With the Gothams passed out last week and the National Board of Review giving their top nods last night, the award season is beginning to blossom.

The NBR named Clint Eastwood‘s second film on World War II this year, Letters From Iwo Jima, its Best Film (scroll down for full list). Shot around Southern California in 33 days on a substantially lower budget than Flags of our Fathers, most believed Iwo Jima – which is in Japanese and its only actor familiar to American audiences is Ken Watanabe – was to play second fiddle to its star-studded predecessor. But when its release date changed from February to December 20 you could see the Warner Bros. strategy beginning to change.

Though Fathers will not be ignored during awards season – it’s an excellent film and Adam Beach‘s performance is one of the best this year – it’s not getting the patented Eastwood word-of-mouth push that Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby got. But I doubt Mr. Eastwood is complaining. Must be nice to have two tries at Oscar gold in the same year.

And one comment about the list below. Starting now, can we stop giving Ryan Gosling Breakthrough Performance awards. He broken through a while ago! Let’s start calling him a great actor.

Best Film
Letters From Iwo Jima

The Top Ten
Letters From Iwo Jima
Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Flags Of Our Fathers
The History Boys
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes on a Scandal
The Painted Veil

Best Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth

Top Five Documentaries
An Inconvenient Truth, (and, in alphabetical order) 51 Birch Street, Iraq In Fragments, Shut Up & Sing, Wordplay

Best Foreign Film
Volver

Top Five Foreign Films
Volver, (and, in alphabetical order) Curse Of The Golden Flower, Days Of Glory, Pan’s Labyrinth, Water

Top Independent Films
(in alphabetical order) Akeelah And The Bee, Bobby, Catch A Fire, Copying Beethoven, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Half Nelson, The Illusionist, Lonesome Jim, Sherrybaby, 10 Items Or Less, Thank You For Smoking

Best Director
Martin Scorsese
The Departed

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker
The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress
Helen Mirren
The Queen

Best Supporting Actor
Djimon Hounsou
Blood Diamond

Best Supporting Actress
Catherine O’Hara
For Your Consideration

Best Animated Feature
Cars

Best Ensemble Cast
The Departed

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Ryan Gosling
Half Nelson

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Directorial Debut
Jason Reitman
Thank You for Smoking

Best Original Screenplay
Zach Helm
Stranger Than Fiction

Best Adapted Screenplay
Ron Nyswaner
The Painted Veil

Career Achievement Award
Eli Wallach

Billy Wilder Award For Excellence In Directing
Jonathan Demme

William K. Everson Award For Film History
Donald Krim

Career Achievement in Producing
Irwin Winkler

The Bvlgari Award for NBR Freedom of Expression
Water and World Trade Center