February 18, 2011

ICS RAVAGED BY A PROPHET AND A JACKAL

Jacques Audiard's darkly gorgeous prison drama A Prophet has broken loose from the pack, winning the International Cinephile Society's award for best picture of 2010. The French, Corsican and Arabic feature also received kudos for best film not in the English language, along with Audiard's tense yet strangely mystical direction, and supporting actor Niels Arestrup's layered portrait of an old-school gang boss slowly losing his grip.

Continuing this year's theme of blood and politics, best actor went to Édgar Ramírez for his charismatic terrorist, Carlos the Jackal. Olivier Assayas' masterful five-hour saga Carlos was named runner-up in four other categories: picture, director, editing, and film not in the English language.

But American studio films also showed their quality, with The Social Network taking prizes for Aaron Sorkin's brilliantly acerbic screenplay, plus its fast-paced editing and cutting-edge musical score. British filmmaker Mike Leigh earned original screenplay honors for the delicate Another Year, whose pitch-perfect ensemble, and desperately sad alcoholic Lesley Manville, came up winners as well. Sharing best actress honors with Manville was Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida Dalser, Mussolini's castoff lover and nemesis in Vincere. Supporting actress went to another political role: Olivia Williams as the prime minister's wife with a secret agenda in The Ghost Writer.

Equal doses of hilarious subversion and poignant charm saw Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop and Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist capture our hearts in documentary and animated feature, respectively.

Previously released nominations may be found here.



PICTURE
01. A Prophet 
02. Carlos 
03. Another Year 
04. The Social Network 
05. Everyone Else 
06. I Am Love 
07. Blue Valentine 
08. Black Swan
09. Exit Through the Gift Shop
10. Inception

DIRECTOR
Jacques Audiard – A Prophet 
runner-up: Olivier Assayas – Carlos 

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
01. A Prophet
02. Carlos
03. Everyone Else
04. I Am Love 
05. White Material
06. Wild Grass 
07. Mother
08. Dogtooth 
09. Vincere 
10. Secret Sunshine 

Honorable Mentions: In a great year for foreign-language films, four made our Best Picture list (a record), and the competition for slots on the foreign-language list was truly fierce. This year it took almost twice as many votes to make it as in prior years. So we include here five honorable mentions: outstanding films that just missed, yet were passionately loved by a minority and certainly deserved this accolade.

• Alamar 
• Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl 
• The Illusionist 
• Our Beloved Month of August 
• The Portuguese Nun 

ACTOR
Édgar Ramírez – Carlos 
runner-up: Tahar Rahim – A Prophet 

ACTRESS
Lesley Manville – Another Year & Giovanna Mezzogiorno – Vincere
runner-up: Tilda Swinton – I Am Love 

SUPPORTING ACTOR 
Niels Arestrup – A Prophet
runner-up:  John Hawkes – Winter's Bone 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Olivia Williams – The Ghost Writer
runner-up: Elle Fanning – Somewhere

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year – Mike Leigh
runner-up: Everyone Else – Maren Ade

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin 
runner-up: Wild Grass – Alex Reval & Laurent Herbiet 

CINEMATOGRAPHY 
I Am Love – Yorick Le Saux 
runner-up: True Grit – Roger Deakins 

EDITING
The Social Network – Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall 
runner-up: Carlos – Luc Barnier & Marion Monnier  

PRODUCTION DESIGN 
I Am Love – Francesca Balestra Di Mottola 
runner-up: Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas 

ORIGINAL SCORE 
The Social Network – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross  
runner-up: The Ghost Writer – Alexandre Desplat 

ENSEMBLE
Another Year
runner-up: The Kids Are All Right 

ANIMATED FILM 
The Illusionist 
runner-up: Summer Wars 

DOCUMENTARY 
Exit Through the Gift Shop 
runner-up: Boxing Gym

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2010
• The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu 
• Certified Copy 
• Film Socialisme 
• Heartbeats 
• Honey 
• I Killed My Mother 
• Kosmos 
• Meek's Cutoff 
• Mysteries of Lisbon 
• Of Gods and Men 
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives