Film News: Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life’ Wins Four 2011 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

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CHICAGO – Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” led the way for film in the eyes of the Chicago Film Critics Association, as they have dubbed it the Best Picture of 2011. Malick also took Best Director for his long-delayed labor of love, while the CFCA also chose the cinematography and the work by Jessica Chastain as the Best Supporting Actress work of the year. “Drive” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene” came in second with two wins a piece.

In some incredibly close acting races, Chicagoan Michael Shannon took Best Actor for “Take Shelter” and Michelle Williams won Best Actress for playing a legend in “My Week With Marilyn.” Joining Chastain as a choice for the best supporting work of 2011 is Albert Brooks in “Drive.” All four acting winners will be honored at a ceremony on January 7th, along with recently-announced special awards for Shirley MacLaine, James Earl Jones, Dennis Farina, and Jason Segel.

Chicago critics saw a lot of promise in Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” giving the film both Most Promising Filmmaker and Most Promising Performer for lead actress Elizabeth Olsen. They also saw something special in a Chicago-based documentary, awarding “The Interrupters” best documentary of the year. Looking much further from home, “A Separation” won Best Foreign Language Film, while “Rango” takes Best Animated Film.

Finally, the screenplay races shook out in such a way that two films were honored that didn’t win anywhere else — “The Artist” and “Moneyball.”

HollywoodChicago.com film critics Matt Fagerholm, Adam Fendelman, Patrick McDonald, and Brian Tallerico are all voting members in the CFCA.

Full list of winners below and stay tuned for more news about the 2011 Chicago Film Critics Awards ceremony.

The Tree of Life Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

BEST PICTURE(-) The Tree of Life
BEST DIRECTOR(-) Terrence Malick—The Tree of Life
BEST ACTOR(-) Michael Shannon—Take Shelter
BEST ACTRESS(-) Michelle Williams—My Week with Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR(-) Albert Brooks—Drive
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS(-) Jessica Chastain—The Tree of Life
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY(-) Michel Hazanavicius—The Artist
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY(-) Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin—Moneyball
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY(-) The Tree of Life—Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE(-) Drive—Cliff Martinez
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM(-) A Separation
BEST ANIMATED FILM(-) Rango
BEST DOCUMENTARY(-) The Interrupters
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER(-) Elizabeth Olsen—Martha Marcy May Marlene
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER(-) Sean Durkin—Martha Marcy May Marlene

SPECIAL AWARDS
COMMITMENT TO THE CRAFT AWARD(-) Shirley MacLaine
OSCAR MICHEAUX AWARD(-) James Earl Jones
COMMEDIA EXTRAORDINAIRE AWARD(-) Jason Segel
COMMITMENT TO CHICAGO AWARD(-) Dennis Farina
BIG SHOULDERS AWARD(-) Second City

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com