US critics pick 'Waltz With Bashir' as best '08 film

Waltz With Bashir is an intense animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War.

Waltz with Bashir good 88 248 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Waltz with Bashir good 88 248
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The National Society of Film Critics has chosen Waltz With Bashir as the best picture of 2008. The group voted Saturday in New York, naming Sean Penn as best actor for his performance in the biopic Milk and Sally Hawkins as best actress for her turn in the comedy Happy-Go-Lucky. Waltz With Bashir is an intense animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War. It follows Israeli director Ari Folman's efforts to recover his own lost memories about a massacre during the war. Happy-Go-Lucky director Mike Leigh won both best director and best screenplay. Forty-nine of the society's 63 members voted in a meeting in New York. The group's selections often differ from those of Oscar voters.