The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday selected “The Social Network” as the best picture of 2010.
The fictional look at the creation of Facebook dominated at the society’s annual awards, which were voted on by 46 prominent movie critics gathered at a Manhattan restaurant.
Jesse Eisenberg was named best actor for his role as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social networking website. David Fincher won for best director and Aaron Sorkin for best screenplay.
The critics reached overseas for the best actress honor, naming Italian star Giovanna Mezzogiorno for her role in “Vincere.” The film follows the rise to power of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with him abandoning his wife and child along the way.
Supporting actor awards went to Geoffrey Rush for “The King’s Speech” and Olivia Williams for “The Ghost Writer.”
The society, founded in 1966, is composed of 61 film critics from across the country, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan, The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern and David Denby of The New Yorker.
While these critics’ choices rarely reflect top honors at the Academy Awards, the New York-based society helps draw attention to new films in advance of the Oscars, staged in late February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On Saturday, society members issued a statement calling for a re-examination of the movie rating system set by the Motion Picture Association of America.
The critics praised a decision to change the NC-17 rating for “Blue Valentine” to an R, but they questioned others. They singled out “The King’s Speech,” a drama about King George VI’s attempt to overcome his speech impediment, which was rated R for “language” — moments when he’s told to swear to ease his stammer.
“It’s clear the board has become an agency of de facto censorship,” read the statement from the critics, who suggested a revision of the current system.
The society also condemned Iran’s recent sentencing of directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof to six years in prison. Both were banned from filmmaking for 20 years for “colluding in gatherings and making propaganda against the regime.”
The critics urged the Iranian government to release the directors, saying their “work can only further the advancement of such values as justice, compassion, tolerance, and human dignity.”
Among foreign language films, “Carlos” — French director Olivier Assayas’s 5 1/2-hour-look at the life of the global terrorist dubbed “Carlos the Jackal” — was voted best.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More