Awards Coverage: The National Board Of Review

The National Board of Review's annual award ceremony is usually considered the first major awards show of the season and the initial indicator of major Oscar trends to come. The winner for best feature was a complete surprise: Clint Eastwood's widely unseen Letter from Iwo Jima, the Japanese set companion piece to his mildly received American war epic Flags Of Our Fathers (which I enjoyed and happily gave an A grade in an earlier review). The shock is not in relation to the quality of Letters, which as I've said has yet to be seen by most people, but in its unexpected prominence in such a short matter of time. Universal/Dreamworks had been placing emphasis on Fathers in a major Oscar campaign, but fearing that the weak box office performance would hinder the film's chances, decided to move the release of its less anticipated follow up from February 2007 to December 20th, 2006. This, of course, put it in the running for this year's awards race (very late in the game, I might add) and also pits it directly against Fathers in all categories. It has not been previously mentioned in many conversations about awards season but now jumps to the shortlist of potential Best Picture nominees. For a full list of winners go to National Board of Review of Motion Pictures :: Awards. Below is the Board's surprising list of the "Top 10 Films of 2006" in alphabetical order.

Babel

Blood Diamond

The Departed

The Devil Wears Prada

Flags Of Our Fathers

The History Boys

Letters From Iwo Jima

Little Miss Sunshine

Notes On A Scandal

The Painted Veil