Capote, which follows flamboyant writer Truman Capote while he was working on In Cold Blood, was chosen the best film of 2005 by the National Society of Film Critics. As most elsewhere this year, smaller American films and non-American productions took center stage in the voting.
Among the other winners were best director David Cronenberg for the social critique A History of Violence, which failed to win the best film award by one single vote, after six rounds of voting; best actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (above, with Catherine Keener) for Capote; best actress Reese Witherspoon for playing another real-life character, June Carter, in Walk the Line; and best foreign film Gegen die Wand / Head-On, Fatih Akin's drama about a Turkish-German woman who gets married so as to escape her stiflingly conservative family.
Critics' fave Brokeback Mountain failed to win a single award; its only mention in the National Film Critics Society list was Heath Ledger's third-place spot in the best actor category. Even so, according to James Verniere of the Boston Herald Ang Lee's drama about the wistful love affair between two cowboys was a strong contender in many categories.