As the calendar turns to December, film fans are braced for the onslaught of year-end awards, lists and other general lunacy when it comes to recognizing the year in cinema. While the bulk of the accomplishments mean very little in the long run, a handful serve as strong reminders for films you may have missed and today, we’ve got two of the better rundowns of the year thus far.
First up, Sight and Sound polled 100 critics to get their top films of the year and the round-up is quite an excellent one, with The Master topping the last and some of my favorite films of the year, including Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Amour, This is Not a Film and Beasts of the Southern Wild being recognized.
Michael Haneke‘s Amour showed up again, this time at the the European Film Awards, where it swept all the major categories for film, director and acting, but lost out cinematography (rightfully to Shame, which was released this year across the pond) and screenwriting to The Hunt (which has yet to see a release here, but we reviewed at Cannes). Check out both lists below and if the Oscars turn out to replicate either in any fashion, we’d be quite pleased.
Sight and Sound’s Best of 2012 List (via Film Detail)
1. Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master.
2. Miguel Gomes‘s Tabu.
3. Michael Haneke‘s Amour.
4. Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors.
5. Benh Zeitlin‘s Beasts of the Southern Wild.
= Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio.
7. Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.
8. Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills.
= David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis.
= Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.
= Jafar Panahi‘s This Is Not a Film.
2012 European Film Award Winners (via In Contention)
European Film of the Year: Amour
European Director of the Year: Michael Haneke, Amour
European Actress of the Year: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
European Actor of the Year: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour
European Screenwriter of the Year: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm, The Hunt
European Cinematographer of the Year: Sean Bobbitt, Shame
European Editor of the Year: Joe Walker, Shame
European Composer of the Year: Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
European Production Designer of the Year: Maria Djurkovic, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
European Documentary of the Year: Winter Nomads
European Animated Feature of the Year: Alois Nebel
European Short Film of the Year: Superman, Spiderman or Batman
European Discovery Award: Kauwboy
Young Audience Award: Kauwboy
People’s Choice Award: Come As You Are
European Contribution to World Cinema: Helen Mirren
Lifetime Achievement Award: Bernardo Bertolucci
Prix Eurimages: Helena Danielsson (producer)
Are your favorites here? Any undeserving wins?