Critics pick oil drama, Coen brothers crime thriller as year's best films

Turn-of-the-century oil prospecting drama There Will Be Blood, violent crime thriller No Country for Old Men and the dreamy memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly have emerged as the films to watch, as a flurry of critics groups announce their top picks of the year.

No Country for Old Men, based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, was a multiple winner at the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC)awards on Monday, garnering trophies for best picture, best supporting actor for Jarvier Bardem as well as best screenplay and directing for Joel and Ethan Coen.

The NYFCC, which includes only print reviewers of New York-based publications, also handed the best actor prize to Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of an oil baron in There Will Be Blood.Canadian Sarah Polley'sdirectorial feature debut, Away From Her, nabbed two prizes: a best actress trophy for Julie Christie and best first film for Polley.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association presented a host of accolades to There Will Be Blood, naming it the year's best film, Day-Lewis as its best actor, Paul Thomas Anderson its best director and singling out Jack Fisk for the film's production design.

The film, which has yet to see wide theatrical release across North America, is based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! and centres onDay-Lewis as an oil baron who clashes with his son and a local preacher in the early 1900s. The film features original music by Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood.

The Los Angeles group named Marion Cotillard as its best actress for her turn as Edith Piaf in the biopic La Vie En Rose.

Its other best of the year picks include:

• Foreign-language film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days.
• Supporting actor: Vlad Ivanov, 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days.
• Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
• Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages.
• Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
• Animated film: Ratatouille and Persepolis.
• Documentary: No End in Sight.
• Music: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for Once.
• New Generation Prize: Sarah Polley, Away From Her.

Two other critics groups also shared their selections for the year's best on Sunday.

The New York Film Critics Online, a group of New York-based web critics (or those with a strong online presence), also lavished several top honours on There Will Be Blood, including best director for Anderson, best actor for Day-Lewis, best score for Greenwood and best cinematography for Robert Elswit.

The oil epic tied for the group's best picture title with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the memoir of a French fashion magazine editor's remarkable life after he suffers a paralyzing stroke.

The NYFCO also honouredactress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley as its best debut director for her drama Away From Her, with star Julie Christie named best actress.

Emerging Canadian actress Ellen Page received the group's breakthrough performance award for Juno.

THE NYFCO's other picks included:

• Foreign film: Persepolis and The Lives of Others.
• Animation: Persepolis.
• Supporting actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men.
• Supporting actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There.
• Screenplay: The Darjeeling Limited.
• Ensemble cast: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Area Film Critics Association reserved its praise on Sunday largely for the Coen brothers' tense crime thriller No Country for Old Men.

The group named it 2007's best picture, with Joel and Ethan Coen sharing the best director title and Spanish film star Javier Bardem cited as best supporting actor.

Its other picks for 2007 include:

• Foreign-language film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
• Documentary: Sicko.
• Actor: George Clooney, Michael Clayton.
• Actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her.
• Supporting actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.
• Ensemble cast: No Country For Old Men.
• Adapted screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson's War.
• Original screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno.
• Animated feature: Ratatouille.
• Breakthrough performance: Ellen Page, Juno.
• Art direction: Dante Ferretti, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The critics prizes and the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards — which will be announced Thursday — are often harbingers of the films that will be tapped for the Oscars, the North American industry's highest film honours.