‘The Social Network’ Takes Home the National Board of Review’s Best Film of 2010 Award

The National Board of Review has kicked off the major award season announcing their 2010 winners. However, many tend to scoff at the group’s picks as they tend to show a bit of favoritism each year, which is to say you shouldn’t be surprised when you see Hereafter on the org’s list of top ten films. As for their #1 film of the year, that honor belongs to David Fincher’s The Social Network, which also took director (Fincher), actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and adapted screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Is this a primer for the Oscars? Before you say your answer consider one thing.

The National Board of Review has never been known for their cohesion with the Academy Awards as only 11 of their last 28 Best Film winners have gone on to win Oscar’s Best Picture and only two of their last ten, but those two were the recent winners Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men with their pick of Up In the Air last year not fairing as well.

However, this is a nice award to have in Columbia’s pocket as the campaign for The Social Network continues and the win for Fincher is something I think you are going to see a lot over the next few months. I am curious though, with Jesse Eisenberg taking Best Actor over the likes of Colin Firth is this the first of many signs that The King’s Speech may end up getting a lot of nominations and ultimately go home empty handed?

Jacki Weaver’s supporting actress win for her role in Animal Kingdom is certainly a feather in Sony Classics’s cap as they have been pushing hard to get her an Oscar nomination. Sony can also be happy the NBR awarded Lesley Manville the Best Actress award as they have decided that’s where she’ll be running, but I’m curious to see if she can hold up against some stiff competition in that lead actress category.

The group’s top ten films is also quite curious with the inclusion of Hereafter, Shutter Island and The Town. I personally don’t believe any of those three films will be receiving Best Picture nominations, but I did just receive a screener of Shutter Island, which I haven’t watched since seeing it in the theater back in February. I am curious if my opinion of it will change and I’ll be forced to add it to the list of possibles… something I should probably do either way.

As for films you won’t see on the National Board of Review’s list. Try Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids are All Right. Is it a sign, an oversight, or simply a signal this isn’t a group we should look on too seriously? After all, they did wedge Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere in there with a “special” award.

Rolling back to the Social Network conversation, I think we’ll see just how big the push for this film will be starting on December 12 when the Los Angeles Film Critics weigh in with their awards, followed the next day by the New York Film Critics Circle. I will be keeping track of all of the awards handed out leading up to the Oscars in my “Oscar Overture” section. Have a look and see how it’s sorted out as The Social Network is the first poster added to the fray.

Other than that, I won’t steal all of the conversation. Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board of Review. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Foreign Language Film: Of Gods and Men

Best Documentary: Waiting for “Superman”

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Ensemble Cast: The Town

Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Debut Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

Spotlight Award: Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati, The Illusionist

Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere

William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin

NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

Production Design Award: Dante Ferretti, Shutter Island

Ten Best Films (minus The Social Network)

(in alphabetical order)

  • Another Year
  • The Fighter
  • Hereafter
  • Inception
  • The King’s Speech
  • Shutter Island
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit
  • Winter’s Bone

Five Best Foreign-Language Films

(in alphabetical order)

  • I Am Love
  • Incendies
  • Life, Above All
  • Soul Kitchen
  • White Material

Five Best Documentaries

(in alphabetical order)

  • A Film Unfinished
  • Inside Job
  • Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
  • Restrepo
  • The Tillman Story

Top Ten Independent Films

(in alphabetical order)

  • Animal Kingdom
  • Buried
  • Fish Tank
  • The Ghost Writer
  • Greenberg
  • Let Me In
  • Monsters
  • Please Give
  • Somewhere
  • Youth in Revolt

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