The Hot Blog: I've Got Spirit, How About You?

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November 27, 2007

I've Got Spirit, How About You?

A rather odd list from the Indie Spirit crew this year. No one can really accuse the group of pandering to celebrity with its version of Best Picture…

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

Or maybe it can.

Does anyone other than this nominating comittee really think A Mighty Heart belongs on this list over The Savages (nominated for Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Cinematography) or Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead or Rescue Dawn or Lust, Caution?

Can you say Angelina Jolie?

But hey, at least they didn’t jury-rig a more expensive film like There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men or Atonement or Into The Wild into the running. On the other hand… the issue of “what is an independent film?” continues with this list, the argument turned on its head, 3 of the 4 of the aforementioned in this graph surely being amongst the Top 7 or 8 indie-minded films of the year.

I think it’s great that ISP is embracing a movie like Paranoid Park, which is barely scheduled for American release, but does this list really represent “Independent Cinema” 2007?

And I have argued the other side of this for years. I have objected as the “indie” budget ceiling has risen to $20 million. But if four of your five BP nominees are going to be films with celebrity appeal and Dependent backing, the whole exercise seems like a half measure. As I have been suggesting for years, why not make a split category for films, with unlimited budgets and under $8 million? That way the big boys can slug it out for the expensive award, FIND gets all the celebrity it can swallow, and smaller, truly undersupported films can get championed with a real award.

All that said, it is kind of a relief that this could well be the year where “wins on Saturday, loses on Sunday” is not the case, since there is a very good chance that none of these ISA nominees will be nominated for Best Picture.

Still, would any film get a real benefit – non-ego – from winning other than Paranoid Park? Nope. And really, the Diving Bell nomination is a bit of a disaster for anyone still holding hope that the film will be Oscar nominated. This is a classic “it’s been loved” situation. Most have long given up on the magnificent I’m Not There getting an Oscar nod in BP. And Juno… well, that is the only one with a chance and the only one that ISPs won’t taint in any way. Still, I would still say that Oscar is a real longshot given the nature of the film.

Also... how did The Diving Bell & The Butterfly get out of the "foreign language" trap? If that's in, where is La Vie En Rose? For that matter, where is Lars & The Real Girl? (Rescue Dawn was also released by MGM.) And was Away From Her punished for being from Canada? (Once is nominated as a "foreign film," although in English.)

Anyway… the doc nominations are much, much smarter… not only than the feature list, but than the Oscar short list. The Monastery is the only film I haven’t seen in the group and the rest are all most deserving.

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

Posted by poland at November 27, 2007 10:10 AM

Comments

I get to vote in this every year and the randomness of the nominations baffle me. I remember when "The Sweet Hereafter" was considered a foreign film, but now "Diving Bell" isn't, but "Once" is?

They also have a tendency for nominating unexceptional performances while ignoring great ones. How do you nominate "The Savages" in all those categories and omit Picture and even worse, Laura Linney, for Actress when her performance was what made the movie for me? Or was Marisa Tomei the only performance in "Before The Devil" worth nominating?

Posted by: swordandpen at November 27, 2007 10:39 AM

It's beginning to look like The Golden Globes have more integrity than the ISP awards. Frigging nuts.
But it was nice to see "Lake of Fire" get some love. That is hand's-down the best doc I've seen all year.

Posted by: movieman at November 27, 2007 10:57 AM

Perhaps even the Indie Spirit people found the premise of Lars and the Real Girl off-putting. Or, the flip side, they found it not off-putting enough (I personally wish it had been made by Cronenberg with all that entails).

Posted by: jeffmcm at November 27, 2007 12:00 PM

You really CAN'T be suggesting Lars is Cronenberg material if you have seen it, J-Mc. Can't.

Posted by: David Poland at November 27, 2007 12:18 PM

I'm saying I would have liked it better if it had been.

Posted by: jeffmcm at November 27, 2007 12:43 PM

To qualify for the Spirits, a film has to be "American" in the same way, I suppose, that a foreign Oscar selection has to be "from" the submitting country. By which they mean the creative principals (director/writer/producer) are from that country. That's why Diving Bell is American (Schnabel/Kennedy) and not French. I guess that's also why Away From Her (Canada) and Once (Ireland) aren't eligible in any category other than foreign film. Crazy, I know.

Posted by: errolmorrisfan at November 27, 2007 01:32 PM

HUGE HUGE HUGE PROPS to Aaron Katz/QUIET CITY getting a Cassavettes Award nomination!!!!! Holy shit....that's HUGE!! Such an outstanding little film...

Posted by: PetalumaFilms at November 27, 2007 03:28 PM

Christ the ISAs are so stupid. On one hand it's utterly baffling that they didn't nominate Linney (or Kidman for that matter), but I'm glad Sienna Miller is getting some awards love. It really is bizarre though.

Maybe they can finally get around to releasing Paranoid Park though. I'm slightly desperate for new Van Sant.

Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at November 28, 2007 01:38 AM

For my money, Manufactured Landscapes was the best movie of 2007. Should please fans of Baraka and An Inconvienient Truth. The opening tracking shot of a Chinese iron making factory is one of the most stunning openings I've ever seen.

Posted by: kelzeek at November 28, 2007 06:46 AM

Why doesn't Lars get nominated for best foreign picture? It was shot in Canada, after all-even though they hint at Michigan in the office.
That seems to be the quintessential Canadian story.
SPOILER?

You leave someone alone, mostly. When he responds by getting weird, everyone adjusts a little until he heals.

Posted by: doug r at November 28, 2007 06:49 AM

Dave, you're selling Juno short!! The Academy that in recent years honored Eminem, The Departed, Three Six Mafia, and Crash is not going to be turned off by a teenage pregnancy... especially one as heartwarming and well done as Juno. If anything, I think it stands a better chance at winning than last year's lighter BP nominee, Little Miss Sunshine, because it is the ONLY real feel-good film that is likely to make the nomination cut. People of all ages respond to it--laughing, crying, whatever--in large part because the joke is that Ellen Page is a smartass adult stuck in a 20 year old body. And Dave... she is SO good. When voters walk out of that screening drying their tears and with a big smile on their face... I'm telling you, man! :)

Posted by: Scott Feinberg at November 28, 2007 08:16 AM

The Hot Blog

November 27, 2007

I've Got Spirit, How About You?

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