The Nevada Film Critics Society, not to be confused with the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, has announced its Best of 2011 list. Martin Scorsese’s period adventure fantasy Hugo was voted Best Picture. Scorsese was the Best Director and Asa Butterfield the Best Child Actor. The Best Actor and Best Actress choices were the Nevada Critics’ biggest surprises:
the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises’ Tom Hardy was selected as the Best Actor for his performance as a boxer in the little-seen Warrior. Jessica Chastain has been winning awards everywhere, but in the Best Supporting Actress category.
The Nevada Critics chose her as the year’s Best Actress “for her outstanding work in several films of 2011 including The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter.”
With Chastain out of the way, the Best Supporting Actress Award went to Janet McTeer for her butch lesbian in Albert Nobbs. Albert Brooks was cited for his work as a mean gangster in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Tate Taylor’s sleeper hit The Help won for Best Ensemble (in addition to Chastain, the film’s cast includes Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, Octavia Spencer, Mary Steenburgen, and Cicely Tyson).
Rooney Mara (for her Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Elizabeth Olsen (for her problematic character in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene) tied for the Best Breakthrough Performance of 2011. Chris Miller’s Puss in Boots, featuring the voices of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, was the Best Animated Feature.
Curiously, the Nevada Critics don’t hand out award for Best Foreign Language Film. If you hadn’t heard of the Nevada Film Critics Society, don’t despair. They’re a brand new (and apparently quite small) group, founded last year. Below is the full list of the Nevada Critics’ choices.
