The first major awards took place this week, generating buzz throughout the world of film, especially for two odd brothers. The National Board of Review, a group of film critics and academics, have awarded its prestigious Film of the Year Award to No Country For Old Men.

This is great news for fans of the Coen Brothers. After a series of excellent films, starting with the noirish Blood Simple, and including Fargo, the hilarious Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where art Thou, the brothers plunged into the recesses of mediocre cinema with two lacklustre comedies (Intolerable Cruelty and The LadyKillers). Their latest film, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s earthy novel, also picked up awards for Best Ensemble Cast and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Awards. No Country has received consistently positive reviews, and currently is listed in the Top 20 films of all time in IMDB. It’s Oscar potential is off to a great start, and it would be great to see two of modern America’s greatest filmmakers receive worthy acknowledgement.

Other winners included The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for Best Foreign Film, George Clooney for Best Actor(Michael Clayton), Julie Christie for Actress (Away from Her), and Casey Affleck for his excellent performance in The Assassination of Jesse James. A full list can be found here.

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