Awards season goes into full swing as AFI, Boston, LA, NY, and San Francisco all weigh in on the year's best

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

As 2011 comes to a close in Hollywood, the race for “best of the year” begins to heat up. This weekend saw the “best of” announcements from five of the big critic circles in the country – American Film Institute, Boston Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Online, and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Is there a clear frontrunner this year? Sort of.

Boston and New York both named Michel Hazanavicius’s ode to silent films THE ARTIST as their best film of 2011. That’s a picture that hasn’t really been getting much talk around here, but one I’ve seen continually coming up in these kinds of conversations as the year comes to an end. While our own Chris Bumbray adored it, I know many film writers and critics that strongly feel it does not deserve the honor of “best of the year”. In any event, it should be interesting to see how these choices begin to shape the Oscar consensus in the weeks to come.

As for director, Los Angeles and San Francisco both named Terrence Malick as the cream of the crop for his work on THE TREE OF LIFE. A close second, however, thanks to Boston is Martin Scorsese for his work on HUGO (Los Angeles also named him a runner-up to Malick).

Here are the full listings of winners from each critics group:

AFI

MOVIES OF THE YEAR
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
War Horse

TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Game Of Thrones
The Good Wife
Homeland
Justified
Louie
Modern Family
Parks And Recreation

SPECIAL AWARDS
The Artist
The Harry Potter Series

Boston Society of Film Critics

Best Picture: The Artist
Runners-up: Hugo and Margaret

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Actor: Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Runners-up: George Clooney, The Decendants and Michael Fassbender, Shame

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Runner-up: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Runner-up: Jeannie Berlin, Margaret

Best Screenplay: Moneyball
Runner-up: Margaret

Best Foreign Film: Incendies
Runners-up: A Separation and Poetry

Best Cinematography: The Tree of Life
Runner-up: Hugo

Best Documentary: Project Nim
Runner-up: Bill Cunningham, New York

Best Film Editing: The Clock
Runner-up: Hugo

Best New Filmmaker: Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Runner-up: JC Chandor, Margin Call

Best Ensemble Cast: Carnage
Runner-up: Margaret

Best Use of Music in a Film: The Artist and Drive
Runner-up: The Descendants

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

BEST PICTURE: The Descendants
Runner-Up: The Tree of Life

BEST ANIMATION: Rango
Runner-Up: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: City of Life and Death
Runner-Up: A Separation

BEST INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL: Spark of Being

BEST DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Runner- Up: The Arbor

BEST SCREENPLAY: Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Runner-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants

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 CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Runner-Up: Cao Yu, City of Life and Death

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Dante Ferretti, Hugo
Runner-Up: Maria Djurkovic, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST MUSIC/SCORE: The Chemical Brothers, Hanna
Runner-Up: Cliff Martinez, Drive

NEW GENERATION: The creative team behind Martha Marcy May Marlene (Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Elizabeth Olsen)

New York Film Critics Online

Picture: The Artist

Actor: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Breakthrough Performer: Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, The Tree of Life