Toronto critics call Social Network year's best

Toronto's movie critics showered praise on The Social Network on Tuesday, with the Facebook chronicle snagging five awards from the Toronto Film Critics Association.

The group named David Fincher's intense dramathe best picture of the year and crowned thefilmmaker best director as part of its 14th annual awards.

The TFCA also named The Social Network's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin the best screenplay winner for his adaptation of Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires.

Performers in the film also earned kudos from the Toronto critics, with star Jesse Eisenberg selected best actor for his turn as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Armie Hammer earned the best supporting actor title for his dual role portraying twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Harvard rowing champions and Zuckerberg's rivals.

"In our final discussions Sunday afternoon, again and again The Social Network galvanized broad support from our members," TFCA president Brian D. Johnson, film critic for Maclean's magazine, said in a statement.

"There was a strong sentiment that we're not just recognizing a superbly crafted 'movie of the moment' that spins a creation myth of cyber-capitalism. We appreciate what it represents in popular American film culture an intelligent moral drama told from multiple viewpoints with a complex protagonist who is neither hero nor villain."

Other winners spanned smaller, independent projects as well as major studio films.

The best actress crown will go to Jennifer Lawrence for her starring role in the gritty contemporary drama Winter's Bone, whilenewcomer Hailee Steinfeld earned the supporting actress honour for playing a teen seeking to avenge her father in the Coen brothers' forthcoming remake of True Grit.

The Banksy-directed documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop won both best first feature and the Allan King documentary award.

Thai filmmaker and film festival favourite Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was one of two runners-up for best picture (Black Swan was the other), but it did snag the title of best foreign-language film.

The best animated feature prize went to the Dreamworks Viking fantasy tale How to Train Your Dragon.

The winners will be celebrated on Jan. 12 at a dinner in Toronto, where several specifically Canadian awards will also be presented.

The TFCA will present the Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent to filmmaker Daniel Cockburn, name the inaugural winnerof the Deluxe Student Film Award and choose the best Canadian feature winner. This year's three finalists are: Denis Villeneuve's Incendies, Vincenzo Natali's Splice and Bruce McDonald's Trigger.

McDonald will receive a special tribute aswell, to recognize his completion of four films in 2010. In addition to Trigger, he released This Movie is Broken, Music from the Big House and Hard Core Logo 2.

For the annual list, the TFCA considers films released in Canada in 2010 as well as titles that qualify for the upcoming Oscars and will be released in Canada by the end of February 2011. Established in 1997, the group comprises Toronto-based journalists and broadcasters who specialize in film criticism and commentary.