National Board Of Review Picks The Social Network As Best Picture

Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

UPDATE: The full list is now available at the bottom of this post, via press release.

The National Board of Review-- one of the first groups to announce awards for the year, and also one of the most mysterious and least influential-- has named The Social Network the Best Picture of the year, in addition to choosing Jesse Eisenberg for Best Actor and Aaron Sorkin for Best Adapted Screenplay. Another Year's Lesley Manville was named Best Actress, while Christian Bale of The Fighter was chosen as Best Supporting Actor and Animal Kingdom's Jacki Weaver as Best Supporting Actress.

Oscar bloggers may be the only people who wring their hands over the NBR and their choices, given that the group is made up of a fairly random group of New York-based people with interest in film, and skews even older than the Academy. The group's taste is generally fairly conservative, though, which makes their pick of The Social Network-- regarded as a hip and youth-centric movie-- something of a surprise. Much as the NBR's choices don't influence anyone else, their embracing of The Social Network may indicate that David Fincher's film is more accessible to older viewers than previously assumed.

There are plenty of oddball choices in here to chew over, while keeping in mind that the NBR is an idiosyncratic group always. I never would have expected them to fall so hard for Buried, awarding it Best Original Screenplay and also including it in the list of top 10 independent films, and picking The Town for Best Ensemble cast is a bit of a surprise as well, given that they had already shown so much love for The Social Network. Take a look at the full list of winners below-- with a grain of salt, always-- and share your favorite and least favorite surprises in the comments.

Below, the full list of winners.

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried

Best Foreign Language Film: Of Gods and Men

Best Documentary: Waiting for “Superman”

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Ensemble Cast: The Town

Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Debut Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

Spotlight Award: Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati, The Illusionist

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere

William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin

NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

Production Design Award: Dante Ferretti, Shutter Island

Ten Best Films (in alphabetical order)

Another Year

The Fighter

Hereafter

Inception

The King’s Speech

Shutter Island

The Town

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Five Best Foreign-Language Films(in alphabetical order)

I Am Love

Incendies

Life, Above All

Soul Kitchen

White Material

Five Best Documentaries (in alphabetical order)

A Film Unfinished

Inside Job

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Restrepo

The Tillman Story

Top Ten Independent Films: (in alphabetical order)

Animal Kingdom

Buried

Fish Tank

The Ghost Writer

Greenberg

Let Me In

Monsters

Please Give

Somewhere

Youth in Revolt

Katey Rich

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend