It’s strange that after all of this attention on Emmanuelle Riva that her name doesn’t appear on the Best Actress slate. They saw the film or it wouldn’t be in the Foreign Language race, but hers wasn’t included. Was it a decision not to highlight her without being able to recognize her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant or were foreign language films not permitted in other races? That question aside, The Master had a strong showing, but it’s Ben Affleck’s Argo that comes off best here. Argo may be a period film (if you count just over 30 years ago as “period”), but to pick up 8 nominations including Best Production Design is quite a feat. Les Misérables performs another double-nomination push in Best Supporting Actress, suggesting the lack of prominent potential nominees in that category could duplicate at the Oscars.

Nomination Tallies

(9) The Master
(8) Argo
(6) Les Misérables
(5) Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook
(4) Zero Dark Thirty
(3) Moonrise Kingdom, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Nominations

Best Picture

Argo
Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook
The Master
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Animated Film

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Director

Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Ben Affleck – Argo
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress

Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Michelle Williams – Take This Waltz
Naomi Watts – The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Christopher Walken – Seven Psychopaths
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – The Master
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Emma Watson – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Rebel Wilson – Pitch Perfect
Samantha Barks – Les Misérables

Best Original Screenplay

The Cabin in the Woods
Django Unchained
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Take This Waltz

Best Adapted Screenplay

Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Score

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Moonrise Kingdom
The Master

Best Editing

Argo
Killing Them Softly
Life of Pi
The Master
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Cinematography

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
The Master

Best Production Design

Anna Karenina
Argo
Cloud Atlas
Les Misérables
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Foreign Film

Amour
Headhunters
Holy Motors
The Intouchables
The Kid With a Bike

Best Documentary

Bully
The Invisible War
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
The Queen of Versailles
Samsara

Best Ensemble Performance

Argo
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Seven Psychopaths

Body of Work for 2012

TBD

San Diego Film Critics Society Data

First Awards: 1996 (17)