After being under-valued, barely acknowledged and even ignored by too many film critics and pundits, Twitter forecasters, Joe Popcorn industry veterans, award-bestowing critics groups and award-season prognosticators (not to mention the less-than-prescient Critics Choice Association), Parellel Mothers‘ Penelope Cruz has been awarded LAFCA’s Best Actress trophy.

A reputable critics group has finally stood up for the finest female performance of 2021.

Hollywood Elsewhere insists upon taking partial credit for Cruz’s LAFCA win — no other columnist-critic has pushed Cruz as hard as I have over the last several weeks…nobody. You can’t say that Hollywood Elsewhere’s never-say-die advocacy didn’t help to move the needle a little bit in Cruz’s favor.

A little more than three months ago Cruz’s Parallel performance also won the Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

The Worst Person in the World‘s Renate Reinsve was voted the first Best Actress runner-up in the LAFCA voting.

LAFCA has given Drive My Car their Best Picture award.

3:35 pm: Otherwise the other LAFCA foodie winners fell into right line with the “living in a separate universe” aesthetic. The Best Picture winner hasn’t been announced as we speak but…