Faith & Film Critics Circle: Best of 2007

The votes are tallied, and here are our results. FFCC members whose names you might know include Rob Johnston, Catherine Barsotti, Peter Chattaway, Jeffrey Overstreet, Matt Page, Steven Greydanus and moi - among others.

Most Significant Exploration of Spiritual Themes: Into Great Silence
"Into Great Silence offers an implicit challenge, not so much to the trappings of modernity — modern technology crops up here and there in the monks’ world, occasionally to humorous effect — as to the spiritual disconnectedness and social fragmentation of a world in decay, to the postmodern incapacity for commitment and sacrifice, to the dissonance and haphazardness of life as we know it. It is not for us, perhaps, this life, yet it isn’t something irrelevant or unrelated either. The silence of the monks has something to say to us, if we have ears to hear." Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films Guide
Other nominations:
•After the Wedding
•Amazing Grace
•Atonement
•Into the Wild
•Lars and the Real Girl

Best Narrative Film: There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
•Lars and the Real Girl
•No Country for Old Men

Best Documentary: Into Great Silence
Other nominations:
•The Devil Came on Horseback
•In the Shadow of the Moon
•The King of Kong
•No End in Sight

Best Film for the Whole Family: Ratatouille
Other nominations:
•The Bridge to Terabithia
•Dan in Real Life
•Enchanted
•In the Shadow of the Moon

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Brad Bird – Ratatouille
•Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
•Todd Haynes – I’m Not There
•Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Performance by an Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Christian Bale – Rescue Dawn
•Russell Crowe – 3:10 to Yuma
•Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
•Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Performance by an Actress: Ellen Page – Juno
Other nominations:
•Amy Adams – Enchanted
•Julie Christie – Away from Her
•Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
•Laura Linney – The Savages

Best Performance by a Child: Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Other nominations:
•Dillon Freasier – There Will Be Blood
•AnnaSophia Robb – The Bridge to Terabithia
•Ed Sanders – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
•Thomas Turgoose – This Is England

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor (tie): Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Other nominations:
•Paul Dano – There Will Be Blood
•Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
•Hal Holbrook – Into the Wild

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress (tie): Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Jennifer Garner – Juno
Other nominations:
•Emily Mortimer – Lars and the Real Girl
•Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
•Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Ensemble Cast: Lars and the Real Girl
Other nominations:
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•I’m Not There
•Juno
•Michael Clayton

Best Cinematography: Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
•Eric Gautier – Into the Wild
•Janusz Kaminski – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody – Juno
Other nominations:
•Brad Bird (et al.) – Ratatouille
•Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman – I’m Not There
•Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier – After the Wedding
•Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Other nominations:
•Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard – Gone Baby Gone
•Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
•Andrew Dominik – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
•Sooni Taraporevala – The Namesake

Best Original Score: Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Other nominations:
•Klaus Badelt – Rescue Dawn
•Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
•Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood
•Philip Sheppard – In the Shadow of the Moon