Goodbye to Language has won the US National Society of Film Critics award for film of the year in 2014.

The 70-minute 3D film was named best picture ahead of Boyhood, for which Richard Linklater won best director.

Timothy Spall was chosen as best actor for Mr Turner, at the group's 49th annual awards in New York.

The film, about 19th-Century British artist JMW Turner, also picked up the prize for best cinematography.

Critics named Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson as best screenplay.

Directed by 84-year-old Jean-Luc Godard, Goodbye to Language is about a dog which connects two people having an affair.

The film was also nominated in the best director and cinematography categories. It was named joint winner of the jury prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Marion Cotillard won best actress for Two Days, One Night, a Belgian drama about a factory worker who must lobby co-workers in order to keep her job.

Best supporting actress went to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood, which chronicles 12 years in the life of a boy and which was filmed with the same actor over 12 years.

JK Simmons was named by critics as best supporting actor for his role as a hard-driving music teacher in the film Whiplash.

Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency spying scandal, was named best non-fiction film.

The National Society of Film Critics is made up of 59 US commentators from major publications. The awards are considered a bellwether for the Oscars, which will air on 22 February.

BBC