"The Artist" is still number one in the eyes of the critics. But watch out for "The Tree of Life" – because when it comes to hard-core cinephiles, Terrence Malick's dreamy, meditative piece has begun to get more love than Michel Hazanavicius' silent charmer.
When we checked in with critics awards around the country about a week-and-a-half ago, "The Artist" (left) held a comfortable but not insurmountable lead: It had won six best-film awards from regional and national critics' groups, to three for "The Descendants," two for "Tree of Life" and one for "Hugo."
Since then, a number of other groups have chimed in – and in regional critics' groups, "The Artist" has extended its lead by picking up kudos from Phoenix, St. Louis, Detroit, Oklahoma and San Diego critics.
"The Descendants," meanwhile, was named the year's best by the Dallas-Fort Worth critics and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, while "Drive" was the top choice in Utah and Dublin and "Hugo" was best in the eyes of the Austin critics.
But "The Tree of Life" has come on strong in polls of critics who specialize in indies and art movies. It was named 2011's best film a poll run jointly by alternative weeklies on both coasts, the Village Voice in New York and the L.A. Weekly in Los Angeles. It also topped indieWIRE's annual poll, and landed on top of Film Comment's list.
The breakdown of critics' awards announced in the past week and a half:
AUSTIN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
The Texan critics became the second group to put Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" atop its list -- though if you look at the total number of awards won, "Drive" came out on top with four. "Take Shelter," meanwhile, won three awards, while "Attack the Block" won two.
Best Film: "Hugo"
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, "Drive"
Best Actor: Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter"
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "Take Shelter"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "Drive"
Best Original Screenplay: "Midnight in Paris"
Best Cinematography: "The Tree of Life"
Best Original Score: "Attack the Block"
Best Documentary: "Senna"
Best Foreign Language Film: "I Saw the Devil"
Breakthrough Artist Award: Jessica Chastain
Best First Film: Joe Cornish, "Attack the Block"
Austin Film Award: "Take Shelter"
Top 10 Films (in order): "Hugo," "Drive," "Take Shelter," "Midnight in Paris," "Attack the Block," "The Artist," "Martha Marcy May Marlene," "I Saw the Devil," "13 Assassins," "Melancholia"
CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
The city's critics took a more indie slant than most regional groups, with Terrence Malick's film taking the top award, and acting honors going to Michael Shannon for "Take Shelter' and Michelle Williams for "My Week With Marilyn." Otherwise, it's a lot of the usual suspects: "Rango," "A Separation," Albert Brooks for "Drive," cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for "The Tree of Life."
