Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima, the second of his two films this year about one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, picked up its second Best Picture of the Year award—and it hasn't even been released in the United States yet.
Letters, which was released in Japan over the weekend and will open in limited release in the States on Dec. 22, won the top honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, a week after the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures also picked it as this year's best.
Eastwood's other Iwo Jima film, Flags of Our Fathers, was released in October to high praise from many critics and overwhelming indifference at the box office. Letters was told from the Japanese perspective of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Flags from the American.
The top acting awards also closely mirrored the National Board of Review. Helen Mirren was named best actress for her turn as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, and Forest Whitaker shared best actor honors (with Sacha Baron Cohen) for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. Cohen was named for playing the eponymous, obtuse, Kazak journalist in his mockumentary, Borat.
Luminita Gheorghiu for her portrayal in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, was named best supporting actress. Michael Sheen was named best supporting actor for his portrayal of Tony Blair in The Queen.
Paul Greengrass was named Best Director for United 93, about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.
DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass, "United 93"
Runner-up: Clint Eastwood, "Flags of our Fathers", "Letters from Iwo Jima"
ACTRESS: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Runner-up: Penelope Cruz, Volver
ACTOR: Tie – Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat, and Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
SCREENPLAY: The Queen, by Peter Morgan
Runner-up: Little Miss Sunshine by Michael Arndt
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Runner-up: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Sheen, The Queen
Runner-up: Sergi Lopez, Pan's Labyrinth
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Runner-up: Volver directed by Pedro Almodovar
DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim
Runner-up: Darwin's Nightmare, directed by Hubert Sauper
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Eugenio Caballero, Pan's Labyrinth
Runner-up: Jim Clay, Veronica Falzon, Geoffrey Kirkland, Children of Men
ANIMATION: Happy Feet, George Miller
Runner-up: Cars, John Lasseter and Joe Ranft
MUSIC: Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil and The Queen
Runner-up: Thomas Newman, The Good German and Little Children
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men
Runner-up: Tom Stern, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima
NEW GENERATION: Michael Arndt, Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris – Little Miss Sunshine
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Robert Mulligan (previously announced)
INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL: Tie - Old Joy, directed by Kelly Reichardt and In Between Days, directed by So Yong Kim
SPECIAL CITATIONS: To Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 film Army of Shadows, which had its U.S. premiere this year; and to Jonas Mekas for his career as a critic and filmmaker.