The Social Network's Got Friends in Windy Places

Chicago Film Critics Association names founding-of-Facebook drama the year's best picture; Colin Firth, Natalie Portman get lead-actor love

By Natalie Finn Dec 23, 2010 9:00 PMTags
Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, The Social NetworkMerrick Morton/Columbia Tristar

The Social Network is right up there with the Cubs this year.

The drama was named Best Picture of 2010 by the Chicago Film Critics Association, one of the leading three awards it picked up in the Windy City, adding to the accolades that have come before and the ones presumably still in the pipeline.

Also representing for the founding-of-Facebook drama were Best Director David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, winner for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Chicago critics also added fuel—which at this point is like tossing turpentine on a blazing inferno—to Colin Firth's Oscar campaign, naming him Best Actor for The King's Speech. They also agreed with the Boston Society of Film Critics in naming Natalie Portman Best Actress for Black Swan, perhaps a sign of good things to come as we move into the heavy-hitting 2011 portion of the 2010 awards season.

Black Swan's haunting original score was also named best of the bunch.

Christian Bale, whose yo-yo diet of a career served him well in The Fighter, was Best Supporting Actor, and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld snagged her first Best Supporting Actress win for True Grit.

It's pretty much common knowledge now that Toy Story 3 is the Best Animated Feature of the year—Chicago agrees—and Christopher Nolan's mindbending vision for Inception was tops in the Best Original Screenplay category.

Here's the complete list of winners from the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards:

Best Picture: The Social Network
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet
Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Original Score: Clint Mansell, Black Swan
Most Promising Performer: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Most Promising Filmmaker: Derek Cianfranco, Blue Valentine