The Los Angeles Film Critics Association showed love to their hometown boy Paul Thomas Anderson on Sunday, awarding him Best Director and Picture to his film, There Will Be Blood. The group, which typically showers praise on movies unlikely to get major Oscar attention, also awarded the Best Actor prize to Blood’s Daniel Day-Lewis and production designer Jack Fisk.

Three other critical groups announced awards yesterday, which means the Oscar season is off and running. Blood’s success in L.A. was something of a surprise, given that the movie, which hasn’t even opened yet, is dark and inscrutable and difficult by all early accounts. As in, this is a movie that makes No Country for Old Men look downright comforting and mainstream. No Country got its share of awards yesterday too, but L.A.’s attention makes There Will Be Blood a contender in a way it most certainly was not before.

The other big winner with the L.A. critics was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It was a runner-up to Blood for both Picture and Director, and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski won his category. The other awards were largely spread out between films, with a general “screw you, mainstream consensus” attitude throughout. I mean, these guys gave best supporting actor to Vlad Ivanov, from the Romanian movie 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a movie that hasn’t come out yet. And he beat out Javier Bardem, for God’s sake, and that man can kill you with an air gun. And Ratatouille had a dynamite script, but it takes serious stones to give Brad Bird best screenplay.

You can take it as Left Coast bias that the Angelenos showered all the love on Anderson and totally ignored the Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men wasn’t so much as mentioned), and it probably is, but it makes all the Oscar speculation that much more interesting. Granted, looking at history, the movie picked by the L.A. critics tends to fail to grab the Best Picture award; just ask Sideways, Saving Private Ryan, and poor, poor Brokeback Mountain.

Here’s a full list of the winners. One more shout-out to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who won best music for their wonderful, damn-near-perfect movie Once. Thank you, Los Angeles, for bringing justice to this world for once in your life.

PICTURE: “THERE WILL BE BLOOD”
Runner-up: “THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY”
DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, "THERE WILL BE BLOOD"
Runner-up: Julian Schnabel, "THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY”
ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, "LA VIE EN ROSE"
Runner-up: Anamaria Marinca, “4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS”
ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, “THERE WILL BE BLOOD”
Runner-up: Frank Langella, “STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING”
SCREENPLAY: "THE SAVAGES" by Tamara Jenkins
Runner-up: “THERE WILL BE BLOOD” by Paul Thomas Anderson
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Ryan, "GONE BABY GONE" and “BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD”
Runner-up: Cate Blanchett, "I’M NOT THERE"
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Vlad Ivanov, "4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS"
Runner-up: Hal Holbrook, “INTO THE WILD"
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: "4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS" directed by Cristian Mungiu
Runner-up: "THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY" directed by Julian Schnabel
DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: "NO END IN SIGHT" directed by Charles Ferguson
Runner-up: "SICKO“ directed by Michael Moore
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Jack Fisk, "THERE WILL BE BLOOD"
Runner-up: Dante Ferretti, "SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET"
ANIMATION: (tie) “RATATOUILLE" (Brad Bird) and “PERSEPOLIS” (Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi)
MUSIC: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, “ONCE"
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, "THERE WILL BE BLOOD”
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Janusz Kaminski, "THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY"
Runner-up: Robert Elswit, “THERE WILL BE BLOOD"
NEW GENERATION: Sarah Polley, “AWAY FROM HER”
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Sidney Lumet (previously announced)
INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL: “COLOSSAL YOUTH” directed by Pedro Costa