Nicholson and Day Lewis head critics' list for the Oscars

The race for the Academy Awards appears to be most open for years, with the latest flurry of year-end best-film lists honouring a wide array, from Roman Polanski's Holocaust drama The Pianist to About Schmidt, a small-scale tragi-comedy about a retired salesman from Nebraska.

About Schmidt was the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's choice for best picture, with Jack Nicholson in the title role tying for best actor with Daniel Day Lewis from Martin Scorsese's much-awaited epic Gangs of New York.

The Polanski film was the favourite among Boston critics, winning best film, best director and best actor for Adrien Brody. The Pianist won the top prize at this year's Cannes festival.

Despite the disparities between the various American voting bodies – last week, the National Board of Review gave its top accolade to The Hours, a complex story inspired by Virginia Woolf and directed by Stephen Daldry – several titles and performers have begun showing up often enough to suggest at least a shortlist for the Oscars. Other favoured films at this early stage include Gangs of New York, the Fifties melodrama Far From Heaven, directed by Todd Haynes, and Adaptation, a wacky comedy about writer's block from the makers of Being John Malkovich.

Nicholson appears to be an early favourite for best actor honours, although there has also been much talk of Michael Caine's turn as a world-wearing journalist in The Quiet American, based on the Graham Greene novel.

Front-runner for best actress is Julianne Moore for her work as a repressed housewife in Far From Heaven. (Curiously, she plays another repressed Fifties housewife in The Hours.)

Adding to the speculation yesterday was the American Film Institute's list of the top 10 films of 2002, presented in alphabetical order with no indication of particular favourites. They were: About A Boy, the Hugh Grant comedy based on Nick Hornby's novel; About Schmidt; Adaptation; Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington's directorial debut; the musical Chicago; Gangs of New York, the Frida Kahlo biopic, Frida; The Hours; The Quiet American; and The Two Towers, the second instalment of The Lord of the Rings cycle.

Seventeen films are in the best animated feature category, ranging from the computer hit Ice Age to a mix of live-action and animation in Stuart Little 2.