American splendour named best picture by US critics

American Splendor, the autobiography of a grumpy file clerk who attains cult celebrity status by becoming a comic book writer, took best picture honours at the National Society of Film Critics awards in the US.

Clint Eastwood’s working class crime drama, Mystic River, was second in the voting for best picture and Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, a quirky tale of two Americans finding friendship while in Japan, took third.

The group of 55 film critics met in Sardi’s restaurant in Manhattan to announce this year’s winners yesterday.

Eastwood got the nod for best director for Mystic River, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini won best screenplay for American Splendor and Bill Murray won best actor for Lost in Translation.

Charlize Theron’s performance in Monster earned best actress honours, while Peter Sarsgaard was named best supporting actor for his role in Shattered Glass.

Patricia Clarkson took the best supporting actress prize for two films: The Station Agent and Pieces of April.

Aki Kaurismaki won the award for best foreign language film as director of The Man Without a Past.

The society’s pick for best non-fiction film was Nicolas Philibert’s To Be and to Have.