At The Envelope, Tom O’Neil has a no-names-named recap of what went on at yesterday’s New York Film Critics Circle vote. First: the inside story on I’m Not There’s aforementioned non-showing:

I’m Not There did surprisingly well in many top races today. It didn’t win any awards, but it came in third place for best picture after champ No Country for Old Men and runner-up There Will Be Blood. Ditto for its helmer Todd Haynes, who placed third in the directors’ lineup behind the winning Coen brothers and second-placed Paul Thomas Anderson…In the supporting-actress race, Cate Blanchett came in second place.

I don’t know how “surprising” that really is, considering that three of the critics in the room are on the record as giving the film a score of 90 or higher. I think the only surprise is that the staunchest suckers for Haynes’ soulless scrapbook schtick defenders of the film actually let it leave the room without a single honor, and apparently without a fight. But let’s move on…

It sounds like the afternoon’s only really strong show of dissent came from a certain critic who issued “a loud protest from one member over the suggestion to give Sidney Lumet an honorary prize. The member made it clear that he didn’t feel that Lumet’s film, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was worthy. Hmmm….who could that be? Could it be the guy who was just quoted yesterday as saying the following?

[Lumet is] one of the most slovenly filmmakers in the history of the medium! Sidney Lumet has never known what he’s doing. And let me put an end to that discussion by saying, this is the man who made The Wiz. [...] [Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is] utter garbage. Looked like shit…In a world that has The Darjeeling Limited, Sidney Lumet should be imprisoned!

Naaaah.