At the 46th annual gathering of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle honoring achievements in film in 2012, Paul Thomas Anderson's fictitious take on a Scientology-like cult The Mastersqueaked out a Best Picture win over Life of Pi.
And though Anderson won for his Master original screenplay, Ang Lee won the Robert Altman Award for Achievement in Directing for Life of Pi.
Jennifer Lawrence was awarded Best Actress for her performance as a volatile young widow in Silver Linings Playbook. Best Supporting Actor and Actress honors went respectively to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his charismatic cult leader known to his followers as The Master and Anne Hathaway for her brief but moving performance as a battered prostitute in Les Miserables. Lincoln star Daniel Day Lewis was named Best Actor for his uncanny performance as the 16th president.
Among the other awards voted on December 16th at the Screenland Crossroads were The Imposter for Best Documentary; Tim Burton's Frankenweenie for Best Animated Feature; and Chris Terrio for Best Adapted Screenplay for Argo. The Cabin in the Woods, said to be a smart deconstruction of the horror genre, was honored with the group's Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film.
Though it will not open in Kansas City until early 2013, Amour was named Best Foreign Film. Michael Haneke's French language film is a tough yet sincere examination of the last few months of an elderly couple's marriage as illness wreaks havoc on their twilight years .
