TIFF 2012 Awards: ‘Seven Psychopaths’ Wins Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award

Filmmaker Martin McDonagh’s crime caper Seven Psychopaths has won the People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, according to Indiewire. The latest cinematic endeavor from the In Bruges director snatched the honor away from Barry Levinson’s The Bay and Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End.

Seven Psychopaths, which stars Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, and Abbie Cornish, tells the story of a struggling screenwriter who finds himself in deep trouble when his friend kidnaps the beloved dog of a local gangster. If McDonagh’s latest effort is anything like In Bruges, audiences can expect lots of dark comedy and plenty of surprises.

“It’s a terrifically clever film, and just a joy to see masters such as Rockwell and Walken dive off various acting cliffs,” Clint O’Connor from the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained in his review.

Empire Magazine reviewer Damon Wise described Seven Psychopaths as “a funny, dirty and very, very violent comedy that tilts at serious themes and does so with a messy, irreverent, gung-ho energy.”

Of course, Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy wasn’t the only film to bring home an award. Hollywood.com reports that director David O. Russell’s Silver Lining Playbook, a dramedy starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro, took home at the Audience Award.

Internet Movie Database describes the film as follows:

“After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.”

Antiviral, the feature-length debut from David Cronenberg’s son Brandon, won Best Canadian First Feature Film, an award he shared with Jason Buxton’s Blackbird.

Seven Psychopaths is currently scheduled to arrive in US theaters on October 12. The trailer for the film has been included below.