National Board of Review 2009 Winners

George Clooney in Up in the Air

The fact that Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, which opens in the US tomorrow, was named best picture of 2009 by the National Board of Review should come as no surprise.

On the other hand, the fact that Lee Daniels' Precious earned only one mention — breakthrough performance by an actress for Gabourey Sidibe as the film's abused, pregnant, illiterate teenager — was a major upset. Precious was nowhere to be found among either the year's top 11 best films (Star Trek, Where the Wild Things Are, and Up, however, were) or top 10 best independent films (but District 9, In the Loop, and Me and Orson Welles made the cut). And instead of Mo'Nique, the NBR picked Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick as best supporting actress.

Indeed, Up in the Air came out as the NBR's top winner: in addition to its best picture and best supporting actress nods, the socially conscious romantic comedy-drama was also named for actor (George Clooney, tied with Morgan Freeman for Invictus) and adapted screenplay (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner).

Invictus, as expected, also did quite well for itself. In addition to Freeman (above), who plays Nelson Mandela, the socially conscious sports drama set in mid-1990s South Africa earned NBR favorite Clint Eastwood a best director nod and received an NBR Freedom of Expression mention (along with the documentaries Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers). Now, why exactly Invictus merited a Freedom of Expression prize is a question I can't answer. Here's wondering if the NBR voting members can.

Although this is the first time Clint Eastwood wins the NBR's best director award, he and his films have been frequently honored in the past. Letters from Iwo Jima and Mystic River were named best picture of the year in, respectively, 2006 and 2003, while Eastwood himself was chosen best actor last year for Gran Torino. He also won a Special Achievement Award for producing, directing, acting and composing the score of Million Dollar Baby in 2004 and was given a Career Achievement Award in 1999.