Gravity, Her tie at LA Film Critics

LOS ANGELES (AP) —The Los Angeles Film Critics Association split between the space odyssey Gravity and the futuristic romance Her, lending no more certainty to an awards season that’s so far been full of contenders.

The two films shared Best Picture in the awards announced last Sunday by the L.A. critics, but Gravity was the top award winner. The innovatively made, lost-in-space drama won for Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron), Best Editing (Cuaron and Mark Sanger) and Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki).

Her, which is about a man (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with his computer operating system (voiced by Scarlet Johansson), also won for K.K. Barrett’s sleek, near-future production design. But the critics otherwise spread its honors around.

Early movie awards can help sort out the Academy Awards race, but they’ve been particularly varied this year. Last week, the New York Film Critics Circle named David Russell’s Abscam fictionalization American Hustle Best Film. The National Board of Review picked Her. The Gotham Awards elected the Coen brothers’ folk tale Inside Llewyn Davis Best Film.

Both the New York Film Critics Online and the Boston Film Critics named the slavery epic 12 Years a Slave Best Picture.