The Spirit Award Nominations
The nominations for Film Independent’s Spirit Awards were announced this morning with Lance Hammer’s Ballast, Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River and Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married tying with six nominations each including Best Feature. The other Best Feature nominees include Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy.
I haven’t seen The Wrestler yet, but I’ll be rooting for Rachel Getting Married followed by Ballast and Wendy and Lucy. If I were a betting man however (and I am), I’d bet on The Wrestler for the win.
I’m sure there will be those who are surprised and disappointed that the indie hit The Visitor didn’t get nominated for Best Feature, though director Tom McCarthy, lead actor Richard Jenkins and supporting actor Haaz Sleiman all got nods.
Other notable nominees (i.e. from movies I’ve seen and support) include, Jonathan Demme, Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop) and Lance Hammer for Best Director;
Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York for Best First Feature;
Sean Baker’s Prince of Broadway and Alex Holdridge’s In Search of a Midnight Kiss for the John Cassavetes Award;
Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (Sugar) and Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) for Best Screenplay;
Dustin Lance Black (Milk), Lance Hammer (Ballast) and Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married) for Best First Screenplay;
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Tarra Riggs (Ballast), and Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy) for Best Female Lead;
Javier Bardem (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Sean Penn (Milk) for Best Male Lead;
Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) and Debra Winger (Rachel Getting Married) for Best Supporting Female;
and finally James Franco (Milk) and JimMyron Ross (Ballast) for Best Supporting Male.
You can see a complete list of nominees here.
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These nominations make me feel happy. I haven’t seen about 99% of the nominees, but I am happy. Go figure.
Well, I’m one of the minority that wasn’t bowled over by The Visitor, so I’m not disappointed. Richard Jenkins was awesome and I’m glad he’s getting recognition. The film wasn’t bad, but it was cliched and heavy-handed with its message, in my opinion. Jenkins and the supporting cast made it moving and heartfelt, and the fact that they could make me care about the characters is what elevated this into a good movie for me. But I don’t think it was the indie masterpiece of the year the way some do.
Nick, you are Happy-Go-Lucky.
We’re in the same minority Alison. I’m glad to see Jenkins and Haaz Sleiman getting nominated.
I am a little surprised to not see Slumdog here. Hopefully someone can illuminate me on that one.
I’m just happy for WOODY ALLEN, SEAN PENN, RICHARD JENKINS and JAVIER BARDEM.
Decent list, I guess…
I think it’s a decent list to Miranda, though it feels surprisingly mainstreamy this year. Not that that’s a bad thing, but usually FIND seems to go out on the edge a teeny bit more.
I’m also suprised by Slumdog now that you mention it Nick. People are talking about it like a mortal Oscar lock at this point so you’d think it would turn up here as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine (Both of which it’s being compared to) did.
Then again, but Juno and LMS won the Spirit award only to lose out come Oscar time so maybe this is good for Slumdog.
The comparison of SLUMDOG to JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE irks me a bit, because they are nothing alike. But if JUNO was eligible SLUMDOG should be too. I’m not exactly sure how this group considers “independent.” Especially with stuff like MILK in the running.
Anyway, it’s not a bad list overall. I’m glad to see some love for SYNECDOCHE and SILENT LIGHT.
Is it possibly because Slumdog is not an American production?
agreed that Slumdog is nothing like LMS or Juno, but it gets that “Feel-good-indie” tag.
I’m pretty sure there are budgetary considerations (I can’t remember what the cutoff is) and it’s possible Slumdog exceded them while Milk didn’t.
I’m pretty sure it’s a UK production so as Jeff suggests that might’ve been the factor even though it’s distributed by a US studio.
This may be the only love In Search of A Midnight Kiss gets, so I’m all for that nomination. No heartbreak snubs that I can think of here besides The Pool.
hmm i wasn’t much for the visitor either.but i think it will/ appeal crossover to your non indie fan. and they’d pat themselves on the back.
how i’m glad of the richard jenkins thing because this was his first lead role. and well he really waited and waited to get ti. ha ha…
though it feels surprisingly mainstream
craig i have no idea what previous lists have lloked like and i’m not gonna check.yeah i’m so versatile
but if it is more mainstream. as i’ve said and said indie feels mainstream anyway. so what’s the difference ??? and if this is the case (and it often is) a mainstreamy list fits well.why shouldn’t it ????
i never voted for the mainstreaming. well some one please think of the children… ;)
And Slumdog is also a Fox Searchlight film, just like LMS and Juno. I’m sure Searchlight is liking the comparisons, but I’m with Miranda and Craig — I don’t fully see the connection.
jeffmcm, I think you are on to something. I asked about Slumdog over at AD and people were mentioning the fact that it wasn’t an American production which makes it ineligible, like Once last year (which really should have garnered more nominations).
Overture is really pushing hard for The Visitor. I’ve received more swag for it than anything else - they even sent me a little drum like the one in the film with “The Visitor” emblazoned across the top, along with the soundtrack. And I’m in Oklahoma, not exactly the heart of the awards race.
That is some really dumb swag, Evan.
Yeah, but it makes a great toy for my daughter. She carries it around the house, beating on it with a makeshift drumstick.
Deport her.
Kidding.
I’m sure on those days that Evan has a headache he appreciates the fact that Overture sent that drum to him.
I didn’t include the list, but there is a foreign film category too. Once was nominated in it last year, but no Slumdog this year. Gomorra, The Class, Hunger, Secret of the Grain and Silent Light all got nods.
Also Daniel, The Pool was nominated last year for the John Cassavetes Award for best feature under $500K
ok but could someone tell me why lets say things from this
http://livingincinema.com/2008/11/22/movies-you-may-have-missed-rewind/
and other other similiat themed columns fron craig always have zero chance at even being a contendor for well pretty much anything ???
are award contendors mostly what the studuios want to push ???? (well for the bigger awards it really seems that way)
slumdog may not be lms/juno. but none of these films would have done so all award wise i suspect if the searchlight wasn’t there to ease things abit.
yep if these weren’t put by fox or another big company i doubt you’d be hearing oscar talk about any of them ??? it’s question mark as to if they would have made it out of the early rounds to be an oscar threat. but with the searchlight it semed pretty much a gimme ???
Glimmer, it seems to me with awards, for Indies or Mainstream or whatever, there’s kind of a momentum that builds with certain films and the others just get buried. Some of it is studio pushing, some of it is audience reaction and some films just feel “awardsy” I think.
Having a big company behind the definitely helps. And to respond to your previous comment about more obscure nominations for the Spirits, I looked at last year and htey were just as mainstream. I’m too lazy to go back and look further right now.
i haven’t seen silent light or any film by carlos reygadas
but reading his guide cinema (yep see link below)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2007/dec/07/carlosreygadasmycinema
you know that i’m smiling and smiling !!!!!!! :)
it seems to me with awards, for Indies or Mainstream or whatever, there’s kind of a momentum that builds with certain films and the others just get buried. Some of it is studio pushing, some of it is audience reaction and some films just feel “awardsy” I think.
great poiints craig. but i think even fans of the films well say lms/juno weren’t “awardsy”.
but put fox behind it and an atmosphere for ‘momentum’ builds. you could have have taken another non ‘awardsy’ other films from last year give it the fox or whatever big studio treatment and it becomes a contendor.
maybe this film wouldn’t have crosed over or did as well as juno/lms but with big studio it would have likley won an awrad or two or 10 vs being non fox aligned and not even being considered a contendor for anything/getting no noms or maybe only getting one award(nom). generally being pretty outside all discussions about anything award wise or even critics tops for the year type things…
i can understand and i’m not gonna say fox searchlight can’t put up something i like, i just feel things are to tiltled to larger films and big studios. nope i haven’t been following this long but oscar time seems if something is being pushed by a big studio/just forget it.(unless it a doc…)
and it shouldn’t seem that way 9.5 times out of 10…
I’d say that a film’s “awards potential” is 50% pedigree (director, stars, etc.), 40% studio push, and 10% luck. Some films will sneak in under the radar on luck alone, but that doesn’t happen very often. And studio clout is not to be underestimated. Look at what Miramax managed to do in their heyday (Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture? Gangs of New York being nominated for anything at all?).
Also, it’s impossible for critics and Academy voters to see everything, so a film’s chances are dependent on budget. Ads, 6000-7000 screeners, marketing, making sure that those voters actually watch the film you sent them, etc. You need a significant budget to achieve enough exposure, at least in the hundreds of thousands, and films without studio backing can’t manage that.
After all, these are the Oscars - they were designed by the studios themselves to reward and promote their own films. And also, that’s why they aren’t the only awards group out there, no matter how much David Poland wants to insist that they are.
Ah, well ignore my comment on The Pool. That makes two Cassavetes nominees in a row that I’ve loved.
Now you’ve made me look it up and I see that both August Evening and Shotgun Stories were both nominated last year as well. I missed both, dang.
thanks jeff and and evan !!!! :)
The Cassavetes award seems to be where a lot of the most interesting stuff happens with the Spirit Awards. Their top tier stuff sort of competes directly with the artier Oscar tier.
LMS and Juno (and Slumdog) seem to hit that middle ground, a little too big for the indies, but a little to small for the Oscars yet they manage to get plenty of attention from both.
Glimmer, what is far more important (although I admit it flies in the face of those here, like Jeff, who rightly don’t consider the critical establishment as the final word) is what film or films will be honored by the New Yotk Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Society of Film Critics later this week or next week.
As a barometer of artistry, good taste and a respect for cinema, these awards are a thousand times more meaningful than the Oscars.
But I’m not telling anyone what they don’t already know.