‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ titled in Spanish as El Laberinto del Fauno,a gothic fairy tale directed by Guillermo Del Toro, nabbed the best picture prize of 2006 by the National Society of Film Critics, at its 41st annual voting luncheon Saturday.
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, an imaginative tale of a little girl’s dream world during Spain’s ’40s fascist era dominated two other foreign-language films with only a few votes for the top prize. Cristi Puiu’s Romanian drama ‘The Death of Mr. Lazarescu’ and Clint Eastwood’s World War II drama ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ were placed second and third.
Paul Greengrass was awarded as the best director for ‘United 93,’ a semi-documentary drama about the courageous passengers and crew aboard the ill-fated flight hijacked by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001.
The best screenplay prize went to William Monahan for ‘The Departed.’ The non-fiction award went to the Al Gore global warming documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and Emmanuel Lubezki was named best cinematographer for his virtuoso long take work in ‘Children of Men.’
Best Actress awards went to Helen Mirren for her performance as British monarch Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen.’
Forest Whitaker, who stars in ‘The Last King of Scotland,’ defeated Peter O’Toole, who stars in “Venus,” by a single vote. Whitaker took the honors for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, according to a spokeswoman for the society.
The best supporting actress prize went to Jennifer Hudson for her show-stopping part in ‘Dreamgirls’ as a supplanted girl-group singer, while Mark Wahlberg took supporting actor honors as a wisecracking investigator in the Martin Scorsese crime thriller ‘The Departed.’
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was selected best nonfiction film, and Emmanuel Lubezki won for best cinematography for his work in “Children of Men.” David Lynch’s “Inland Empire” was selected as best experimental film.
The meeting, which took place at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York, was dedicated to the memory of Robert Altman who died in November. The 45 member’s society is made up of critics from major publications across the country.
Over the last three decades NSFC (National Society of Film Critics) has selected only four best films that also won the top Oscar: “Annie Hall” (1977), “Unforgiven” (1992), “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004).
