The Toronto Film Critics Association — of which I am the vice-president, which still feels like a responsibility that should really be shouldered by a grown-up — has announced its awards for 2010, and we’ve favorited David Fincher’s “The Social Network” in a big way.
Fincher’s movie took Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Best Supporting Actor (Armie Hammer). In other categories, Jennifer Lawrence and Hailee Steinfeld were named Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for their breakout roles in “Winter’s Bone” and “True Grit”, respectively, while Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop” won both Best First Feature and the Allan King Documentary Award.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” won the Best Foreign-Language Film award, and DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” was named Best Animated Feature.
We also awarded our Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent to Daniel Cockburn, director of the terrific TIFF discovery “You Are Here” and the first TFCA award winner who has ever been in my kitchen. (I know, it sounds prejudicial, but when you get the chance to make that reference, you take it.) And Bruce McDonald was given a special citation for his banner year, producing and releasing three features and a documentary.
Of course, our news was inevitably overshadowed by the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations — but I think we can take some pride in our conviction that neither “Barney’s Version” nor “The Tourist” are comedies. (Seriously, guys, just have ten nominees for each acting category. You’ll look a lot less silly.)
How is Hailee Steinfeld’s role supporting? From all accounts I’ve read, it’s the very definition of a lead role.
The TFCA’s ballot is an open one; it’s up to each member whether an actor’s performance counts as a lead or supporting turn. Steinfeld ended up in the supporting category.
She’s unquestionably playing the film’s central character — and she’s great — but people see her as secondary to Bridges. And having seen the film, I can sort of get why.
I can’t wait to see the film myself, so I can refute that argument. (I hope you don’t mind that I’ve already made my decision on the issue before I watch the film.)