British Beauty

So it's that time of the year again. No - not the festive season, but the awards season. Following hard on the heels of last week's National Board of Review of Motion Pictures awards, the LA Film Critics Association came out this week with their favourite flicks of the year. British director Sam Mendes plucked the award for Best Director for his feature-film directorial debut with American Beauty - an even more impressive achievement when you consider the stiff competition Mendes was up against, including Spike Jonze for Being John Malkovich and Michael Mann for The Insider. The LA critics also gave their seal of approval to The Insider as the top film of the year. The movie tells the story of a whistleblower who pits his strength against the American tobacco industry. The LA critics also picked out the film's leading man Russell Crowe as their best actor of 1999. Other awards were as follows: Hilary Swank as Best Actress for her cross-dressing role in Boys Don't Cry Chl Sevigny, Swank's co-star and on-screen love interest as Best Supporting Actress Charlie Kaufaman won Best Screenplay for Being John Malkovich Samantha Morton's role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown nabbed her the runner-up best supporting actress award Best Documentary went to Wim Wenders and The Buena Vista Social Club Iron Giant won Best Animation.