American Splendor is based on the life of a comic book writer

The autobiographical film about a comic book writer took the top honour at the body's 38th annual awards ceremony. It also won the best screenplay prize.

Clint Eastwood was named best director for Mystic River and Bill Murray won best actor for Lost in Translation.

The group of 55 critics named Charlize Theron best actress for her portrayal of killer Aileen Wournos in Monster.

Peter Sarsgaard was named best supporting actor for his role in Shattered Glass, while Patricia Clarkson took the best supporting actress prize for two films, The Station Agent and Pieces of April.

Aki Kaurismaki won the award for best foreign language film as director of The Man Without a Past. Best non-fiction film was Nicolas Philibert's To Be and to Have.

Winning movie American Splendor tells the real-life story of Harvey Pekar, a Cleveland filing clerk who wrote a 1970s comic book series and became a cult figure in the US.