Entertainment

Denis Villeneuve's Enemy is Toronto Film Critics' top Canadian pick

The 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards were presented at a gala dinner in Toronto on Tuesday, where Richard Linklater's Boyhood was awarded three top prizes and Denis Villeneuve's doppelganger thriller Enemy won the honour of best Canadian film of the year.

3 Canadian finalists were films by Montreal directors

Jake Gyllenhaal is pictured in a scene from Denis Villeneuve's surreal mind-bender film Enemy in a studio handout photo. (Canadian Press)

The 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards were presented at a gala dinner on Tuesday, where Richard Linklater's Boyhood was awarded three top prizes and Denis Villeneuve's doppelganger thriller Enemy won the honour of best Canadian film of the year. 

The nominees for the best Canadian film award, which carries a $100,000 cash prize, were down to three features — Villeneuve's Enemy, Michael Dowse's The F Word and Xavier Dolan's Mommy

This is the third time Villeneuve has won the award, having previously taken it for 2009’s Polytechnique and 2010’s Incendies
This is the third time director Denis Villeneuve has won the best Canadian film award. (Arthur Mola/Invision/Associated Press)

“All three Canadian finalists are Montreal directors, but their films could not be more different,” said TFCA president Brian Johnson. “With Enemy, Denis Villeneuve ventured onto David Cronenberg’s home turf and took no prisoners. By embracing this nervy psychodrama, our critics held it up to the light.”

The Overnighters won the Allan King documentary award. 

Linklater accepted the awards for best picture, best director and best supporting actress (Patricia Arquette) for Boyhood in a videotaped speech.

Established in 1997, the Toronto Film Critics Association is comprised of Toronto-based journalists and broadcasters who specialize in film criticism and commentary.

More details of the 18th annual TFCA awards:

Tom Hardy won best actor for playing a Welsh builder in crisis in Locke.

Marion Cotillard was named best actress for her performance as a Polish woman navigating 1920s America in The Immigrant.

J.K. Simmons was named best supporting actor for his role as a tyrannical conductor in Whiplash.

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel won best screenplay.

Isao Takahata’s delicate fable The Tale of the Princess Kaguya won best animated feature.

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox was named best first feature.

Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure was named best foreign-language film.

Albert Shin, director of the South Korean domestic drama In Her Place, was named winner of the Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist.