The latest batch of critics awards has netted two gongs for British director Mike Leigh, for his new film Topsy-Turvy. The New York Film Critics Circle - founded in 1935 by critics from major NYC publications - nominated the movie Best Film and gave Leigh the Best Director award in their annual ceremony, which comes at the beginning of the silver screen's awards season.
The Circle's chairman, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, described Topsy-turvy to a BBC reporter: "It takes you inside Victorian London... it's a one-of-a-kind film." Topsy-Turvy's actors, led by **Jim Broadbent **and Allan Corduner, largely improvised, working without benefit of a formal script. Other winners included veteran Richard Farnsworth for his quiet depiction of Alvin Straight in the David Lynch film The Straight Story and Hilary Swank as Best Actress for her portrayal of a young woman living life in rural Nebraska as a young man in Boys Don't Cry.