Joel and Ethan Coen got a head start in the race to the Academy Awards yesterday when the National Board of Review named their film, “No Country for Old Men,” best film of the year. The Coen brothers also took home the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Ensemble Cast, and the film’s director of photography, Roger Deakins, was honored with an award for career achievement in cinematography.

The voting members of the NBR, now in its 99th year, spread their awards around to the mainstream, the lesser-seen, and even the not-yet-seen. George Clooney was named Best Actor for his portrayal of a conflicted lawyer in “Michael Clayton” and Julie Christie took Best Actress honors for her role as a woman struggling with Alzheimer’s disease in “Away From Her.” Tim Burton came out on top of the Coens in the Best Director category for his forthcoming film version of “Sweeney Todd.”

The supporting actor and actress categories were dominated by Afflecks, with Casey Affleck winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and Amy Adams winning the corresponding award for the Ben Affleck-directed “Gone Baby Gone.” The elder Affleck was awarded Best Directorial Debut for the film.

Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” was awarded Best Foreign Film honors, Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue’s “Body of War” won for Best Documentary, and Brad Bird’s “Ratatouille” took the award for Best Animated Feature.