With the Gotham Award winners announced last night (“The Hurt Locker” being the big winner), Awards season is officially upon us. Today, The Spirit Award (formerly the Independent Spirit Award) nominees were announced. Taking place on The ceremony Friday March 5 in L.A., the low-key affair is like the anti-Oscars generally celebrating independent film (though why they changed the title of the Awards a year or two ago is beyond us). Leading the nominees was, to no real surprise, Lee Daniels’ ghetto horror-show, “Precious” which took six nominations including Best Picture, Director, two Screenplay nods and Best Actress Lead and Supporting plaudits for Gabby Sidibe and Mo’Nique.
Trailing with four nominations each were Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” the country music drama “Crazy Heart” and “The Last Station.” ‘Single Man’ and ‘Crazy’ scored key Best Actor noms (Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges respectively, though neither scored nominations in the Best Feature or Best Director categories. The “Last Station” on the other hand took noms in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Male and Best Female categories, making it a sure-fire frontrunner here.
The Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man” was one nom behind, scoring 3 nods for Best Director and Best Ensemble (the Robert Altman award). The border-crossing drama, “Sin Nombre” which scored two key nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for filmmaker Cary Fukanaga, also took a third for cinematography. The immigrant drama “Amreeka” took three nominations including Best Female and Marc Webb’s “500 Days of Summer” also scored two prestigious noms with Best Feature and Best Actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Somehow, “Cold Souls” scored three nominations. Gross, that’s one of our most loathed indies of the year. It’s completely inert and lifeless. Whatever. The Oscar documentary snub for “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil” was also corrected with a nomination which was nice to see. Most of the noms below via Indiewire.
BEST FEATURE
“(500) Days Of Summer,” Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe
“Amreeka,” Producers: Paul Barkin, Christina Piovesan
“Precious,” Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
“Sin Nombre,” Producer: Amy Kaufman
“The Last Station,” Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Chris Curling, Jens Meuer BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, “A Serious Man”
Lee Daniels, “Precious”
Cary Joji Fukunaga, “Sin Nombre”
James Gray, “Two Lovers”
Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station” BEST FIRST FEATURE
“A Single Man,” Director: Tom Ford,
“Crazy Heart,” Director: Scott Cooper
“Easier With Practice,” Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
“Paranormal Activity,” Director: Oren Peli
“The Messenger,” Director: Oren Moverman JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
“Big Fan” Writer/Director: Robert Siegel
“Humpday” Writer/Director/Producer: Lynn Sheldon
“The New Year Parade” Writer/Director: Tom Quinn;
“Treeless Mountain” Writer/Director: So Yong Kim
“Zero Bridge” Writer/Director: Tariq TapaBEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”
Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station
Lee Toland Krieger, “The Vicious Kind”
Greg Mottola, “Adventureland”
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, “(500) Days Of Summer”
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes, “Cold Souls”
Scott Cooper, “Crazy Heart”
Cherien Dabis, “Amreeka”
Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
Tom Ford, David Scearce, “A Single Man”
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello, “Downloading Nancy”
Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Gwentyth Paltrow, “Two Lovers”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
Nisreen Faour, “Amreeka”
BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days Of Summer”
Souléymane Sy Savané, “Goodbye Solo”
Adam Scott, “The Vicious Kind”
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun, “Cold Souls”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Samantha Morton, “The Messenger”
Natalie Press, “Fifty Dead Men Walking”
Mia Wasikowska, “That Evening Sun”
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clement, “Gentleman Broncos”
Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
Christian McKay, “Me and Orson Welles”
Raymond McKinnon, “That Evening Sun”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins, “A Serious Man”
Adriano Goldman, “Sin Nombre”
Anne Misawa, “Treeless Mountain”
Andrij Parekh, “Cold Souls”
Peter Zeitlinger, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” Director: Sacha Gervasi
“Food, Inc.” Director: Robert Kenner
“More Than a Game” Director: Kristopher Belman
“October Country” Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri
“Which Way Home” Director: Rebecca Cammisa
BEST FOREIGN FILM
“A Prophet” (France), Director: Jacques Audiard
“An Education” (UK/France), Director: Lone Scherfig
“Everlasting Moments” (Sweden), Director: Jan Troell
“Mother” (South Korea), Director: Bong Joon-Ho
“The Maid” (Chile), Director: Sebastian Silva
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
“A Serious Man”