40th NSFC Awards

January 7, 2006

---- Best Film:
Capote

The 40th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 7 January 2006, honored the best in film for 2005.

Winners

Best Picture

1. '' Capote'' (12)
2. ''

A History of Violence ''A History of Violence'' is a 2005 action thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 graphic novel of the same title by John Wagner and Vince Locke. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, ...

'' (11)
3. '' 2046''

Best Director

1. David Cronenberg – ''

'' (32)
2.

Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure ...

– '' 2046'' (26)
3.

Bennett Miller Bennett Miller (born December 30, 1966) is an American film director, known for directing the acclaimed films '' Capote'' (2005), '' Moneyball'' (2011), and ''Foxcatcher'' (2014). He has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Direct ...

– '' Capote'' (23)

Best Actor

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...

– '' Capote'' (68)
2. Jeff Daniels – ''

The Squid and the Whale ''The Squid and the Whale'' is a 2005 American independent comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorc ...

'' (41)
3.

Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...

– ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by ...

'' (40)

Best Actress

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

– ''

Walk the Line ''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical musical romantic drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies authored by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, 1975's '' M ...

'' (37)
2.

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Righton (; née Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received several accolades, including nominations for ...

– '' Pride & Prejudice'' (27)
3.

Kate Dollenmayer Kate Dollenmayer is an American actor and media archivist. She debuted as lead actor in the 2002 film ''Funny Ha Ha'' by Andrew Bujalski. She obtained her BA in Earth and Planetary Studies from Harvard University in 1998 and then an MFA in film ...

– ''

Funny Ha Ha ''Funny Ha Ha'' is a 2002 American film written and directed by Andrew Bujalski. It has been described as the first mumblecore film. The film was shot on 16 mm film on a very low budget. It deals with the lives of people in their twenties as they ...

'' (18)
3.

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...

– '' Down to the Bone'' (18)

Best Supporting Actor

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award ...

– ''

'' (27)
2.

Mathieu Amalric Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich'', Wes An ...

– ''

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

'' (22)
2.

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

– ''

Good Night, and Good Luck ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (stylized as ''good night, and good luck.'') is a 2005 historical drama film about American television news directed by George Clooney, with the movie starring David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Ro ...

.'' (22)

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, incl ...

– '' Junebug'' (33)
2.

Zhang Ziyi Zhang Ziyi (; ; born 9 February 1979) is a Chinese actress and model. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China. Her first major role was in '' The Road Home'' (1999). She later gained international recognition for her role in ...

– '' 2046'' (28)
3.

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

– ''

The 40-Year-Old Virgin ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Judd Apatow, who produced the film with Clayton Townsend and Shauna Robertson. It features Steve Carell as the titular 40-year-old virgin Andy, an employee at an e ...

'', ''

The Ballad of Jack and Rose ''The Ballad of Jack and Rose'' is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and starring her husband Daniel Day-Lewis; it also stars Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jason Lee, Jena Malone, Susanna Thomps ...

'', '' Capote'', and ''

The Interpreter ''The Interpreter'' is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the fin ...

'' (22)

Best Screenplay

Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach () (born September 3, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for making witty and intellectual comedies set in New York City and has often been compared to writer-directors such as Woody Allen and Whit St ...

– ''

'' (37)
2.

Dan Futterman Daniel Paul Futterman (born June 8, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer. Futterman wrote the screenplay for the film '' Capote'', for which he received an Academy Award nomination, an Independent Spirit, Boston Society of Fi ...

– '' Capote'' (33)
3.

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...

and

Eric Roth Eric R. Roth (born March 22, 1945) is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — for ''Forrest Gump'' (1994), '' The Insider'' (1999), ''Munich'' (2005), '' The Curious Case o ...

– ''

'' (14)

Best Cinematography

1. Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun Leung, and

Lai Yiu-fai Lai Yiu-fai () is a Hong Kong cinematographer. Awards References External links * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Hong Kong cinematographers Hong Kong people {{HongKong-bio-stub ...

– '' 2046'' (50)
2.

Robert Elswit Robert Christopher Elswit, (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson on six of his films and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for ''There Will Be Blood''. Elswit has also col ...

– ''

.'' (16)
3.

Emmanuel Lubezki Emmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern (; born November 30, 1964) is a Mexican cinematographer. He sometimes goes by the nickname Chivo, which means "goat" in Spanish. Lubezki has worked with many acclaimed directors, including Mike Nichols, Tim Burton, ...

– '' The New World'' (11)

Best Foreign Language Film

1. '' Head-On'' (''Gegen die Wand'') (26)
2. '' 2046'' (23)
3. '' Caché'' (18)

Best Non-Fiction Film

1. ''

Grizzly Man ''Grizzly Man'' (2005) is an American documentary film by German director Werner Herzog. It chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell and the death of his girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Katmai National Park, Alaska. The fi ...

'' (60)
2. ''

Darwin's Nightmare ''Darwin's Nightmare'' is a 2004 Austrian-French-Belgian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 ...

'' (27)
3. '' Ballets Russes'' (19)

Experimental Awards

1. '' Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One'' (1968) and ''Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2'' (2005),

William Greaves William Greaves (October 8, 1926 – August 25, 2014) was an American documentary filmmaker and a pioneer of film-making. He produced more than two hundred documentary films, and wrote and directed more than half of these. Greaves garnered many ...

' remarkable investigation into the nature of the acting process and power relationships on a movie set.
2. '' 13 Lakes'', ''Ten Skies'', and ''27 Years Later'', the three 2005 productions of James Benning. Few have done more over the last thirty years to expand the sensory and temporal boundaries of moving pictures.

Film Heritage Award

* Unseen Cinema, the 7-disc DVD box set collection of pre-1942 American avant-garde cinema assembled by Anthology Film Archives and Bruce Posner—a massive and unprecedented undertaking made in concert with 60 other film archives and preservation organizations across the globe.

Special Citation

* The NSFC commends and congratulates our colleagues Kevin Thomas for his 44-year tenure as a movie critic at the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', for his tireless championing in the heart of the world's movie capital of the power and beauty of independent, experimental and foreign film, for his long and important service to moviegoers around the industry, the country and the world.

References

External links

Past Awards
{{NSFC Awards Chron 2005 2005 film awards 2006 in American cinema