The 83rd Awards of the National Board of Review honored the best in film for 2011.

Films listed alphabetically except top, which is ranked as Best Film of the Year:

Hugo^[1]

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
• The Ides of March
• J. Edgar
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Best Film:

• Hugo^[1]

Best Director:

• Martin Scorsese – Hugo^[1]

Best Actor:

• George Clooney – The Descendants^[1]

Best Actress:

• Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin^[1]

Best Supporting Actor:

• Christopher Plummer – Beginners^[1]

Best Supporting Actress:

• Shailene Woodley – The Descendants^[1]

Best Original Screenplay:

• Will Reiser – 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Nat Faxon & Alexander Payne & Jim Rash – The Descendants

Best Animated Feature:

• Rango^[1]

Best Foreign Film:

• A Separation^[1]

Best Documentary:

• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory^[1]

Best Ensemble Cast:

• The Help^[1]

Breakthrough Performance:

• Felicity Jones – Like Crazy^[1]
• Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo^[1]

Spotlight Award:

• Michael Fassbender – A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut:

• J. C. Chandor – Margin Call

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award:

• The Harry Potter franchise, for "a distinguished translation from Book to Film"

NBR Freedom of Expression:

• Crime After Crime
• Pariah

A Separation

• 13 Assassins
• Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
• Footnote
• Le Havre
• Point Blank

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

• Born to Be Wild
• Buck
• George Harrison: Living in the Material World
• Project Nim
• Senna

• 50/50
• Another Earth
• Beginners
• A Better Life
• Cedar Rapids
• Margin Call
• Shame
• Take Shelter
• We Need To Talk About Kevin
• Win Win