This was a good weekend to be Danny Boyle as his latest movie, the Mumbai-based epic Slumdog Millionaire, swept most of the awards that were announced this weekend from the International Press Academy’s Satellite Awards, where it won for Picture, Boyle’s direction and A.R. Rahman’s score, to the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC), where it tied with Disney/Pixar’s WALLE for their top prize. The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO), of which ComingSoon.net’s Edward Douglas is a member, also presented awards to the film, as well as for Boyle’s direction, Rahman’s score and awards for Simon Beaufoy’s screenplay and Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography.
Sean Penn was also honored this weekend by many of the groups for his performance as gay activist Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s political drama Milk, which was the choice by the Boston Film Critics for direction and screenplay who declared his win a tie with Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler. The drama also received NYFCO’s Ensemble Cast award. The Golden Satelitte for Dramatic Actor was given to veteran Richard Jenkins for his leading role in Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor.
The late Heath Ledger has been honored posthumously by many of the groups announcing this weekend, winning for his Supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, while British actress Sally Hawkins received a lot of love this weekend receiving Actress awards from NYFCO, who also gave her their Breakthrough Performance award, and the BSFC. Penélope Cruz received the Supporting Actress award from the BSFC and NYFCO for her performance in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The relatively new Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) mirrored the other organizations, presenting Slumdog with awards for Picture and Direction and Sean Penn and Heath Ledger taking the acting roles and Sally Hawkins sharing her award with Kate Winslet for her performance in two films, Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road and Stephen Daldry’s The Reader.
James Marsh’s documentary Man on Wire pretty much swept that category among the groups that announced this weekend, sharing the award in some of the group’s awards.
