
On the other film fronts "Volver" scored best foreign film, "An Inconvenient Truth" scored best documentary, and "Cars" won best animated film.
The NBR's Top Ten Films of 2006 were: "Babel," "Blood Diamond," "The Departed," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Flags of Our Fathers," "The History Boys," "Letters from Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Notes on a Scandal" and "The Painted Veil."
Their top ten indie films of 2006 were: "Akeelah and the Bee," "Bobby," "Catch a Fire," "Copying Beethoven," "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "Half Nelson," "The Illusionist," "Lonesome Jim," "Sherrybaby," "10 Items or Less" and "Thank You for Smoking".
Their top five foreign films were "Curse of the Golden Flower," "Days of Glory," "Pan's Labyrinth", "Volver" and "Water". Top five documentaries were "51 Birch Street," "An Inconvenient Truth", "Iraq in Fragments," "Shut Up and Sing" and "Wordplay"
Notable overlooks were titles like "Dreamgirls", "The Queen" in various categories, "Little Children", "The Good German", both the 9/11 films, and "The Lives of Others".
The NBR is a group made up of film educators and other professionals with no official ties to the business. Yet in recent years the group has been racked with controversy over the qualifications of voters who allegedly play favourites with certain studios.
It's effectiveness as a judge on the awards season is also of dubious note as two of the last five Best Picture winners were not in NBR's Top 10 (Return of the King, A Beautiful Mind).
