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National Critics Draw Blood

Sun., Jan. 6, 2008 4:18 PM PST by Joal Ryan

This is Daniel Plainview's kind of awards-show season.

There Will Be Blood, the story of a covetous oilman—"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed"—hogged the spotlight at the National Society of Film Critics' year-end awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and Best Cinematography.

The film, a Golden Globes contender, previously was named the top film of 2007 by the Los Angeles critics. Day-Lewis, likewise a Globes nominee, has won a batch of awards for his showy turn as Plainview.

Julie Christie, meanwhile, was named Best Actress by the National Society for her turn in the rest-home dilemma Away from Her, while Casey Affleck and Cate Blanchett won supporting-acting honors for their turns in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and I'm Not There, respectively.

Golden Globe favorites Atonement, Charlie Wilson's War, No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd and Michael Clayton, all top nominees at next Sunday's show, won nothing. Then again, the National Society's picks shouldn't be taken as anything other than the picks of the National Society. Or to put it another way: Gladiator, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and A Beautiful Mind, former Globe and Oscar winners all, didn't win anything from the group, either.

A National Society of Film Critics award, however, does have its advantage. This year's winners, for instance, don't have to confront a picket line to receive their honors.

Overall, the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike is wreaking havoc on awards shows. With union actors all but vowing to steer clear of any event circled by striking scribes, the People's Choice Awards has been downgraded to a red-carpet-free TV special, the Globes is scrambling and the Oscars isn't looking so invulnerable, either.

The National Society of Film Critics, by comparison, convened in apparent peace Saturday at Sardi's restaurant in Manhattan.

The group, like other critics' groups, released its list of runners-up, which likely only served to let the makers of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and No Country for Old Men, voted to second- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the Best Picture race, know how tantalizingly close they were to having splashy new ad fodder.

Here's a recap of the top winners of the 2007 National Society of Film Critics Awards:

Picture: There Will Be Blood
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Screenplay: The Savages
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
Documentary: No End in Sight
Foreign Film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days