2009 Toronto Film Critics Association Award Winners

Also announced this week are the 2009 TFCA (Toronto Film Critics Association) award winners. One can faithfully assume the Golden Globe winners will be safe and populist, which makes the TFCA winners and runners-up more intriguing because they embrace some rebels, newcomers, egotists, and indie filmmakers whose works are in fact/will be out on DVD, and should be sought out after you’ve gone through the safer crème de la crème of studio fodder.

As always, titles available/soon to be released on DVD and Blu-ray are hyperlinked to Amazon.ca and Amazon.com (depending on first availability).

Categories I’d like to see added to the list in 2010 include Best Cinematography and Best Score.

Sliding the soapbox back under the desk... and now to the winners:

BEST PICTURE (TIE)

“Hunger” (Maple Pictures) --- now available in Canada via Maple. Criterion DVD+BR to be released Feb. 16/2010
“Inglourious Basterds” (Alliance Films)

Runner-up:
“The Hurt Locker” (Maple Pictures) --- DVD+BR to be released Jan. 12/2010

BEST ACTOR

Nicolas Cage, “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” --- DVD+BR to be released April 6, 2010

Runners-up:
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Michael Fassbender, “Hunger” --- now available in Canada via Maple. Criterion DVD+BR to be released Feb. 16/2010
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Viggo Mortensen, “The Road”

BEST ACTRESS

Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

Runners-up:
Arta Dobroshi, “Le Silence de Lorna” --- Canadian DVD to be released Dec. 22/2010
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Runners-up:
Christian McKay, “Me & Orson Welles”
Timothy Olyphant, “A Perfect Getaway” --- DVD+BR to be released Dec. 29/2010

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”

Runners-up:
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Mo’nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker” --- DVD+BR to be released Jan. 12/2010

Runners-up:
Steve McQueen, “Hunger” --- now available in Canada via Maple. Criterion DVD+BR to be released Feb. 16/2010
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”

BEST SCREENPLAY (TIE)

“Inglourious Basterds”, written by Quentin Tarantino
“Up in the Air”, written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner based on the novel by Walter Kirn

Runner-up:
“A Serious Man”, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

BEST FIRST FEATURE

“Hunger”, directed by Steve McQueen --- now available in Canada via Maple. Criterion DVD+BR to be released Feb. 16/2010

Runners-up:
“District 9″, directed by Neill Blomkamp --- DVD+BR to be released Dec. 22/2010
“(500) Days of Summer”, directed by Marc Webb--- DVD +BR to be released Dec. 22/2009

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Fox Searchlight)

Runners-up:
“Coraline” (Alliance Films)
“Up” (Disney-Pixar)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

“The White Ribbon” (Mongrel Media)

Runners-up:
“Police, Adjective” (filmswelike)
“Summer Hours / L’heure d’ete” (E1 Entertainment)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“The Cove” (Maple Pictures)

Runners-up:
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” (filmswelike)
“The Beaches of Agnes” (E1 Entertainment) --- DVD to be released March 2/2010

- MRH