Brokeback builds Oscar buzz with NY award
From Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK—Cowboy love story “Brokeback Mountain” won three of the top four awards from the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday, building momentum as the critics’ favourite for Hollywood’s top honours, the Oscars. Earlier the National Board of Review, a New York group of 150 film professionals, academics and students, announced its annual awards, naming George Clooney’s McCarthy-era drama “Good Night, and Good Luck” as best film of 2005.
The awards presented by the New York Film Critics Circle are among a string of second-tier awards leading up to the March 5 Academy Awards. The slew of awards announced in December traditionally helps narrow the field for the Oscars. Director Ang Lee’s film “Brokeback Mountain” is shaping up as the critics’ favourite, despite concerns that its depiction of a love affair between two men may have trouble winning over audiences in more conservative parts of the country.
The New York Film Critics Circle gave the film its awards for best film, best director and best actor, for Heath Ledger. “Brokeback Mountain” already won best film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Saturday, and it earned eight nominations for the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday.
The National Board of Review’s prize for directing went to Lee for “Brokeback Mountain.” Lee’s resume boasts a varied string of hits from the Jane Austen adaptation “Sense and Sensibility” in 1995 to martial arts epic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in 2000.