Southeastern Film Critics Association Chooses THE DESCENDANTS as the Top Film of 2011

The Artist is currently the frontrunner in the 2011 awards race, but The Descendants continues to nip at its heels.  Today, the Southeastern Film Critics Association chose The Descendants as the top film of 2011, although The Artist came in second. SEFCA also bestowed The Descendants with Best Actor (George Clooney) and Best Adapted Screenplay, and also pulled runner-up awards for Best Supporting Actress (Shaileen Woodley) and Best Ensemble.

This was my first year as a SEFCA member, and sadly I disagree with most of the association’s choices.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners and my thoughts on them.

I think Meryl Streep is a boring choice for Best Actress (The Iron Lady) especially in a year with so many other terrific female performances.  I’ll have my full review for The Iron Lady up when it opens on December 30th, but I’ll say right now that the crappy framing device gets in the way of her performance.  You don’t get to see her play a developing character because the movie keeps jumping between Margaret Thatcher in her old age and her years in Parliament.  The character’s two modes are “Sad Old Lady” and “Ruthlessly Ambitious and Coldhearted Politician”.  I’m glad that at least my pick Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk about Kevin) landed runner up.

Most of the other winners bore me as well.  I don’t think Martin Scorsese is the Best Director of the year (his love of cinema never extends to the adventure-mystery story in Hugo), and The Help certainly wasn’t the best ensemble.  As for The Help winning the Gene Wyatt Award (“in recognition of a film that best embodies the spirit of the South.”), The Help feels like it came from a lack of options rather than any special achievement on its part.

Honestly, the only choices that I’m happy about are Drive landing on the Top 10 (I campaigned for the members to consider it), Best Documentary (Project Nim), and Best Animated Film (Rango).  Here’s the full list of winners:

TOP TEN FILMS

The Descendants

The Artist

Hugo

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Drive

Midnight in Paris

Win Win

War Horse

The Help

BEST ACTOR

Winner – George Clooney (The Descendants)

Runner-up – Michael Fassbender (Shame)

BEST ACTRESS

Winner – Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Runner-up – Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner – Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Runner-up – Albert Brooks, Drive

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner – Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Runner-up – Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

BEST ENSEMBLE

Winner – The Help

Runner-up – The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner – Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Runner-up – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner – Midnight in Paris

Runner-up – The Artist

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner – The Descendants

Runner-up – Moneyball

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Winner – Project Nim

Runner-up – Tabloid

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Winner – A Separation

Runner-up – The Skin I Live In

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Winner – Rango

Runner-up – The Adventures of Tintin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner – The Tree of Life

Runner-up – Hugo

The GENE WYATT AWARD

Winner – The Help

Runner-up – Undefeated