NATIONAL SOCIETY OF CRITICS : ‘BLUE VELVET’ WINS 4 OF 9 FILM AWARDS

NEW YORK — David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” won four of the nine 1986 film awards, including those for best picture and best director, voted Sunday by the National Society of Film Critics.

“Blue Velvet,” a dark and occasionally comic look at the underbelly of a seemingly calm American lumber town, also won awards for cinematographer Frederick Elmes and Dennis Hopper, whose turn as a gas-sniffing sexual psychopath led the critics’ balloting for best supporting actor.

Bob Hoskins was named best actor for his role as a pugnacious ex-con who falls in love with the call girl he’s hired to watch in “Mona Lisa,” and newcomer Chloe Webb, who played Sid Vicious’ ill-fated American girlfriend in “Sid and Nancy,” was named best actress.

Dianne Wiest, the ditziest sibling in Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” was named best supporting actress, an award she had previously won from the National Board of Review and the critics societies in both New York and Los Angeles.

Maximilian Schell’s “Marlene,” a bittersweet look at the life and career of Marlene Dietrich, was named best documentary while the best screenplay award was voted to Hanis Kureishi for “My Beautiful Laundrette.”

The winners and runner-ups:

Best picture--”Blue Velvet,” “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

Director--Lynch (“Blue Velvet”), Andrei Tarkovsky (“Sacrifice’).

Actor--Hoskins (“Mona Lisa”), Jeff Goldblum (“The Fly”).

Actress--Webb (“Sid and Nancy”), (tie for second) Sandrine Bonnaire (“Vagabond”) and Kathleen Turner (“Peggy Sue Got Married”).

Best supporting actor--Hopper (“Blue Velvet”), Daniel Day Lewis (for both “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “A Room With a View”).

Cinematography--Elmes (“Blue Velvet”), Robby Mueller (“Down By Law”).

Screenplay--Kureishi (“My Beautiful Laundrette”), Woody Allen (“Hannah and Her Sisters”).

Documentary---Maximilian Schell’s “Marlene,” Ross McElwee’s “Sherman’s March.”