THE SOCIAL NETWORK dominates 2010 National Board of Review
So the National Board of Review picks The Social Network. David Fincher’s Facebook movie snagged the Best Picture award, as well as Best Director, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Not since Sense and Sensibility swept the awards in 1995 has a film so overwhelmingly dominated the NBR. (Ang Lee’s Jane Austen adaptation won Picture, Director, and Actress.)
For a little context, Sense and Sensibility was the early Best Picture favorite, winning every early award including the BFCA’s Critics Choice, BAFTA’s Orange Award, the HFPA’s Golden Globe. When push came to shove, the Academy went with Braveheart for Best Picture, which slowly built up momentum throughout the season. Is The Social Network peaking too early already? Or is it a slam dunk Oscar winner? Who knows.
Now to the full list of NBR winners from the press release:
Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Language Film: Of Gods and Men
Best Documentary: Waiting for “Superman”
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast: The Town
Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Best Directorial Debut: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo
Spotlight Award: Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati, The Illusionist
Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere
William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin
NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl
Production Design Award: Dante Ferretti, Shutter Island
Ten Best Films
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Five Best Foreign-Language Films
I Am Love
Incendies
Life, Above All
Soul Kitchen
White Material
Five Best Documentaries
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story
Top Ten Independent Films
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt
