The National Society of Film Critics on Sunday selected “The Hurt Locker,” a film about an elite Army bomb unit working in Iraq to clear IEDs under the threat of the insurgents, as the best film of 2009.
The society, composed of film critics from major publications some of the country, was also given honors at the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, and lead actor, Jeremy Renner.
The company took Yolande Moreau as best actress for her performance in “Serafina”, a film about the French painter Seraphine de Senlis.
Joel and Ethan Coen won best screenplay for “a serious man,” a black comedy set in 1967, while “The Beaches of Agnes, 40″, an autobiographical documentary about the life of director Agnes Varda, was selected as the best film fiction.
“Summer Hours,” a tale of three brothers by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, won for best foreign language film.
Mo’Nique, the Baltimore-born comedian best known for her roles in television sitcoms and as host her own talk show, was selected as best actress for her portrayal of an abusive mother “Precious”.
Austrian Christoph Waltz won for best actor for his work as a Jew Hunter in “Inglorious Bastards,” a Quentin Tarantino war film with Brad Pitt as the leader of a group of soldiers trying to kill Adolf Hitler.
Forty-six of the 64 members voted in favor of society during Sunday’s meeting at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan.
The company, founded in 1966, has a reputation for selecting foreign films or darlings of the critics. Rarely group selections are similar to those delivered during the Academy Awards, but its members are highly prized by filmmakers and film critics.
The Academy Awards are scheduled for March 7.
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