2006 National Society of Film Critics Awards Winners

The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC), composed of 58 U.S. critics mostly based in New York City and Los Angeles, has chosen Guillermo del Toro’s Spanish-language dark fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth as the best film of 2006.
Set in 1940s Spain, Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of a girl (Ivana Baquero) who finds herself living in two worlds: One of Fascist horror above ground, one of dark magic below ground. Also in the cast are Sergi López, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones, and Maribel Verdú, none of whom made the NSFC’s list of winners or top runners-up. (In the last couple of decades, acting categories have tended to be restricted to English-speaking roles.)
The last time the NSFC chose a foreign-language [...]

2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Award Winners

The most interesting winner at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards was best supporting actress Luminita Gheorghiu (above, with Ion Fiscuteanu), who plays a nurse assisting a sick old man in Cristi Puiu’s acclaimed Romanian comedy-drama The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.
Not only was Gheorghiu’s win a major surprise — U.S. film critics only sporadically opt for performers acting in non-English-language productions — but I could visualize Catherine O’Hara, one of this year’s top best supporting actress contenders and National Board of Review Award winner going nuts because L.A. critics chose a Romanian instead of her. (I saw the funny For Your Consideration yesterday; in that film, there’s a French Oscar nominee who inadvertently pushes O’Hara’s Oscar contender [...]