Their conclusions, reached Dec. 18, heavily favored "Far From Heaven," which won six Seattle Film Critics Awards. Todd Haynes' homage to the 1950s melodramas of director Douglas Sirk is now at the Seven Gables.
In addition to best picture, "Far From Heaven" was cited for direction and original screenplay (both Haynes). Julianne Moore won best actress and Dennis Quaid was runner-up in the supporting-actor category. Best music and best cinematography completed the film's sweep.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was runner-up for picture, direction, adapted screenplay and film editing, but received no awards.
Best actor went to Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York." Michael Caine was runner-up for "The Quiet American." Chris Cooper ("Adaptation") and Bebe Neuwirth ("Tadpole") won supporting-performer nods.
The adapted-screenplay award went to David Hare for "The Hours," which also boasted best-actress runner-up Nicole Kidman. Other craft awards were conferred on "Femme Fatale" (film editing) and "Gangs of New York" (production design). "The Kid Stays in the Picture," a career portrait of Hollywood producer Robert Evans, took documentary honors, while Mexico's "Y Tu Mamá También" was judged best foreign-language film.
In addition to 2002 awards-voting, the Seattle critics created a "Living Legend" award to "honor some long-cherished movie notable deserving of career recognition." The first honoree is Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne's vibrant costar in "The Quiet Man" and just about the last surviving member of the John Ford Stock Company.
Some of the films cited ("The Hours," "The Quiet American") will not open here until early 2003, but their New York and Los Angeles releases qualify them as 2002 contenders.
The Seattle Film Critics Awards were organized by Parallax View: A Film Society, a local group of film enthusiasts, professionals and critics whose goal is "to champion the cause of film literacy, foster public discussion of the place of movies in society and promote the serious, sometimes delirious cause of film as art." Some, but not all, of the voting critics are Parallax members.
There were no prior nominations. Each critic came up with his or her own candidates - up to three per category - on a first ballot. The top five vote-getters in each area were then assembled on a second, group ballot that was e-mailed to participating critics for the final vote.
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