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Jennifer Lawrence is a scam artist's sexy but unpredictable wife in the Jersey-set 'American Hustle,' an award-winner with the New York Film Critics Circle

(COLUMBIA)

The New York Film Critics Circle announced their 2013 awards today — and the list was as wide and full of surprises as the year.

The big winner was the New-Jersey-set "American Hustle," a highly fictionalized take on the Abscam sting. The circle — which comprises 38 journalists from websites, magazines and newspapers, including the Star-Ledger — gave it prizes for best picture and best screenplay, as well as a best supporting actress nod for Jennifer Lawrence.

But the big story may be that, for the first time in its 79-year-history, the organization gave its best-director prize to a black filmmaker, Steve McQueen, for the harrowing "12 Years a Slave." (In addition, it named Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station," starring Newark's Michael B. Jordan, best first film.)

In a voting meeting held at Lincoln Center, which stretched past five hours, these were some of the most competitive categories. Although NYFCC bylaws prohibit releasing anything but the results, one race ran to four ballots while another required a rare fifth-ballot runoff. None was decided on the first round.

Other prizes went to Cate Blanchett, for best actress in "Blue Jasmine," and Robert Redford for best actor, in "All Is Lost." Jared Leto won best supporting actor for his turn as a transgendered man with AIDS in "Dallas Buyers Club."

"Stories We Tell," Sarah Polley's exploration of her family's hidden past, won best non-fiction film; Bruno Delbonnel got best cinematography for his work in "Inside Llewyn Davis"; and France's controversial gay romance, "Blue Is the Warmest Color," won best foreign-language film.

A prize to the Japanese picture "The Wind Rises," for best animated film, and a special honor to veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman, for his body of work, rounded out the honors.

The announcement commences the real awards season — although Oscar bloggers may mostly end up talking about the films conspicuous by their absence.

The journalists, for example, gave no awards to "Captain Phillips," "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Philomena," "Gravity" and "August: Osage County," all expected to do well with more mainstream Academy Award voters; also passed over were such once-apparent critical favorites as "Her" and "Nebraska," as well as Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," which screened just the day before the vote.

Whether these are the singular results of competitive races, personal quirks and necessary compromises — or the sign of some real trends — will be answered over the next few weeks, as other critics groups and professional guilds make their prizes, leading up to the announcement of the Oscar nominations on January 16.

The New York Film Critics Circle will present their awards at a gala on January 6 at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Joshua Rothkopf, of Time Out New York, is the current chairman; I am vice-chair, and will take over as chair that night after the final certificate is given out.



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