National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) Name Amour Best Picture

The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) was founded in 1966, when Holis Alpert was refused entrance to the New York Film Critics Circle.  Alpert founded founded this critics with Pauline Kael, and every year they have picked their own awards.  The group was founded from critics outside of the mainstream, and has awarded some of the best and most under rated films, and performances over the years.

Over the past 46 years, the show has picked some great winners Z, Blue Velvet, Being John Malkovich, and Pan's Labyrinth (to name a few).  How does this critics group impact Oscar, or does it?  Of the winners, 18 of them have been nominated for Best Picture, 4 have won Best Picture, Annie Hall (1977), Unforgiven (1992), Schindler's List (1993), and most recently The Hurt Locker (2009).  Over the years winning this award seems like more of an honor for films, and performances the Academy may not take as seriously because of their lack of mainstream attention.  This is a group that will honor a foreign language film with their Best Picture award, proof with this year's Best Picture winner.

Here is a full list of the winners, and runner-ups with their voting breakdown:

BEST PICTURE
1. Amour – 28
2. The Master – 25
3. Zero Dark Thirty – 18

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Michael Haneke-Amour– 27
2. Kathryn Bigelow – 24
2. Paul Thomas Anderson – 24

BEST ACTOR
1. Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln – 59
2. Denis Lavant – Holy Motors-49
2. Joaquin Phoenix – The Master-49

BEST ACTRESS
1. Emmanuelle Riva – Amour – 50
2. Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook- 42
3. Jessica Chastain–Zero Dark Thirty- 32

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1.  Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike, Bernie– 27
2. Tommy Lee Jones –Lincoln- 22
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman –The Master 19

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Amy Adams – The Master – 34
2. Sally Field –Lincoln- 23
3. Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables-13

BEST NONFICTION
1. The Gatekeepers – 53
2. This Is Not a Film – 45
3. Searching for Sugar Man – 23

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Lincoln  – Tony Kushner – 59
2. The Master (P.T. Anderson)– 27
3.  Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell) – 19

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Master (Mihai Malaimare, Jr. ) – 60
2. Skyfall (Roger Deakins) – 30
3. Zero Dark Thirty (Greig Fraser) – 21

Many of these folks will be nominated for Academy Awards, along with some of the films.  In a longer season I would say that these wins would have a larger impact on Oscar nominees, but since ballots were due yesterday, Amour is in the same position.  If the season were longer I think Amour would have become a Best Picture nomination, but the film's director Michael Haneke could be a spoiler in the fifth spot.

The Master also received a lot of attention today, both this and Amour have received some of the best critical reactions of the year.  Paul Thomas Anderson's film could snag a few nominations, both acting, screenplay, and cinematography, but this has lost steam throughout the award season.

Lincoln is looking like more and more of a sure thing, that will win Best Picture, it has made money, the critics enjoy it, and it has an incredible director, and performers within the film.