'The Master' Named Best Movie by Toronto Film Critics

TORONTO — The Toronto Film Critics Association has named The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s cult-leader drama, as the year’s best film.

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Michael Haneke’s Amour and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty emerged in the voting as the runner-ups.

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The group also gave Anderson top honors for best director and best screenplay, while Philip Seymour Hoffman was named best supporting actor.

The Master, which earned awards for Anderson, Hoffman and co-star Joaquin Pheonix after it bowed in Venice, more recently dominated the award-giving from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and was named the best picture of the year by the San Francisco and Kansas City film critic groups.

After meeting Sunday night to vote their own annual awards, Toronto film critics also named Haneke’s Amour the year’s best foreign-language film after the Jean-Louis Trintingnant-Emmanuelle Riva starrer won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

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In voting for the acting categories, Denis Lavant won the best actor prize for his star turn in Holy Motors, while Rachel Weisz took the best actress prize for her performance in Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea.

And Gina Gershon was named best supporting actress for her work in William Friedkin’s Killer Joe.

Toronto film critics also named ParaNorman, Chris Butler and Sam Fell’s stop-motion horror comedy, as the year’s best animated feature.

The Canadian critics also named the three finalists for their association’s best Canadian film award: Denis Côté’s Bestiaire; Goon, directed by Michael Dowse; and Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell.

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The top Canadian film will win $100,000, while the two runner-ups will earn $5,000 each.

Polley’s Stories We Tell was also named the best documentary film of the year by the Toronto film critics, while Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin, and Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow shared the best first feature prize.

The Toronto Film Critics Association will hand out its awards Jan. 8 in Toronto.