'The Tree of Life' Wins Three San Francisco Critics Awards

The San Francisco Critics Circle rallied around "The Tree of Life" on Sunday, naming it the best picture of the year and giving its best director award to the film's Terrence Malick. It also singled out the movie's Emmanuel Lubezki for best cinematography.

The group, comprised of 31 Bay Area film critics, met at the Variety Club Screening Room, where it voted Gary Oldman best actor for his portrayal of a British intelligence officer in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" while hailing Tilda Swinton as best actress for portraying the mother of a severely troubled boy in "We Need to Talk About Kevin."

Supporting actor and actress awards went to Albert Brooks for "Drive" and Vanessa Redgrave for "Coriolanus."

The "Tinker" writing team of Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan took the best adapted screenplay prize, and J.C. Chandor received the best original screenplay prize for "Margin Call."

"Rango" was named best animated feature; "Certified Copy," best foreign language film; and "Tabloid," best documentary.

A special citation for an underappreciated independent film was given to "The Mill and the Cross."

The National Film Preservation Foundation received the Marlon Riggs Award for courage and vision in the Bay Area film community.

– The Hollywood Reporter