National critics name ‘Bashir’ best film

The National Society of Film Critics, in a vote held in New York Saturday, named Waltz with Bashir its Best Picture of the Year 2008.

Writer-director Aril Folman’s animated drama explores the life of a soldier who fought in the first Israeli war in Lebanon in the 1980s.

The critics named Sean Penn best actor for Milk and Sally Hawkins best actress for Happy-Go-Lucky.

Eddie Marsan of Happy-Go-Lucky won for supporting actor and Hanna Schygullah of The Edge of Heaven took the supporting actress prize.

Mike Leigh was named best director and also won the screenplay prize for Happy-Go-Lucky — which finished second to Waltz with Bashir in the voting for best picture. Wall-E finished third.

Slumdog Millionaire won for best cinematography.

The NSFC is made up of 63 movie critics from newspapers in major cities including Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, as well as national publications including Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker.