Posted on 12/16/2002 1:16:32 PM PST by GeneD
Filed at 3:00 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Critically acclaimed drama ``Far From Heaven'' swept the 68th annual New York Film Critics Circle awards on Monday, taking five prizes, including best film and best director, and setting the stage for one of the most confused Oscar battles in years.
The 34-member New York group's naming of ``Far From Heaven'' as best picture came after film critic groups in Los Angeles and Boston chose different pictures this weekend.
Los Angeles critics picked Alexander Payne's ``About Schmidt'' on Saturday as the year's best picture while Boston critics selected Roman Polanski's Holocaust film ``The Pianist'' as its surprise winner. To top it off, the National Board of Review, a veteran film appreciation society, chose yet another film as its best of the year: ``The Hours,'' a film based on the life and work of novelist Virginia Woolf.
Critics awards often serve as precursors to the Oscars, which are chosen in March. All that is clear at the moment is that it is a strong field with no obvious front-runner.
The New York critics named ``Far From Heaven's'' Todd Haynes as best director and the film's Dennis Quaid and Patricia Clarkson as best supporting actor and supporting actress.
In addition, Edward Lachman was named best cinematographer for his work on the 1950s drama of a marriage rocked by the husband's affair with another man.
Daniel Day-Lewis was named best actor by the New York critics for his work on ``Gangs of New York,'' beating out Jack Nicholson, the star of ``About Schmidt,'' in what a spokesman for the group said was a closely fought battle.
But in an unexpected upset, Diane Lane was named best actress for her role as the roaming wife in ``Unfaithful,'' beating Julianne Moore who was up for her work as the wife in ``Far From Heaven.''
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's ``Y tu mama tamien'' was named best foreign film and Japan's Hayao Miyazaki's ``Spirited Away'' was named the year's best animated film.
``Standing In The Shadows Of Motown,'' directed by Paul Justman, was chosen as the year's best non-fiction film while the award for best first film was given to ``Roger Dodger.''
The New York critics award for best screenplay went to ``Adaptation'' written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman.
I'll confess I was surprised at the reviews, given the movie-ad-blurb copywriters' PC and slavishness; maybe this "mess" (to use a common term) was too violent even for some of them. David Denby, that notorious "Paulette" at the New Yorker, gave Stab Wounds a mixed write-up, which for him is a pan (he seldom pans).
I'd have posted this to dead but being called an idiot once is enough.
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