The National Society of Film Critics, meeting Saturday in New York to vote its annual awards, embraced Amour. The end-of-life drama was named best picture and also earned best directing honors for Michael Haneke and best actress laurels for Emmanuelle Riva.
Daniel Day-Lewis was voted best actor for Lincoln. The historical drama was also cited for its screenplay by Tony Kushner.
Supporting actor awards went to Matthew McConaughey for his performances in both Magic Mike and Bernie and to Amy Adams for The Master. The Master also took the prize for Mihai Malaimare, Jr.'s cinematography.
The Gatekeepers, a documentary about the Israeli security forces, was named best non-fiction film.
The award for experimental film was given to Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film.
The critics group awarded Film Heritage prizes to Laurence Kardish, senior film curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art for his 44 years of service that included this year's Weimar Cinema retrospective and also to Milestone Film and Video for their ongoing Shirley Clarke project.
This year's awards were dedicated to the late Andrew Sarris, one of the founding members of the society.
Founded in 1966, the Society is comprised of 60 critics from around the country. The group's 47th annual awards voting meeting, at which David Sterritt was re-elected chairman for 2013, was held at the Elinor Bunim Munroe Center at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Scrolls will be sent to the winners.