Established in 2006, The Dublin Film Critics Circle offers the city’s professional movie reviewers an opportunity to pool opinions on recent releases, consider movie heritage and whinge about each other’s shortcomings.

The Circle has named Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood as the best film of the outgoing decade in the organisation’s annual poll. Let the Right One In, the hugely acclaimed Swedish vampire film, was named best film of 2009. There was a tie for the best Irish film of the decade, with Hunger, Steve McQueen’s study of Bobby Sands’s decline, and Adam & Paul, Lenny Abrahamson’s Beckettian comedy concerning wandering drug addicts, receiving equal number of votes. Waveriders, Joel Conroy’s surfing documentary, was named best Irish film of the year. The 2009 acting awards went to Sean Penn for Milk and, for her role as a troubled artist in Séraphine, the French actress Yolande Moreau. Anvil: The Story of Anvil, a hilarious, tragic film concerning a Canadian heavy metal band’s attempted reinvention, ran away with best documentary of 2009. Kathryn Bigelow’s work on Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker secured her best director of the year. A nod for best breakthrough went to Neill Blomkamp for the science fiction hit District 9. Duncan Jones – Bowie’s young lad – received a outstanding achievement gong for his work on making Moon, another science fiction gem, look splendid on a tiny budget.

As it happened, the two big winners of the poll romped home. There Will be Blood, a tale of oil and madness featuring an incandescent Daniel Day-Lewis, was many votes ahead of runner-up Downfall and Let the Right One In was never seriously challenged by second-placed The White Ribbon.

Interestingly, Avatar and Nine, two of next spring’s more likely Oscar contenders, failed to garner a single vote in any category. The former title, it should be noted, enjoyed largely positive critical notices around its release last weekend.

DFCC VOTES 2009 –

BEST FILM, 2009

1.    Let the Right One In

2.    The White Ribbon

3.    Up

4.    The Hurt Locker

5.    The Wrestler

6.    Il Divo

7.    A Serious Man

8.    Mesrine Parts 1 & 2

9.    Slumdog Millionaire

10.  District 9 = Moon

11.  Anvil: The Story of Anvil

12.  The Class

13.  Star Trek

14.  Inglourious Basterds

15.  In the Loop

16.  (500) Days of Summer

17.  Synecdoche, New York

18.  Where the Wild Things Are

19.  Frost/Nixon = Milk

20.  Katalyn Varga = Antichrist

BEST DIRECTOR, 2009

1. Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

2. Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon

3. Paolo Sorrentino, Il Divo

4. Jean-Francoise Richet, Mesrine Parts 1 & 2

5. Neil Blomkamp, District 9

BEST IRISH FILM, 2009

1.    Waveriders

2.    The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy

3.    The Secret of Kells

BEST ACTOR, 2009

1.    Sean Penn, Milk

2.    Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

3.    Tom Hardy, Bronson

4.    Vincent Cassel, Mesrine Parts 1 & 2

5.    Tom Servillo, Il Divo

BEST ACTRESS, 2009

1.    Yolande Moreau, Séraphine

2.    Lina Leanderson, Let the Right One In

3.    Carey Mulligan, An Education

4.    Isabelle Fuhrman, Orphan

5.    Meryl Streep, Doubt

BEST DOCUMENTARY, 2009

1.    Anvil: The Story of Anvil

2.    The Cove

3.    Encounters at the End of the World

4.    The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy

5.    Soul Power

BREAKTHROUGH AWARD, 2009 – Neil Blomkamp, District 9

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT, 2009 – Duncan Jones, Moon

Share on Facebook