2011 Women Film Critics Circle Awards - winners

The Women Film Critics Circle has announced their 2011 Awards last night.

The top winner was The Help. It won for Best Movie About Women, Best Actress (Viola Davis), Best Female Ensemble and the Josephine Baker Award "for best expressing the woman of color experience in America." I have issues with how it expresses the "women of color experience" and it isn't actually that good, but it is a fine acting ensemble.

The other top award Best Movie By A Woman was a tie between The Iron Lady and We Need To Talk About Kevin. The Iron Lady also picked up the Best Storyteller Award for its screenwriter Abi Morgan.

The Descendants was a double winner, for Actor George Clooney and Young Actress Shailene Woodley. Albert Nobbs also picked up a pair of prizes for Courage In Acting (Glenn Close) and the Karen Morley Awards "for best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity."

They gave out a few anti-awards as well. Their award for Worst Male Images went to The Hangover, Part II, with which I totally agree. Their Worst Female Images went to Melancholia. This seems wrong-headed to me. I know many have a knee-jerk reaction against Lars von Trier, but this movie wasn't remotely misogynistic, while many others were such as Sucker Punch and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Last year they gave that award to Black Swan, which I also thought was misguided.

The Women Film Critics Circle consists of 57 women from the U.S. and around the world.

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Complete list of winners for the 2011 Women Film Critics Circle Awards

BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN: TIE*
The Iron Lady
We Need To Talk About Kevin

BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
The Help

BEST STORYTELLER
Abi Morgan: The Iron Lady

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis: The Help

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney: The Descendants

BEST COMEDIC ACTRESS
Melissa McCarthy: Bridesmaids

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
Shailene Woodley: The Descendants

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Hedgehog

BEST FEMALE IMAGES
The Whistleblower

WORST FEMALE IMAGES
Melancholia

BEST MALE IMAGES
The Descendants

WORST MALE IMAGES
The Hangover, Part II

BEST DOCUMENTARY BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
Semper Fi: Always Faithful

BEST FAMILY FILM
Hugo

BEST ANIMATED FEMALES
Puss in Boots

BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
The Debt

COURAGE IN ACTING
Glenn Close: Albert Nobbs

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD: Tie*
Hiam Abbass: Miral
Michelle Williams: Meek’s Cutoff

BEST UNRELEASED MOVIE
Miss Representation

WOMEN’S WORK: BEST FEMALE ENSEMBLE
The Help

BEST SCREEN COUPLE
Berenice Bejo and Jean Dujardin: The Artist

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Tie*
Kathy Bates
Cicely Tyson

ACTING AND ACTIVISM AWARD
Elizabeth Taylor

ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD
The Whistleblower

JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD
The Help

KAREN MORLEY AWARD
Albert Nobbs

MOMMIE DEAREST WORST SCREEN MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Judi Dench: J. Edgar

Notes on Special Awards:
*ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women
*JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: For best expressing the woman of color experience in America
*KAREN MORLEY AWARD: For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity
*COURAGE IN ACTING [Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen]
*THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD [Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored]