Winter’s Bone Leads Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

After taking home the top prize at last night’s Gotham Awards, Winter’s Bone leads the pack in nominations for the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards, just announced a little bit ago. The dark story of a girl searching for her estranged, meth-addled father netted seven nominations, which combined with its Gotham win, could strongly bolster its chances with the Academy Awards. The comedy The Kids Are Alright mustered up five nominations itself, while Blue Valentine, which both Jonah and myself enjoyed, was snubbed, only grabbing one nod for Michelle Williams. Here’s the complete list below, along with a few links to our reviews of some of the films.

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Everything Strange and New
Get Low
The Last Exorcism
Night Catches Us
Tiny Furniture

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Daddy Longlegs
The Exploding Girl
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obsedila

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST MALE LEAD
Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
The King’s Speech
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

TUiW Goes to the Savannah Film Festival, Day 4

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in Fair Game

Sudden Death!

My first taste of the big screen on Tuesday came with the charming musical short Sudden Death! With everyone dying from Sudden Death Syndrome, which causes them to break into song and dance right before they die, two scientists race for a cure while falling in love in the quirky short which is recommended for (and clearly made by) fans of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible.

Automorphosis
Artists and car enthusiasts alike will enjoy this funny and highly entertaining documentary on Art Cars, cars turned into works of art. Whether its a famed spoon bender covering his car in bent cutlery, a car covered in ship and train horns, or two cars stacked on top of each other to make a Gothic cathedral, Automorphosis is a film of real life characters that will have you laughing and keep you interested in this unique form of expression from start to finish.

Quadrangle

Probably the quirkiest documentary short I’ve ever seen, Quadrangle features the split screen story of a divorced couple as they explain their wild time in the 70’s when they essentially swapped spouses with another couple while both families were living under the same roof. It’s a totally bizarre story that is sold mostly by the creative split screen story telling.

The Night Catches Us

Fans of The Wire will enjoy seeing some familiar faces in this drama about the aftermath of the Black Panthers 1960’s rebellion, set just years later in the 1970s. One of the film’s producers described it as “Deerhunter meets the Panthers” as opposed to a straight story of the Black Panthers’ fight, and it does indeed play out as an interesting portrait of people caught in the late years of the Civil Rights Movement, and their decisions that not only replay their past, but greatly affect their future. Throw in a killer soundtrack from The Roots and you have an great indie that will continue to win over small audiences.

Fair Game

Jonah already touched on Fair Game, so I won’t go into too much detail, except to say that I think it’s essentially two movies pasted together. The first half is an entertaining real life spy movie, as Naomi Watts’ Valerie Plame navigates the pre-Iraq War C.I.A., wheeling and dealing all over the globe. Once she’s identified as an agent, her whole world collapses, and with it, the movie. The second half of the film is full of melodrama and loses the momentum the first half carries well. It’s an interesting story, for sure, but the execution in Doug Liman’s film misses the mark.

Don’t Go in the Woods

The final screening of Tuesday was a late showing of the directorial debut of Vincent D’Onofrio, the super low budget, super campy slasher musical Don’t Go in the Woods. The film, about a band and their groupies in the woods, getting picked off by a mysterious killer one by one, was great fun. Speaking after the film, D’Onofrio explained the film was made with as little money as possible as quickly as possible, with an amateur cast, and was more directing practice than a serious piece of work. Either way, the audience couldn’t stop laughing and gasping throughout, in what was one of the more fun films of the festival.