Film critics pick Goodbye to Language as their top movie of the year
The National Society of Film Critics has named Jean-Luc Godard's 3-D film Goodbye to Language the best picture of the year, narrowly choosing it over Richard Linklater's Boy hood, for which Linklater won best director.
The group, made up of 59 prominent movie critics from newspapers, magazines and other media outlets, chose Timothy Spall as best actor for about 19th-century British artist J.M.W. Turner.
Marion Cotillard won best actress for , a Belgian drama about a factory worker who must lobby co-workers in order to keep her job.
Best supporting actress went to Patricia Arquette for which chronicles 12 years in the life of a boy and which was filmed with the same actor over 12 years. J.K. Simmons won best supporting actor for , playing a hard-driving music teacher.
In choosing for their top honour, the critics departed from other groups such as the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle and even the Golden Globes, all of which have ignored the film in their annual list of honours.
The inscrutable film, which even admirers called baffling, involves a married woman and a single man, and a stray dog. Shot in 3-D, a second film paralleling the first unfolds during the course of its 70-minutes.
The critics awards are among the last in the run-up to the Oscar nominations, to be announced on January 15 in Los Angeles.
The Academy Awards ceremony is slated for February 22.
Godard, 84, is among the world's most acclaimed directors, known for such classics as , and In other awards, the critics chose , about Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency spying scandal, as best nonfiction, or documentary film, while by Wes Anderson won for best screenplay.
Best cinematography went to .
