NEW YORK (Reuters) - Filmmaker Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama The Pianist claimed four prizes, including picture and director, from the National Society of Critics Saturday as the movie industry heads toward its top awards, the Oscars, in March.
The influential critics group also named the film's star, Adrien Brody, who portrays a Jewish pianist in Warsaw who escapes the Nazi death camps during World War Two, as the year's best actor, and gave Pianist writer Ronald Harwood the honor for top screenplay.
Diane Lane, who plays an adulterous wife in Unfaithful, claimed the award for best actress.
The 55 members of the New York-based National Society of Film Critics write for many of the United States' major newspapers and magazines, and it and other critics' groups often help narrow the list of possible nominees for Oscars.
The Oscars, or Academy Awards, are the U.S. film industry's top honors handed out each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, based in Los Angeles.
Runner-up to Pianist in the best film category was Mexico's Y Tu Mama Tambien, a coming-of-age story about two boys on a road trip with an older woman, and behind that was Spain's Talk to Her, an offbeat drama from Spanish director Pedro Almodovar that looks at how people communicate.
Almodovar was No. 2 in the voting for best director after Polanski, followed by Y Tu Mama's Alberto Cuaron.
Michael Caine for The Quiet American was runner-up to Brody as best actor, and Aurelien Recoing for French film Time Out was in the third position behind Caine.
The No. 2 spot for best actress was a tie between Maggie Gyllenhaal for independent film hit Secretary and Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher.
Supporting actor honors went to Christopher Walken for Catch Me If You Can, followed by Chris Cooper for Adaptation and Alan Arkin in 13 Conversations About One Thing.
In the category for best supporting actress, top honors went to Patricia Clarkson for Far From Heaven. She was trailed by Fiona Shaw for Triumph of Love and Kathy Bates in About Schmidt.
Foreign language film honors went to Y Tu Mama Tambien, followed by Talk to Her and Time Out.
© 2003 Reuters/Variety