‘The Rider’ Wins Best Feature As A24 Dominates The 2018 Gotham Awards

The 2018 Gotham Awards were honestly a bore to anyone watching the ceremony either live or streaming, but they had to be exciting for anyone sitting at A24’s tables.  The indie distributor took home five honors including Best Actor (Ethan Hawke, “First Reformed”),  Best Actress (Toni Collette, “Hereditary”), Best Screenplay (Paul Schrader, “First Reformed”), Breakthrough Director (Bo Burnham, “Eighth Grade”) and Breakthrough Actor (Elsie Fisher, “Eighth Grade”).  Even with different juries for each honor, this was somewhat disconcerting considering the considering the competition in each category.

In something of a surprise, the top prize of the night went to Chloé Zhao’s “The Rider.”  Zhao was not on hand because she is prepping another film, potentially Marvel’s “The Eternals,” and that was the other big story of the night.  Many of this year’s winners were not on hand which was somewhat surprising considering how this has become a major stop on the Oscar awards season circuit.

In other categories, “Killing Eve” took Best Longform TV Series and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” won Best Non-Fiction Feature (aka Documentary).  “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was another surprise taking the Audience Award.

All the nominees and winners, along with quick commentary, are listed below.

BEST FEATURE
The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Yorgos Lanthimos, producers  (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

First Reformed
Paul Schrader, director; Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Victoria Hill, Gary Hamilton, Deepak Sikka, Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Frank Murray, producers (A24)

If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins, director; Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy, Barry Jenkins, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Megan Ellison, producers (Annapurna Pictures)

Madeline’s Madeline
Josephine Decker, director; Krista Parris, Elizabeth Rao, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

The Rider – WINNER
Chloé Zhao, director; Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche, Mollye Asher, Chloé Zhao, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Reaction: Fantastic win for Zhao won was nominated for Best Feature at the Spirit Awards last year (it’s confusing, I know).  The film’s long history (it debuted at Cannes in 2017) will likely affect any Oscar chances, but this is very, very much deserved.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Bisbee ‘17
Robert Greene, producer; Douglas Tirola, Susan Bedusa, Bennett Elliott, producers (4th Row Films)

Hale County This Morning, This Evening – WINNER
RaMell Ross, director; RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim, producers (The Cinema Guild)

Minding the Gap
Bing Liu, director; Diane Quon, Bing Liu, producers (Hulu & Magnolia Pictures)

Shirkers
Sandi Tan, director; Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph, producers (Netflix)

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Morgan Neville, director; Morgan Neville, Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma, producers (Focus Features)

Reaction:  In a year where the race for a Best Documentary award nomination is wide-open, this win for “Hale County” is huge.  Especially with the Spirit Awards nomination as well.

BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD
Ari Aster for Hereditary (A24)
Bo Burnham for Eighth Grade (A24) – WINNER
Jennifer Fox for The Tale (HBO)
Crystal Moselle for Skate Kitchen (Magnolia Pictures)
Boots Riley for Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)

Reaction: A24 wins again as “Eighth Grade” gets the spotlight.  Burnham is vying for a Best Original screenplay nomination.

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Favourite,  Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
First Reformed, Paul Schrader (A24) – WINNER
Private Life, Tamara Jenkins (Netflix)
Support the Girls, Andrew Bujalski (Magnolia Pictures)
Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley (Focus Features)

Reaction:  Nice win for A24 which is trying to get Schrader his first Oscar nomination in the Original Screenplay category.

BEST ACTOR
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
Ben Foster in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Ethan Hawke in First Reformed (A24) – WINNER
Lakeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)

Reaction: Easiest prediction of the night.  Hawke could use this to try to crack the Best Actor field, but he really needs major critics group support to make it happen.

BEST ACTRESS*
Glenn Close in The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics)
Toni Collette in Hereditary (A24) – WINNER
Kathryn Hahn in Private Life (Netflix)
Regina Hall in Support the Girls (Magnolia Pictures)
Michelle Pfeiffer in Where is Kyra? (Paladin and Great Point Media)

Reaction:  Collette couldn’t be there, but she certainly deserved it.  Cracking the Best Actress race for such a brutal horror film is going to be though, however.

*The 2018 Best Actress nominating committee also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award to Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz for their ensemble performance in The Favourite. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Yalitza Aparicio in Roma (Netflix)
Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade (A24) – WINNER
Helena Howard in Madeline’s Madeline (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
KiKi Layne in If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie in Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)

Reaction:  Fisher was stunned by her win, but gives a charming speech.  Despite it being a juried award “Roma’s” Aparicio could have used this in her attempt to crash the Best Actress field.

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – LONG FORM
Alias Grace, Sarah Polley, Mary Harron, Noreen Halpern, executive producers (Netflix)
Big Mouth, Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin, creators; Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin & Jennifer Flackett, executive producers (Netflix)
The End of the F***ing World, Andy Baker, Murray Ferguson, Petra Fried, Ed MacDonald, Dominic Buchanan, Jonathan Entwistle, executive producers (Netflix)
Killing Eve, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, executive producers (BBC America) – WINNER
Pose, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Steven Canals, creators; Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Sherry Marsh, executive producers (FX Networks)
Sharp Objects, Marti Noxon, creator; Marti Noxon, Jason Blum, Gillian Flynn, Amy Adams, Jean-Marc Vallée, Nathan Ross, Gregg Fienberg, Charles Layton, Marci Wiseman, Jessica Rhoades, executive producers (HBO)

Reaction:  Nice win for the series and BBC America after an Emmy breakthrough earlier this year.  Of course, none of them came because…they didn’t think they would win?

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES – SHORT FORM
195 Lewis, Chanelle Aponte Pearson and Rae Leone Allen, creators – WINNER
Cleaner Daze, Tess Sweet and Daniel Gambelin, creators
Distance, Alex Dobrenko, creator
The F Word, Nicole Opper, creator
She’s the Ticket, Nadia Hallgren, creator

Reaction: Haven’t seen any of these digital series, but congratulations to the winner!

AUDIENCE AWARD
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” – WINNER