BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS ANNOUNCE

Best Picture

1.    The Artist

2.       Hugo

Margaret

Best Director

1.    Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

2.       Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1.    Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

2.       George Clooney (The Descendants)

Michael Fassbender (Shame)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

1.    Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

2.       Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

                Albert Brooks (Drive)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

1.    Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

2.       Jeannie Berlin (Margaret)

Best Screenplay

1.    Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian (Moneyball)

2.       Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret)

Best Cinematography

1.    Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)

2.       Robert Richardson (Hugo)

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer)

1.    Christian Marclay (The Clock)

2.       Thelma Schoonmaker (Hugo)

Best Use of Music

1.    Ludovic Bource (The Artist)

Eric Craig, Cliff Martinez and Brian McNelis  (Drive)

2.       Dondi Bastone (The Descendants)

Best Ensemble Cast

1.    Carnage

2.       Margaret

Best Animated Film
               Rango
Best Documentary

1.    Project Nim

2.       Bill Cunningham New York

Best Foreign Language Film

1.    Incendies

2.       Poetry

A Separation

Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy)

1.    Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

2.       J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)

The BSFC is one of the most important critics' groups outside of the top four and the BFCA, so these choices ought to be paid attention to. What's clear here is a lot of love for a number of films: The Artist (obviously), Hugo (also obviously), Bridesmaids (surprisingly) and Margaret (interestingly). Indeed, the love for Margaret is even more interesting because, as tweeted by the society, Margaret was not seen by some of their critics as Fox Searchlight (presumably, and prematurely, admitting defeat for the much-delayed film) failed to provide screeners and the film only had one for BSFC members. So would it have done even better had all of BSFC seen it? Or was this tactical voting by a small few members? Either way, its chances in the bigger picture remain slim.

Melissa McCarthy makes a serious step forward with this win too - she's not foreign, so AMPAS members are likely to know who she is and what her film is, thus a win like this means a great deal. It might still be a stretch, but with enough support from other groups over the course of awards season, and she could certainly be Oscar-nominated. And look who seems just about unbeatable - Emmanuel Lubezki. That is, unless Janusz Kaminski or Jeff Cronenweth proves to be more popular with AMPAS members, particularly once The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's embargo is lifted. We've seen that happen to Lubezki before, with Children of Men.