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