The National Society of Film Critics much preferred Melancholia to whatever everyone else liked

By Sean O'Neal | January 9, 2012 | 5:08pm

Aux Features Film

Called out of the January darkness by a plume of bluish smoke made from burning copies of the Just Go With It screenplay, the National Society of Film Critics convened in their usual vacuum (conveniently located within Manhattan’s Sardi’s restaurant, where you can get a club sandwich) and appraised the year in film as they and typically no one else sees it. This year that going against the grain was reflected in its selecting Lars Von Trier’s elegant apocalypse movie Melancholia as 2011’s best picture, the end-of-the-world drama narrowly edging out the beginning-of-the-world-through-Sean Penn drama The Tree Of Life by a single vote.

It’s the first major award for Melancholia since Kirsten Dunst took home an acting prize at Cannes—an honor she repeated here—and its first real recognition since the film’s title appeared in every single “Lars Von Trier has some more stuff to say about Nazis” article thereafter. Other breaks with the many other critical bodies and assorted guilds we’ve heard from so far include a surprise win for Albert Brooks, rare nominations for Patton Oswalt and Gary Oldman, and an almost palpable disdain for presumed Oscar favorites like War Horse and The Help. Here’s the full list of winners and their runners-up, with voting totals in parentheses. (Thanks to Movieline for compiling these.)