S.F. critics laud
Brokeback, Jenni Olson

The Brokeback Mountain awards-season juggernaut continues apace, with the San Francisco Film Critics Circle lavishing the gay romantic tragedy with its Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), and Best Actor (Heath Ledger) awards. The film has also been cited as the year's best picture by the Los Angeles and New York critics groups and is a contender for the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice awards.

Lesbian filmmaker Jenni Olson was given the group's Marlon Riggs Award for courage and innovation for her experimental documentary The Joy of Life. One critic cited the film, which deals with the Golden Gate Bridge and its attraction to the suicidal, as "an extraordinary lyrical meditation on love and death in the Bay Area," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The group gave its Best Actress prize to Reese Witherspoon for her role as June Carter in the musical biopic Walk the Line, and supporting-actor awards went to Kevin Costner (for The Upside of Anger) and Amy Adams (for Junebug).

Other prizes include Best Screenplay to George Clooney and Grant Heslov for Good Night, and Good Luck; Best Foreign Film to Michael Haneke's Cache; and Best Documentary to Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man. (Advocate.com)