"Boyhood," Richard Linklater's intimate epic charting the growth and maturation of a boy from the age of 7 to 18 that was filmed over a period of 12 years was the winner of the Chicago Film Critics Association award for the Best Picture of 2014 in a ceremony held Monday, December 15th. In addition to the top prize, the film won two other key awards with Linklater being named Best Director and Patricia Arquette voted Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the boy's mother, who undergoes her own set of changes over that time.
Two other films tied "Boyhood" for the number of awards received. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Wes Anderson's whimsical comedy-drama about a concierge in a posh European hotel who becomes involved in intrigue while the world teeters on the brink of war earned Anderson the Original Screenplay prize and also won for Art Direction and tied for Best Cinematography. "Whiplash," the acclaimed indie drama charting the battle of wills between a highly ambitious musical prodigy and his teacher, both obsessed with perfection at all costs, saw its writer-director, Damien Chazelle, named Most Promising Filmmaker, co-star J.K. Simmons named Best Supporting Actor for his terrifying turn as the teacher and Tom Cross cited for Editing. The other title with multiple wins, the hallucinatory black comedy "Birdman," earned Michael Keaton the Best Actor award and also shared in the tie for the Cinematography prize.
Among the other winners from the group, now in its 25th year, Julianne Moore was named Best Actress for her heartbreaking performance as a woman stricken with early-onset Alzheimer's in "Still Alice," author Gillian Flynn won the Adapted Screenplay award for the adaptation of her best-seller "Gone Girl," rising star Jack O'Connell was named Most Promising Performer for his performances in the dramas "Starred Up" and "Unbroken" and Mica Levi won Best Original Score for the trippy soundscapes of "Under the Skin." The Foreign-Language Film award went to the dark comedy "Force Majeure" and "The Lego Movie" took the prize for Animated Feature. Finally, "Life Itself," Steve James's celebration of the life and work of the late Roger Ebert, was named Best Documentary.
All winners are listed below, and all films nominated in 2014 can be found here.
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For further information on the awards or the Chicago Film Critics Association in general, please contact either CFCA president Dann Gire or board member Erik Childress at the following:
Dann Gire
Phone #: (847) 650-4229
dgire@dailyherald.com
Erik Childress
Phone #: (847) 439-5750
kgouda@aol.com
THE 2014 CHICAGO FILM CRITICS AWARDS WINNERS
(For all films nominated for 2014 awards consideration, click here.)
BEST PICTURE: Boyhood
BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater -- Boyhood
BEST ACTOR: Michael Keaton -- Birdman
BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore -- Still Alice
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons -- Whiplash
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette -- Boyhood
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Wes Anderson -- The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Gillian Flynn -- Gone Girl
BEST ART DIRECTION: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (TIE): Birdman -- Emmanuel Lubezki and The Grand Budapest Hotel -- Robert Yeoman
BEST EDITING: Whiplash -- Tom Cross
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Under the Skin -- Mica Levi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: The Lego Movie
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Life Itself
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Force Majeure
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Jack O'Connell -- Starred Up/Unbroken
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Damien Chazelle -- Whiplash