The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards have been announced and looking over their entire list of nominations and we’re basically more interested in these awards than the Oscars, or close to it anyhow.
Lance Hammer’s poetically fragmented, “Ballast,” the desperation drama, “Frozen River” and Jonathan Demme’s Altman-esque wedding flick, “Rachel Getting Married” tied for the most nominations with six a piece. The trio of films were all nominated for Best Picture, as were Kelly Reichardt’s “Wendy and Lucy” and Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” (two more very deserving films.
“The ‘Wrestler” earned three nominations, however both Aronofsky and Reichardt were shut out of the Best Director category. Hammer, Demme and ‘River’s Courtney Hunt were all nominated as well as Ramin Bahrani for “Chop Shop” Tom McCarthy for “The Visitor.”
Other notable nominations were Charlie Kaufman receiving a Best Screenwriting nomination for “Synecdoche, New York,” the director also scoring a Best First Feature award and the film taking the Robert Altman Award for uniqueness and boldness (or whatever that award actually is for). The Best Male Lead category gave nods to Sean Penn (“Milk”) Javier Bardem (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) and Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”).
Other highlights (things we’re happy about) include Michelle Williams’ very deserving nomination for Best Female Lead in “Wendy and Lucy,” Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s “Sugar” receiving a screenplay nomination (an overlooked film that we’re not even sure had a proper release this year, we saw it at TIFF), Melissa Leo’s Best Female Lead nom, Summer Bishil being recognized for her work in the otherwise irredeemable “Towelhead” (we also gave her props) Rosemarie DeWitt getting Best Supporting ups for “Rachel Getting Married” (she’s the best part of that difficult film), and Harris Savides hat tip for his cinematography in “Milk” (its great and seemingly underrated and little-discussed this year, we wrote about it months ago).
Not irked, but things we’re mildly, mildly annoyed with is Antonio Campos’ “Afterschool” scoring a Best First Feature nod. Yeah, it’s not a bad for a first feature, but it is a flawed film. Basically we’re asking: it’s not terrible at all, wasn’t there a more deserving first feature to give props to?
The Best Foreign Race is almost getting predictable at this point. Yes, “The Class,” “Hunger” and “Gomorra” are very solid, did no one see “The Headless Woman,” “Tokyo Sonata” “Tony Manero,” hello, anyone? We missed “Silent Light” from Mexico, but we hear its fantastic. Dying to see that one. The entire list below, we could probably write about each nom and the yay or nay, but who has time for that? But lastly we always liked Jeremy Renner and this give us more anticipation for “The Hurt Locker.” Wait, one more thing, no nods for “I’ve Loved You So Long”? Is that considered Foreign or possibly not indie enough?
Best feature
“Ballast”
“Frozen River”
“Rachel Getting Married”
“Wendy and Lucy”
“The Wrestler”
Best director
Ramin Bahrani, “Chop Shop”
Jonathan Demme, “Rachel Getting Married”
Lance Hammer, “Ballast”
Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”
Tom McCarthy, “The Visitor”
Best first feature
“Afterschool”
“Medicine for Melancholy”
“Sangre De Mi Sangre”
“Sleep Dealer”
“Synecdoche, New York”
Best screenplay
Woody Allen, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, “Sugar”
Charlie Kaufman, “Synecdoche, New York”
Howard A. Rodman, “Savage Grace”
Christopher Zalla, “Sangre De Mi Sangre”
Best female lead
Summer Bishil, “Towelhead”
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Tarra Riggs, “Ballast”
Michelle Williams, “Wendy and Lucy”
Best male lead
Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Best supporting female
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”
Rosie Perez, “The Take”
Misty Upham, “Frozen River”
Debra Winger, “Rachel Getting Married”
Best supporting male
James Franco, “Milk”
Anthony Mackie, “The Hurt Locker”
Charlie McDermott, “Frozen River”
JimMyron Ross, “Ballast”
Haaz Sleiman, “The Visitor”
Best cinematography
Maryse Alberti, “The Wrestler”
Lol Crawley, “Ballast”
James Laxton, “Medicine for Melancholy”
Harris Savides, “Milk”
Michael Simmonds, “Chop Shop”
Best documentary
“The Betrayal”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“Man on Wire”
“The Order of Myths”
“Up the Yangtze”
Best foreign film
“The Class” (France)
“Gomorra” (Italy)
“Hunger” (U.K./Ireland)
“Secret of the Grain” (France)
“Silent Light” (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany)
Robert Altman Award
“Synecdoche, New York”
