Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia (Columbia Pictures) (left); Yolande Moreau in Séraphine (Music Box Films) (right)
Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Carey Mulligan, Quentin Tarantino, Abbie Cornish, Inglourious Basterds, and Everlasting Moments were a few of the top contenders for the 2010 National Society of Film Critics Awards, announced earlier today. Both indieWIRE and The Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil have full lists of the NSFC's runners-up, with O'Neil providing detailed information about voting procedures. As he explains, things can get really twisted around when a winner isn't decided on the NSFC voting members' first ballot. (Out of its 64 members, 46 voted this year.)
Meryl Streep, for instance, was the critics' initial top choice for best actress for her portrayal of Julia Child in Julie & Julia, but by the time the second ballot was over and done with things had changed quite a bit. See, only the 20 critics present at New York City's Sardi's Restaurant were allowed to have a say after the first ballot. As a result, Streep was demoted to #2 (with 21 points), right behind Cesar and Los Angeles Film Critics Association winner Yolande Moreau for Séraphine. Abbie Cornish was the surprising #3 choice for her performance in Jane Campion's Bright Star, deemed at one point one of the top awards-season entries — only to be snubbed by most North American critics' groups.
The NSFC's three runaway winners this year were best picture The Hurt Locker (64 points vs. 23 for Summer Hours), The Hurt Locker's director Kathryn Bigelow (85 points vs. 23 for Summer Hours' Olivier Assayas), and best foreign language film Summer Hours (61 points vs. 21 for Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments).