indieWIRE and Film Comment's Critics Poll

indieWIRE, despite their stupid name (I hate anything that references the completely banal term "indie"), is actually one of the leading sources for a continuing appreciation for artful cinema. This year, they took a poll of 107 North American film critics and came out with their own awards for the year. Film Comment, another haut cinema magazine, also named their best released and unreleased films of the year. The winners are as follows:

Best Film (indieWIRE):

1. The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu [Moartea domunlui Lăzărescu] - dir. Cristi Puiu
2. L'enfant
3. The Departed
4. Inland Empire
5. Army of Shadows [L'armée des ombres]
6. Three Times
7. Old Joy
8. United 93
9. Children of Men
10. Half Nelson
11. The Queen
12. Climates [Iklimler]
13. A Scanner Darkly
14. Pan's Labyrinth [El laberinto del Fauno]
15. Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
16. A Prairie Home Companion
17. Volver
18. Battle in Heaven [Battala en el cielo]
19. Letters from Iwo Jima
20. Mutual Appreciation

Best Performance:

1. Helen Mirren (The Queen)
2. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
3. Laura Dern (Inland Empire)
4. Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
5. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
6. Will Oldham (Old Joy)
7. Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
8. Ion Fiscuteanu (The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu)
9. Penélope Cruz (Volver)
10. Sandra Huller (Requiem)
11. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
12. Maggie Cheung (Clean)
13. Jérémie Renier (L'enfant)
14. Kate Winslet (Little Children)
15. Isabelle Huppert (Gabrielle)
15. Peter O'Toole (Venus)
17. Gael García Bernal (The Science of Sleep)
18. Pascal Greggory (Gabrielle)
18. Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page)
20. Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)

Best Performance in Support:

1. Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)
2. Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson)
3. Robert Downey Jr. (A Scanner Darkly)
4. Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
5. Nick Nolte (Clean)
6. Luminiţa Gheorghiu (The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu)
7. Sergi López (Pan's Labyrinth)
8. Meryl Streep (A Prairie Home Companion)
9. Michael Sheen (The Queen)
10. Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
11. Catherine O'Hara (For Your Consideration)
12. Rob Brydon (Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story)
13. Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
14. Anthony Mackie (Half Nelson)
14. Alec Baldwin (The Departed)
15. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
17. Danny Huston (The Proposition)
17. Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland)
19. Ken Davitian (Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
20. Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)

Best Director:

1. Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
2. David Lynch (Inland Empire)
3. Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu)
4. Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men)
4. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (L'enfant)
6. Hou Hsiao-hsien (Three Times)
6. Jean-Pierre Melville (Army of Shadows)
6. Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Climates)
9. Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy)
9. Carlos Reygadas (Battle in Heaven)
9. Paul Greengrass (United 93)
12. Pedro Almodóvar (Volver)
12. Julián Hernández (Broken Sky)
12. Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
12. Michael Mann (Miami Vice)
12. Claire Denis (The Intruder)
18. Olivier Assayas (Clean)
18. Brian de Palma (The Black Dahlia)
18. Mel Gibson (Apocalypto)

[NOTE: Jean-Pierre Melville was mentioned twice, possibly an error, which is why the numbers are off.]

Best Screenplay:

1. Peter Morgan (The Queen)
2. William Monahan (The Departed)
3. Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly)
3. Frank Cottrell Boyce (Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story)
5. Rian Johnson (Brick)
6. Patrice Chéreau, Anne-Louise Trividic (Gabrielle)
6. Nick Cave (The Proposition)
6. Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan (The Prestige)
6. Eric Schlosser, Richard Linklater (Fast Food Nation)
6. Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy)
6. Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation)
6. Alan Bennett (The History Boys)
13. Eric Roth (The Good Shepard)
13. Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking)
13. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (L'enfant)
13. Cristi Puiu, Răzvan Rădulescu (The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu)
13. Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
18. Carlos Reygadas (Battle in Heaven)
18. Craig Chester (Adam & Steve)
18. Chu Tien-wen, Hou Hsiao-hsien (Three Times)

Best First Film:

1. Brick - dir. Rian Johnson
2. 4
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. The Puffy Chair
4. Man Push Cart
6. Sweet Land
6. 13 (Tzameti)
6. Thank You for Smoking
6. Duck Season [Temporado de patos]
10. Slither
10. The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros [Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros]
10. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
13. Fateless [Sorstalanság]
13. The Forsaken Land [Sulanga Enu Pinisa]
13. Cavite
13. Hamilton
13. The Ister
13. Street Fight
19. Hollywoodland
19. Deliver Us from Evil

Best Documentary:

1. Iraq in Fragments - dir. James Longley
2. The Devil and Daniel Johnson
2. Our Daily Bread [Unser täglich Brot]
4. Deliver Us from Evil
5. The Case of the Grinning Cat [Chats perchés]
6. An Inconvenient Truth
6. Shut Up & Sing
8. 49 Up
8. The Road to Guantanamo
8. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
8. Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
8. A Lion in the House
13. Sir! No Sir!
13. Jackass Number Two
13. Neil Young: Heart of Gold
13. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
13. The Ground Truth
13. The War Tapes
19. Awesome! I Fuckin' Shot That
19. Why We Fight

Best Cinematography:

1. Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men)
2. Guillermo Navarro (Pan's Labyrinth)
2. Mark Lee Ping-bin (Three Times)
4. Dion Beebe (Miami Vice)
5. Gokhan Tiryaki (Climates)
6. David Lynch, et al. (Inland Empire)
6. James Longley (Iraq in Fragments)
6. Eric Gautier (Clean)
6. Michael Ballhaus (The Departed)
10. Rodrigo Prieto (Babel)
10. Alain Marcoen (L'enfant)
10. Alejandro Cantu (Broken Sky)
10. Cao Yu (Mountain Patrol: Kekexili)
10. Benoît Delhomme (The Proposition)
10. Tom Stern (Letters from Iwo Jima)
10. Peter Sillen (Old Joy)
10. Dean Semler (Apocalypto)
10. David Trumblety (Sweet Land)
19. Henry Kaiser, Tanja Koop, Klaus Scheurich (Wild Blue Yonder)
19. Diego Martínez Vignatti (Battle in Heaven)

Best Undistributed Film:

1. Woman on the Beach - dir. Hong Sang-soo - South Korea
2. Still Life - dir. Jia Zhang-ke - China/Hong Kong
3. Colossal Youth [Juventude Em Marcha] - dir. Pedro Costa - Portugal/France/Switzerland
4. In Between Days - dir. Kim So Yong - USA/Canada/South Korea
5. Private Fears in Public Places [Coeurs] - dir. Alain Resnais - France/Italy
6. Day Night Day Night - dir. Julia Loktev - USA
6. Dong - dir. Jia Zhang-ke - China/Hong Kong
6. Honor de cavalleria - dir. Albert Serra - Spain
9. Gardens in Autumn [Jardins en automne] - dir. Otar Iosseliani - France
10. The Journals of Knud Rasmussen - dir. Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk - Canada/Denmark
10. Opera Jawa - dir. Garin Nugroho - Indonesia/Austria
10. Interkosmos - dir. Jim Finn - USA
10. Funky Forest: The First Contact - dir. Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, Shunichiro Miki - Japan
14. Half Moon - dir. Bahman Ghobadi - Iraq/Iran/France/Austria
14. The Sun - dir. Aleksandr Sokurov - Russia/France/Italy/Switzerland
14. John and Jane Toll-Free - dir. Ashim Ahluwalia - India
14. The Pervert's Guide to Cinema - dir. Sophie Fiennes - UK/Austria/Netherlands
14. The Wayward Cloud - dir. Tsai Ming-liang - Taiwan/France
14. Brand Upon the Brain! - dir. Guy Maddin - Canada/USA
20. The Go-Master - dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang - China/Japan

Best Film (Film Comment):

1. The Departed - dir. Martin Scorsese
2. The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu [Moartea domunlui Lăzărescu]
3. Army of Shadows [L'armée des ombres]
4. L'enfant
5. The Queen
6. Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
7. Half Nelson
8. United 93
9. Volver
10. Inland Empire
11. Three Times
12. A Scanner Darkly
13. Old Joy
13. Flags of Our Fathers
14. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
15. Pan's Labyrinth [El laberinto del Fauno]
16. Letters from Iwo Jima
17. Mutual Appreciation
18. A Prairie Home Companion
19. Children of Men
20. Casino Royale

Best Unreleased Films:

1. Syndromes and a Century - dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul - Thailand/France/Austria
2. The Host - dir. Bong Joon-ho - South Korea/Japan
3. Colossal Youth [Juventude Em Marcha] - dir. Pedro Costa - Portugal/France/Switzerland
4. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone - dir. Tsai Ming-liang - Taiwan/France/Austria
5. Black Book [Zwartboek] - dir. Paul Verhoeven - Netherlands/U.K./Germany/Belgium
6. Still Life - dir. Jia Zhang-ke - China/Hong-Kong
7. Private Fears in Public Places [Coeurs] - dir. Alain Resnais - France/Italy
8. Belle toujours - dir. Manoel de Oliveira - Portugal/France
9. Offside - dir. Jafar Panahi - Iran
10. The Wind That Shakes the Barley - dir. Ken Loach - Ireland/U.K./Germany/Italy/Spain
11. Brand Upon the Brain! - dir. Guy Maddin - Canada/U.K.
12. Bamako - dir. Abderrahmane Sissako - Mali/France
13. Triad Election - dir. Johnny To - Hong Kong
14. Southland Tales - dir. Richard Kelly - USA
15. In Between Days - dir. Kim So Yong - USA/Canada/South Korea
16. Into Great Silence [Die Große Stille] - dir. Philip Gröning - Germany/France/Switzerland
17. When the Levees Broke - dir. Spike Lee - USA
18. Day Night Day Night - dir. Julia Loktev - USA
19. The Go Master - dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang - China/Japan
20. Red Road - dir. Andrea Arnold - U.K./Denmark

Thoughts:

It should come as no surprise that the snobbier of the film critics have shut out some of the big Oscar hopefuls (Dreamgirls, Babel, Little Children, and Little Miss Sunshine) in the best film category (and, trust me, I'm more than thankful about Babel not placing), not to mention low showings for Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers. It looks like The Queen and The Departed are the only films the snobs and press can agree upon. The lists had some nice surprises in the acting categories (Will Oldham, Laura Dern, Nick Nolte & Maggie Cheung, Isabelle Huppert, Danny Huston) as well as the technical ones (Nick Cave, Claire Denis). But Brian de Palma for The Black Dahlia and Mel Gibson for Apocalypto? I don't know what went wrong there. And, it appears that more than a few people on indieWIRE have boners for David Lynch and Richard Linklater, even though both films have been received with mixed reviewes. Nor do I know why Bruno Dumont's Flandres wasn't mentioned in the unreleased category and Richard Kelly's Southland Tales was. I guess this is the final sign that I need to bump The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu up on my Netflix queue.