The Cities' Critics Speak

The language of film may be universal, as the Landmark Theatres trailers try to remind us, but clearly the critics of the U.S.‘s major cities all speak their own dialects. Consensus is strangely cemented in the actor categories, the best picture frontrunner is still TBD. New York’s best is “United 93.” L.A.‘s is “Letters from Iwo Jima.” Boston goes for “The Departed,” and San Francisco sent neighborhood drama “Little Children” into awards orbit. None of them are foreshadowed the many “Babel” nominations just handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. What follows is a list of winners from five of the first cities heard from.

1. Los Angeles Film Critics’ Association

Date announced: Dec. 10, 2006
Best Picture: “Letters from Iwo Jima”
Best Director: Paul Greengrass, “United 93”
Best Actor: Tie between Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat” and Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Unique contribution to the season: Stepped outside the box for Best Actor award by awarding not only a dramatic performance, but also the most politically incorrect comic performance of the year.

2. Boston Society of Film Critics

Date announced: Dec. 10, 2006
Best Picture: “The Departed”
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Unique contribution to the season: Just loving a film (four awards to “The Departed”) which featured… Boston!

3. New York Film Critics Circle

Date announced: Dec. 11, 2006
Best Picture: “United 93”
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Unique contribution to the awards season: Awarding the Best Foreign Film to the restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 dark Resistance story, “Army of Shadows,” which was never actually released in the U.S. before.

4. D.C. Area Film Critics Assocation

Date announced: Dec. 11, 2006
Best Picture: “United 93”
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Unique contribution to the season: Found a way to get Sofia Coppola on the circuit; her film “Marie Antoinette” won Best Art Direction.

5. San Francisco Film Critics Circle

Date announced: Dec. 12, 2006
Best Picture: “Little Children”
Best Director: Paul Greengrass, “United 93”
Best Actor: Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Unique contribution to the awards season: Ducked the major motion pictures of the year for its Best Picture to give neighborhood story “Little Children” top billing. It won three awards from the SFFCC.