The Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS) has announced its 2007 slate of year-end award winning films. The critics group, based in the nation’s fourth-largest city, spread the accolades around, honoring thirteen different films. The membership gave the most attention to No Country for Old Men, awarding the film with their Best Picture honor and Javier Bardem with an award for Best Supporting Actor.
The HFCS was so impressed with the film that they named “No Country’s” co-directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, as Honorary Texans. “It was a great year for films set in the Lone Star State,” said HFCS president Nick Nicholson. “We were so impressed with ‘No Country’ that we wanted to let the Coen brothers know they are welcome to shoot in our state any time they want, as long as they don’t let their pit bulls anywhere near us.”
The HFCS members were also impressed with Philip Seymour Hoffman, honoring him with a special award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema for his three memorable performances this year from Charlie Wilson’s War, The Savages and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.
The HFCS complete list of 2007 winners are:
Best Picture – No Country for Old Men
Best Director of a Motion Picture – Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role – Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast – Hairspray
Best Screenplay – Diablo Cody, Juno
Best Animated Film – Ratatouille
Best Cinematography – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Documentary – The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Best Foreign Language Film – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Original Score – Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Best Original Song – “Falling Slowly” from Once
Honorary Texan Award – Joel and Ethan Coen
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema – Philip Seymour Hoffman
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema – The Greenway Three Theatre for over thirty years of service to Houston’s art-house film community.
The Houston Film Critics Society top ten films for 2007:
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Juno
3. Atonement
4. Michael Clayton
5. Into the Wild
6. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
8. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
9. Charlie Wilson’s War
10. I’m Not There
