Andrew Garfield, Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
The Chicago Film Critics Association went for their fellow critics groups’ popular choices: David Fincher’s The Social Network for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin); Natalie Portman as Best Actress for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan; Colin Firth as Best Actor for Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech.
In the supporting categories, the Chicago critics honored Christian Bale in David O. Russell’s The Fighter and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit. In the Best Supporting Actress slot, most groups have named The Fighter’s Melissa Leo, though Steinfeld has also been singled out either as Best Supporting Actress or as Best Newcomer.
The only "surprise" among the Chicago critics’ winners was Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet being named Best Foreign Language Film. And that’s a "surprise" merely because A Prophet was a contender for last year’s Oscar and most critics’ groups have by now forgotten one of 2009’s favorites.
Toy Story 3 and Exit Through the Giftshop were, respectively, the Best Animated Feature and the Best Documentary of 2010. Jennifer Lawrence was voted the top newcomer for Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, while Christopher Nolan was cited for his Inception screenplay.
Photo: The Social Network (Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures)
