The nominees for the 20th Annual IFP Independent Spirit Awards were announced in Los Angeles today with only a few surprises in store. Nominees for Best Movie were BAADASSSSS!, KINSEY, MARIA FULL OF GRACE, PRIMER and SIDEWAYS. From a Chotrudis perspective, perhaps the biggest surprise here was Mario Van Peebles’ BAADASSSSS! which wasn’t too widely seen by Chlotrudis members, and Hilary gives it a mixed review on the reviews page. Van Peebles is also nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay (with Dennis Haggerty).
PRIMER is something of a surprise and a dark horse. The film was wildly successful at Sundance last January, picking up the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony. Chlotrudis members were all over the map with this frustrating film, with Hilary walking out after 20 minutes, and Scot awarding it the full 5 cats! In addition to Best Feature, PRIMER picks up nominations for Best Director (Shane Carruth), Best First Screenplay (Carruth), and Best Debut Performance (David Sullivan).
KINSEY, MARIA FULL OF GRACE and SIDEWAYS were obvious choices that are sure to show up in Chlotrudis nominations as well. While Bill Condon was the sole director of a Best Feature nominee not to be recognized, he did pick up a nod for Best Screenplay. KINSEY also grabbed nominations for Best Supporting Male (Peter Sarsgaard) and Best Male Lead (Liam Neeson.) Why Neeson got the attention while the far superior Linney was looked over for Best Actress was surprising. MARIA FULL OF GRACE is bound to get a lot of attention from the Chlotrudis crowd. In addition to its Best Feature nod it picks up four additional nominations including Best Director (Joshua Marston), Best First Screenplay (Marston), Best Supporting Female (Yenny Paola Vega) and Best Female Lead (Catalino Sandina Moreno). Not surprisingly, SIDEWAYS picked up an additional five nominations, including Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Screenplay (Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor), Best Supporting Female (Virginia Madsen), Best Supporting Male (Thomas Haden Church), and Best Male Lead (Paul Giamatti).
Chlotrudis members are sure to be thrilled with Jonathan Caouette’s TARNATION being included among the Best Documentary nominations. After his film played on a Sunday Eye-Opener, and Caouette himself came to Boston for a subsequent screening, several Chlotrudis members have been championing the film, myself included. Other noms for the Documentary category include: Ross McElwee’s BRIGHT LEAVES, Shola Lynch’s CHISHOLM ’72: UNBOUGHT & UNBOUND, Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky’s HIDING & SEEKING: FAITH AND TOLERANCE AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, and Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER. I would have a difficult time choosing between TARNATION and the superlative METALLICA.
Other nominations include MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (Best Director; Best Cinematography), BEFORE SUNSET (Best Screenplay), THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR (Best Screenplay; Best Male Lead), GARDEN STATE (Best First Feature; Best First Screenplay), and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Best First Feature; Best Supporting Male).
For a complete list of the Nominees click here.