2008 Independent Spirit Awards

The Indie equivalent of The Oscars, sponsored by IFC (The Independent Film Channel), they announced their nominees today...

BEST FEATURE
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm Not There
Juno
A Mighty Heart
Paranoid Park

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes, I'm Not There
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park

BEST FIRST FEATURE
2 Days in Paris, Julie Delpy
Great World of Sound, Craig Zobel
The Lookout, Scott Frank
Rocket Science, Jeffrey Blitz
Vanaja, Rajnesh Domalpalli

BEST SCREENPLAY
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening
Adrienne Shelly, Waitress
Mike White, Year of the Dog

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Jeffrey Blitz, Rocket Science
Zoe Cassavetes, Broken English
Diablo Cody, Juno
Kelly Masterson, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
John Orloff, A Mighty Heart

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller, Interview
Ellen Page, Juno
Parker Posey, Broken English
Tang Wei, Lust, Caution

BEST MALE LEAD
Pedro Castaneda, August Evening
Don Cheadle, Talk To Me
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening
Tony Leung, Lust, Caution

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Anna Kendrick, Rocket Science
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding
Tamara Podemski, Four Sheets to the Wind
Marisa Tomei, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk To Me
Marcus Carl Franklin, I'm Not There
Kene Holliday, Great World of Sound
Irrfan Khan, The Namesake
Steve Zahn, Rescue Dawn

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mott Hupfel, The Savages
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Milton Kam, Vanaja
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., Youth Without Youth
Rodrigo Prieto, Lust, Caution

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Crazy Love
Lake of Fire
Manufactured Landscapes
The Monastery
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

BEST FOREIGN FILM
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Band's Visit
Lady Chatterley
Once
Persepolis


The Independent Spirit Awards will be given out Saturday, February 23rd, the day before the Academy Awards.

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Wow...of all those films I've only seen Rescue dawn...which doesn't really look like an independent feature. Any recommendations?

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This is what I've seen so far: I'm Not There, Broken English, A Mighty Heart, The Lookout, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Waitress, Year of the Dog, Margot at the Wedding, Once, Talk to Me and Rescue Dawn. None of them were bad or not worth seeing. I'm Not There is pretty interesting if flawed, though rarely dull. Margot at the Wedding is a good, caustic character study that makes the dysfunctional family from Noah Baumbach's previous film, The Squid & the Whale, look like Ozzie & Harriet by comparison: I quite enjoyed it. The Irish Musical Once is fresh and fun and romantic. I thought Parker Posey did some of her very best work at the center of Broken English, which features her well-written female character. The Lookout and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead are good, small crime pictures with an emphasis on character more then genre. I'd say Talk to Me and Waitress were the lightest and most ordinary of that group I've seen, though they were certainly entertaining.

I'm anxious to see most of the other nominees, especially The Savages, Juno and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

He's the star of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, too.

Neat! Don't suppose you happen to know if he does the Capote voice in either, do you?

If not, I'll settle for Freddy's drawl from The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The IFC Independent Spirit Awards are tomorrow afternoon. They air live at 2:00pmPST on the Independent Film Channel. Actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office", Juno) is the host. It's usually a pretty good show, looser than The Oscars or even the Golden Globes. They have good sarcastic fun at each others expense while still being serious about the recognition of the day and awards. For an "awards show" it's often the most entertaining.

I've seen a lot more of the nominees now and overall it's a good crop. The flicks I've caught up with are The Diving Bell & the Butterfly, Paranoid Park, I'm Not There, Broken English, A Mighty Heart, Juno, Persepolis, 2 Days in Paris, Rocket Science, The Lookout, Manufactured Landscapes, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Waitress, Year of the Dog, The Savages, Margot at the Wedding, Starting Out in the Evening, Once, Talk to Me, Interview, Rescue Dawn, The Namesake, Crazy Love, The Band's Visit, Lust, Caution and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Still pretty early going in the show, but some of the winners so far...

BEST FIRST FEATURE
The Lookout, Scott Frank


BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno


BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There


BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk To Me

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Once


I like Once. A lot. But there's no way it's a better movie than 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. OK, yes in one way: it had much better songs.

BEST LEAD ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Ellen Page, Juno

I haven't seen 4 months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days yet, but I plan on it very soon. I fell head over heals in love with Once though, so I am pretty happy to see when it gets love elsewhere too. I'll get back to you which film I liked better.

Ok, that's just ridiculous. What's up with 'mericans and not giving 4 months the credit it deserves? Too grim?

BEST FEATURE
Juno

BEST DIRECTOR
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST SCREENPLAY
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Crazy Love

RAINN WILSON
To present the award for Best
Director, it is my pleasure to
introduce a past Spirit Award
winner and this year's honorary
chair. He is the Spanish star of
the brilliant No Country for Old
Men. He is charming, ruggedly
handsome, talented, speaks five
languages, I want to fu*k him
so hard: Javier Bardem!


JAVIER BARDEM
All right. We got a deal. We got a
deal. I have to learn English somehow
so it's a good idea to do it sharing
the same bed, I guess.

A bit later while presenting Best Picture...

DUSTIN HOFFMAN
One thing I'd like to get off my chest:
I did fu*k Javier Bardem. And Philip
Seymour Hoffman is the product of
our union.

Yes, that was nice. But it made more sense because that idiot Rainn had already called Philip Seymour Hoffman the son of Dustin Seymour Hoffman.

And it'll all get blipped when it plays later on the home of "the future of classics", AMC.

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