The New York Film Critics Online went all out for The Queen, chosen as the best film of 2006, in addition to citations for best director Stephen Frears, best actress Helen Mirren, best screenplay for Peter Morgan, and best supporting actor Michael Sheen (who actually has a leading role in the film, but that's how those things go).
Curiously, neither one of Clint Eastwood's war epics — Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima — managed to make it to the NYOFC's top-ten list. Also absent was Martin Scorsese's The Departed.
On the other hand, David Lynch's Inland Empire found its way into the list, and so did three non-English-language films, Water (top photo, Canada / India), directed by Deepa Mehta; Pedro Almodóvar's Volver (Spain); and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (Spain / Mexico / U.S.), the winner in the best foreign language film category.
The group's most interesting award went to Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, "for taking risks to create films about the difficulties of social change in India especially as it affects women."
A few days ago, Mehta was also one of the two winners of the National Board of Review's Freedom of Expression Award. (The other winner, absurdly enough, was Oliver Stone, for his World Trade Center.)