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NBR loves Ratatouille

Disney/Pixar Flick is Given Best Animated Feature Award

Dec 7, 2007

The National Board of Review called Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille the best animated feature film of 2007. But who are these guys?

The National Board of Review started the awards season with their Top 11 List, honouring the best movies of 2007. That's no typo: the NBR couldn't agree on a Top Ten.

Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille won the Best Animated Feature award, the fourth time the Emeryville studio has won since the category's inception in 2000.

Sony Picture Classic's Persepolis, Ratatouille's strongest competition at the Oscars, shared the Bvlgari Award for Freedom of Expression with The Great Debaters.

Who Is the NBR?

"For over 98 years," their website claims, "the National Board of Review, with no commercial ties to the motion-picture industry, has dedicated its efforts to the support of film, domestic and foreign, as both art and entertainment. Our nonprofit organization celebrates the distinctive voice of the individual artist, honoring excellence and supporting freedom of expression in film. The Board's core activities include presentation of educational film programs, as well as the award of scholarships and grants to promising film students and directors."

The Toronto Star's Peter Howell describes them as "a dubious and mysterious group of New York film buffs, academics and popcorn munchers." Karina at Spout.com dismisses them as "irrelevant" and "a mysterious cabal of lunatics" with "a history of general shadiness."

Inside the NBR

In December of 2001, Fox News published an exposé, culminating in an interview with Kevin Lewis, a writer for the now defunct NBR magazine Films in Review.

"Anyone who thinks that The Women (Claire Booth Luce's 1936 satire of Manhattan socialites) is a dated play should look at the meetings of the National Board of Review," Lewis told Fox News. "There it would be a documentary."

He claimed the awards are an opportunity for NYC's social elite to pay $400 a plate, so they can rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty.

"The awards were all about who they thought would come to the (annual) dinner," Lewis said.

Luminaries like Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese often appear, since most Hollywood stars can't resist a free meal.

"In 1994, (Board member Lois Ballon) told me she actually wanted to give Warren Beatty an award for the (widely panned) movie Love Affair," claimed Lewis. She hoped to lure Beatty to the dinner.

Former NBR member Nickie Goldstein agreed.

"It's ridiculous and meaningless," the veteran TV producer told Fox News.

"(The NBR) is run by people with a lot of money and no taste," said Lewis. "When the name of the award was changed from the Griffith (named after D.W. Griffith, who directed Birth of a Nation), I suggested it calling it the Lumiere," referring to Auguste and Louis Lumiere, who invented cinema in the 1890's.

"But Lois had never heard of the Lumiere brothers. I had to give her a Katz's Film encyclopedia."

Responding to Ben Affleck winning the NBR's Best Directorial Debut award, another former member said,"The average membership is so old, feeble and generally unsavvy, that Ben Affleck is the only new director they can remember from the past 12 months."

The NBR: At War With Itself

In October of 2007, several former members filed a complaint with then-New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer, claiming the NBR's current leadership violates "reasonable bylaws and not-for-profit requirements."

"The complaint involves director governance issues, bylaw improprieties, conflict of interest on the part of the president of the board of directors, partisanship toward certain studios regarding awards and gala fees and awards vote manipulation -- none of which constitute ethical standards for a not-for-profit corporation," former NBR member Susan Nielsen told Variety.

The dissidents claimed current president Annie Schulhof violated the Board's "no commercial ties" policy by owning a movie production company. In his legal response, NBR treasurer Leon Friedman claimed the complaint was "full of factual and legal errors."

He didn't deny the allegations against Schulhof, but claimed no conflict of interest since her company "has not produced anything yet."

Is the NBR Irrelevant?

Yes and no. Their awards are worth noting, since they're an indication of where many non-creative members of AMPAS will cast their votes on Oscar night. For the artistic opinion, consult your local movie critic. For the executives and accountants' viewpoint, check the NBR's list.

The copyright of the article NBR loves Ratatouille in Hollywood Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish NBR loves Ratatouille in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.