Best Film: 12 Years a Slave
Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Best Lead Female: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Lead Male: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Female: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Male: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave
Best Screenplay: John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Best Editing: Nat Sanders, Short Term 12
Best International Film: Blue Is The Warmest Color
Best Documentary: 20 Feet from Stardom
Best First Feature: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best First Screenplay: Bob Nelson, Nebraska
John Cassavetes Award: This Is Martin Bonner
Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble: Mud
Alain Resnais has passed. What a loss for the cinema. My personal favorite is his science-fiction landmark LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, but HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR will also be revisited for eternity. I have to seek out MURIEL soon.
Videos from the Indie Spirits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIPuezHl4qE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iM7A8E6T9g
Comment about the Spirit Awards from showbiz411 (exactly how I feel):
But there’s a good chance all of these people will win Oscars on Sunday. And that begs the question: what’s the difference?
Not much anymore. There is now so much overlap from the Spirits and the Oscars that it’s undermining each awards show. The Oscars are the big time. They should be for the major movies, and the art films that cross over to the main spotlight.
^^
I mean, after all these awards, does it REALLY matter what movie wins or loses; what actor wins? They’re going home with a boatload of awards. So to H**ll with the Oscars!
“Is there a more pointless award show right now?”
Yes. The Razzies.
The voter couldn’t pronounce LUPITA? That’s like the voter last year who couldn’t prounce Quvenzhané Wallis and didn’t vote for HER.
And he doesn’t like foreign language movies?
Gee, and we wonder why foreigners don’t like Americans! We only care about OUR simple way of living.
Is there a more pointless award show right now? Holding right next to the Oscars and having basically the same winners. What is unique about it at all?
@Chris- yes sometimes they can be!
Here are the rest of his picks with commentary, he just sent me-
BEST PICTURE
“So many terrible films- I’m still P.O’d that my favorite film of the year – The Butler – isn’t even in contention. I don’t like preferential but I had to. Just for the hell of it, I listed 12 Years a Slave dead last; I’m much turned off by the campaign slogan ‘It’s Time’- well how about it’s time for you to realize that losing is a part of life too! Top pick was muddled, but who cares.”
VOTE: Dallas Buyers Club
BEST FOREIGN FILM
“Can’t stand movies with subtitles. I have enough trouble understanding my wife, who speaks English. Why would I go see people talking jibberish? A friend wanted me to go see The Hunt, but it was either that or go bowling with the guys- I chose the latter.”
VOTE: I abstain
BEST SONG
“Ugh- the Happy song from Despicable Me 2; what a joke! And Frozen’s Let It Go- yeah, I will alright. Alone Yet Not Alone should really be the only song ALONE in this category, but that idiot Cheryl Boone Isaacs wanted to power trip. Doesn’t she have a background in marketing? She of all people should understand the emails = campaigning. No songs left appeal to me.”
VOTE: I abstain
BEST FILM EDITING
“I went for the movie that had the most cuts and jittery camera work- because to me, that means Final Cut was utilized the most. Watched Gravity three times- can’t see a single place where there was an edit. How are you getting paid to be a film editor, and you don’t even edit your movie?”
VOTE: Captain Phillips
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN & COSTUME DESIGN
“I went with Catherine Martin- because she won for Moulin Rouge. And I enjoy glitter and women with lots of skin. Almost went for American Hustle, but my eyes were too focused on what was beneath the women’s clothing vs. the actual attire- if you know what I mean!”
VOTE: The Great Gatsby
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“A lot of my friends are voting for Gravity- but I think it is absurd they actually bought the whole Sandra in space ordeal. Clearly she isn’t! I went for the Dragon- can’t beat a cold beer and a movie with a dragon.”
VOTE: The Hobbit 2
BEST SOUND & SOUND EDITING
“Again- people keep picking Gravity. I couldn’t hear a Goddamn thing! Totally silent the first five minutes of the movie. I thought Best Sound means just that- Noise.”
VOTE: Captain Phillips
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Lousy category. None have memorable music.”
VOTE: I abstain
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, DOC SHORT, ANIMATED SHORT, LIVE ACTION SHORT
“Yeah- if you think I’m watching films that aren’t even cool enough to have your friends watch with you, you have to be nuts to think I’m even going to care.”
VOTE: I abstain
That bold Oscar voter sounds like a bold asshole.
Sooooooooooooooo happy for the boys of the Dallas Buyers Club.
Just got an email from a VERY bold Oscar voter- he’s been in the industry for years. Here’s his ballot and commentary-
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
“I hated Leto; felt very forced and contrived. Fassbender was a big hamfest- nothing original. Cooper and Hill are lucky to be here at all. So I’m going for Barkhad Abdi- he gives the most natural performance.”
VOTE: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
“Was going to vote for the gal in 12 Years a Slave, but I don’t know how to pronounce her name- and was too lazy to google it. To me, Oscar winners should be people we can pronounce. Julia, Sally, June, Jennifer- those are easy to remember. I didn’t really have a preference after the Slave girl, so I just did ‘My mother told me to choose You.'”
VOTE: June Squibb, Nebraska
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
“Philomena put me to sleep; The Wolf of Wall Street made me very insecure about my annual income and angry I did not have women that beautiful surrounding me, so I couldn’t pick it. Before Midnight seemed sort of dull, but I have not seen it. Captain Phillips isn’t really a screenplay to me- just lots of action. So I circled what felt right.”
VOTE: 12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Her was stupid- I’ve owned several computers and never once did the operating system talk back to me like Scarlett Johnasson- usually it’s a dude and he pisses me off. American Hustle- what a joke! The only original writing in that film was David O. Russell’s contract agreement. Nebraska felt like a poorly written student film- and shot in black and white no doubt. So I am torn between Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine. I am picking the latter to see the reactions of the audience.”
VOTE: Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen
BEST ACTOR
“I was so ready to vote for Leonardo DiCaprio – and then something happened. I was at a solo business lunch, and the waitress took forever to bring me my check. I do NOT like to be kept waiting. When she finally showed up, I had missed another important meeting. I snidely asked her who her favorite Best Actor nominee was this year. “Oh, Leonardo DiCaprio by far!” When she left, I voted for Matthew McConaughey. I did it out of SPITE because I was just so pissed that she wasted my time. So Leo can thank server Betsy Wilkerson (that was her name) for costing him a vote.”
VOTE: Matthew McConaughey
BEST ACTRESS
“I secretly want to bang Amy Adams (can I say that?) – but she doesn’t do much in the movie. Judi Dench and Meryl Streep are sleepwalking in their roles and Sandra Bullock is barely visible amidst her space suit. Blanchett was wonderful- and also someone I wouldn’t mind a roll in the hay with.”
VOTE: Cate Blanchett
BEST DIRECTOR
“Almost picked Steve McQueen, but hear he’s real difficult to work with. Ditto for Russell. Didn’t bother finishing Nebraska, so I don’t really know how to vote here since I felt Gravity was just a Discovery Channel movie with actors.”
VOTE: I abstain
______________________________________
See you all tomorrow!
Ryan says: “. . . this fat asshole chuckled and laughed out loud like he was mentally ill, all the way through the film. For example, he laughed when Epp’s wife threw the cut-glass brandy decanter at Patsey’s face.”
That was disgusting. That guy named Asshole must have been #literally mentally ill, as you’ve described, or a #blatant racist. Seriously: sorry to have learnt that both of you guys must have come to endure such ordeal . . . . I feel for you.
([I’m NOT in Japan] This is one of the reasons I usually strategically go see movies late at night and a few days before it’s supposed to be pulled out of the program so that all the hassles conceivable may be avoided and that the house is temporarily all mine.
Although the unpleasant incident made possible by this guy named Asshole, in Ryan’s case, was supposedly rarer, if it happened to me it would simply ruin my time spent during that movie. And in my host country — Ryan possibly knows it equally well, too — we [our theaters] normally do not have any refund policy. Normally, if this happens, then I basically just have to live through it and come back later on to watch it again. (The idea is that — call me fussy and oversensitive — I’d like to be able to feel the entire piece as supposedly designed and originally intended by the director et al; that’s why I feel the need to come back, pay for it again, and re-watch the move in question following any incident.))
Anyway, I’m signing out for now — I’m in the middle of working on my AD predictions . . . .
@SallyinChicago:
I, too, was fortunate enough to see GRAVITY solo. Talk about making an already visceral experience even more visceral. I was drifting in space right alongside Sandra Bullock.
I only wished I’d seen it like that in IMAX.
Happy, happy, happy! About the outcome of these awards! “12 Years a Slave” REALLY needed that validation. Hopefully, it will continue to tomorrow night, too. Just watched a CNN special on Lupita! “The most famous actress you’ve never heard of” or something like that.
This is NOT nice to know about:
Oscar bribes:
http://www.alternet.org/media/oscars-history-corruption
http://www.tmz.com/2014/03/01/academy-awards-oscars-julie-delpy-old-men-bribes-before-midnight/
Never mind the fact that the major categories here are so similar in their results to what Oscar will likely pick tomorrow, check this out: 20 Feet from fucking Stardom beat The Act of Killing, After Tiller, Gideon’s Army and The Square to the Best Documentary award. As far as ‘independent spirit’ goes, that’s pretty fucking farcical. In their repeated efforts to become more relevant, Film Independent has rendered itself irrelevant. It is a purposeless institution nowadays when it comes to handing out awards. Never mind holding them the day before the Oscars, they ought to do an NYFCC and position themselves mid-season for prime consideration.
Why would people go to see the movie, that movie and react to that scene in that way? i know, rhetorical, but just gobsmackingly wtf? Laughing nervously? Embarrassed? Ashamed? Too close to home?
I don’t know if anyone else here has seen the 2010 movie ‘I am slave.’ Other than the shocking statistic at the end pointing out how many women are currently enslaved in London, the movie is truly eye opening, on something that i just assumed ended long long ago! Not so.
Interesting observation from thr.com Feinberg:
“Everyone Loves Lupita
While it is dangerous to base a projection on conversations with Oscar voters, since there are 6,028 and one would probably have to speak with 600 in order to really have a scientifically-significant sense of where things are going, I have been very struck by how voters have spoken about Nyong’o when I’ve asked them about her. (I’ve shared a few examples of these conversations on the blog, but there have been many others that were not for publication.) Even voters who can’t pronounce Nyong’o’s name and/or couldn’t finish her film are voting for her and/or don’t particularly like 12 Years a Slave — and not just because of her remarkable performance, but also because of the classy way in which she has conducted herself throughout her first spin through otherworldly experience that is the awards season.”
See? If you make the dinners and events and present yourself well, you can win the Oscar.
Sasha, will you have some video clips? I seem to have missed the stream. Thanks.
^ wow, and we live in big cities, Sally. (i assume you in Chicago), me in Sydney. Other people’s loss! Yes, i much prefer seeing a movie with as few folk as possible. I saw ‘Her’ with loads of people; many walking out!
Daveinprogress: 4th day of release there were only 3 in attendance. Well I can beat that. I went to see Gravity the Monday after it opened at 12 noon. I was the ONLY person in the theater (a neighborhood theater) and in the room. But it was glorious watching it by myself. I could really absorb it better, rather than have people around me.
During the weekday there are very few people in the theaters, that’s why boxo reports the weekend receipts.
Finally, a little recognition for “Mud”.
Ryan, very evocatively expressed. I also really appreciated the proliferation of group shots and faces. I was often searching for the hero, but then caught myself and instead wanted to scan for the other souls in the same dire scenarios. The film was ultimately filled with Solomon Northups. I went to a morning session on its 4th day of release, and there were just 3 people in the cinema! I so felt the nihilism of the Patsys and the Elizas. I also think it is probably the best cast of the movie (Pitt notwithstanding – but i get why). Chiwetel is just perfection. What stops this being a 10/10 for me, is Brad Pitt. But I can live with it, among some of the most powerfully realised sequences i’ve seen in any film for many many years.
There’s another movie site (rhymes with HELLswear) where readers say things like this:
Which stupidly and crudely misses a major point: ALL the people in Africa who were kidnapped and brought to America were FREE MEN. ALL the slaves we see? NONE of them were “supposed to be there.”
What sets Solomon somewhat apart is that he had the opportunity to get an education and write his story in English. But ALL the slaves had stories, and they could all have told those stories — if not in written English, then verbally or, for some, in their own native language. This is why the movie revolves around Solomon’s point of view. Because he wrote it down. Not because he was a free man who ran into 12 Years of bad luck. But because he was lucky enough to have regained the same freedom that rightfully belonged to ALL the slaves, not just to Solomon. And then he had the wherewithal to write it all down so his identity would not be lost, as the identities of half a million others have been lost.
(sorry, I know all of us here already know everything I just wrote — I tried to post a similar comment at Elsewhere but Jeff bans me sometimes and this week looks like one of those times. He doesn’t like me to shake the cages of his hyenas).
I saw 12 Years a Slave on opening day in a small town multiplex in the civil war border state of Kentucky, and there were 5 people in the audience other than me and a friend (who himself was the only black person in attendance).
A middle-age couple sat in the row ahead of us, a few seats to the right, on the aisle, and this fat asshole chuckled and laughed out loud like he was mentally ill, all the way through the film. For example, he laughed when Epp’s wife threw the cut-glass brandy decanter at Patsey’s face.
Because there are still people like this in “post-racial” America. Millions of people like this guy. I stood outside the theater seething, and my friend had to stop me from walking up to confront him. But I got his mug shot because I want the world to look at him and be reminded that bigots like him still exist.
It is great to finally read that this masterpiece sweeps something. It deserves to. Alas, tomorrow I predict, among many others, that it win 3. But 3 essentials! Best Picture, Best Supp Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay.
I’d love Chiwetel to be the winner tomorrow, but will still applaud a win by either Leo or Matthew. It is, as we say, an embarassment of riches.
Amidst all the dialogues about 12 years -v- Gravity, there have been so many great features this year. I don’t think the love will be spread around much. Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis, Saving Mr Banks, August,Her, Wolf of wall street will probably all go home with nada. But i look forward to re visiting many of them through the year. choosing which ones to buy, on a budget will be a challenge. I tend to seek out the ones whose screenplays offered the most layers and opportunities for more gems to be extracted. I suspect that will be Her, Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis.
As for tomorrow, BP is a dead heat between 12 and Gravity. Honestly, you could flip a coin. Against my better judgement, my gut says “Gravity” takes it.
Can 12 YEARS A SLAVE overcome the Spirit curse?
Yep, Ryan, i can imagine the litany of critics for 12 years. The scenes that stand out for me: the ‘inspecting’ the slaves, the hanging, were so impactful due to where McQueen and Bobbitt placed the camera. Storytelling is so intricate; the ingredients that mske it powerful, special and moving. They used the big screen so beautifully too. I’m so glad i went to the cinema to see it and feel it.
daveinprogress, There’s a shot in the holding cell where Solomon Northup first wakes up and finds himself in shackles. He stands at the far left of screen, only half the back of his head is in frame. The cell door opens, a pool of light falls in the middle of the screen, the only escape. It’s 5 feet away but might as well be 5,000 miles. Solomon’s profile is barely outlined with a faint key light. All 4 edges of the screen soften into pure black darkness around that doorway.
That shot had the effect on me of seeing Solomon become the darkness, being swallowed up in it — but more than that. The darkness blended at the edges of the screen into the darkness of the theater. The interior space of the theater became an extension of that darkness. When Solomon was engulfed by those shadows, the shadows spread from every edge of the screen, so the audience too was engulfed by it. The darkness swallowed us all.
Since MMC wins even this one over C. Ejiofor given the overall support for 12 Years, I think he will win tomorrow night as well. I do not expect a major shocker there tomorrow
Best Film, the last category: ’12 Years a Slave.’ Written in stone. Too obvious. Tomorrow, however….that will be a much more interesting story to follow. ’12 Years a Slave’ or ‘Gravity?’ Can’t wait to see!
Is it a good or bad thing that the Spirits more and more look like the other precursors when it comes to the major categories?
Oscar-lock Cate Blanchett winning for Woody Allen’s BLUE JASMINE. These guys are such indie mavericks.
Anyone else excited about the next film Bobbitt is lensing? Mouth watering stuff. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb. Michael Cuesta (L.I.E.) directs, Jeremy Renner plays Webb
From IMDB: “A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA’s role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California.”
These are done pretty quickly! Happy for Sean Bobbitt
SHORT TERM 12 for editing is the most refreshing thing in a while. Also helps that they’re onto something!
An actual flying drone? Wow.
Winning Spirit Awards is never a good thing. #CurseOfTheSpiritAwards
Ok. Saw on Sasha’s twitter.. Who’s the ‘drone’.
I’m serious.
Ok. Saw on Sasha’s twitter.. Who’s the ‘drone’.
I’m serious.
an actual flying robotic drone, apparently
Lupita wins!! 😀
Very happy for Sean Bobbitt – his photography was among my favorite elements to 12 years a slave.
daveinprogress, in case you ever doubt that your life is blessed, one of the things you were lucky to miss seeing around here a few months ago were people dropping in to complain that “the camera in 12 Years is always pointing in the wrong direction,” “all off-center,” “focused on the wrong thing” and “so dark you can barely see anybody’s face,” etc.
I remember, years ago, I used to watch the Indie Spirits *live* on IFC. Then IFC was removed from my cable package, and I went years without watching. Now I have IFC back due to channels in my cable package being reshuffled, but it’s 5-6 hours tape delayed. Tape delay is a big no no, and it means I’ll fast forward the DVR to only the acting/directing/feature categories. ISA have definitely lost their identity, and they seem to, year after year, only award whatever films/performances are Oscar contenders. The smaller, truly indie films that don’t have Oscar nominations never stand a chance.
OK I found several:
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/watch-live-stream-of-independent-spirit-awards-red-carpet-arrivals-1201123698/
What link?
Still can believe they tape delay these now. It used to be a great show.
Probably June will win the supporting actress category.
Hoping for surprise Sally Hawkins & Brie Larson wins.