We've already heard from the Gotham Awards (New York's indie awards) and now we're off to the UK for their rough equivalent the Moet British Independent Film Awards. The leaders are the absurdist festival sensation The Lobster (reviewed), the marital drama 45 Years - go Charlotte Rampling! (reviewed), and the long-awaited Macbeth (reviewed). Doesn't it feel like the latter has had buzz for about 16 months now without ever appearing in US theaters? Annoying. We still can't make sense of the US release plans for it.
Best British Independent Film + Best Director
“Amy” Asif Kapadia
“Ex Machina” Alex Garland
“45 Years” Andrew Haigh
“The Lobster” Yorgos Lanthimos
“Macbeth” Justin Kurzel
The Lobster is may be the presumed frontrunner given its hefty 7 nomination total, but The Film Experience's position is that Ex-Machina deserves some awardage and it better be here because where else is it going to be, you know?
A 5/5 match with film and director suggests that the voting wasn't even close and those films were far out front though High-Rise, Brooklyn, and Suffragette also enjoyed multiple nominations
The complete list of nominees with brief commentary is after the jump...
Best Actor
Tom Courtenay, “45 Years”
Colin Farrell, “The Lobster”
Michael Fassbender, “Macbeth”
Tom Hardy, “Legend”
Tom Hiddleston, “High-Rise”
"Tom" is the magic name this year. Tom times three. None of these films have opened in the US yet and TFE happens to like all five actors quite a lot (which is rare for a male acting lineup). Distributors are really testing our patience this year!
Alicia Vikander is having a superb year, thank you very much.
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, “Macbeth”
Carey Mulligan, “Suffragette”
Charlotte Rampling, “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan, “Brooklyn”
Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”
We're only two nomination lists in this year but it's fun that there's not one repeat for Best Actress from the Gotham list... and both lists are just glorious. We who love actresses are having a grand year, are we not? One objection: Alicia Vikander is better in Ex-Machina and since they loved that movie...
Also with Tom Courtenay and Alicia Vikander both showing up in lead for marital dramas hopefully this will tell their respective Oscar campaign managers that supporting campaigns are whack when a movie is about a marriage. Last time we checked marital dramas require two people to be involved pretty equally.
Best Supporting Actor
Luke Evans, “High-Rise”
Brendan Gleeson, “Suffragette”
Domhnall Gleeson, “Brooklyn”
Sean Harris, “Macbeth”
Ben Whishaw, “The Lobster”
Brendan and Domnhall Gleeson in Suffragette and Brooklyn, respectively
Cute - father & son nominees. Brendan & Domnhall are both wonderful in their respective films with roles that probably aren't showcased enough for Oscar traction so good on BIFA for nodding in their direction.
P.S. Never thought we'd live to see Luke Evans in an acting nomination lineup!
Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, “Suffragette”
Olivia Colman, “The Lobster”
Anne-Marie Duff, “Suffragette”
Sienna Miller, “High-Rise”
Julie Walters, “Brooklyn”
Yay for actual supporting roles in supporting acting awards!!!
I haven't had the privilege to see The Lobster as of yet but people seem very enthused (to put it lightly) about Olivia Colman's work and we're fond of her from her phenomenal work in Tyrannosaur. Yay for Julie Walters who is a hoot in Brooklyn.
Best Screenplay
Nick Hornby, “Brooklyn”
Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”
Andrew Haigh, “45 Years”
Amy Jump, “High-Rise”
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou, “The Lobster”
Best Foreign Independent Film
“Carol”
“Force Majeure”
“Girlhood”
“Room”
“Son of Saul”
US, Sweden, France, Canada, and Hungary in the house! Son of Saul (reviewed) is the only one of these films that qualifies for Oscar's Foreign Language Film category this year.
Best Debut Director (Douglas Hickox Award)
Chris and Ben Blaine, “Nina Forever”
Corin Hardy, “The Hallow”
Paul Katis, “Kajaki: The True Story”
John Maclean, “Slow West”
Stephen Fingleton, “The Survivalist”
Would our UK readers care to fill us in on these please?
Best Achievement in Craft
Chris King (editing), “Amy”
Fiona Weir (casting), “Brooklyn”
Mark Digby (production design), “Ex Machina”
Andrew Whitehurst (visual effects), “Ex Machina”
Adam Arkapaw (cinematography), “Macbeth”
I've always found it curious to lump all the crafts together but it's still an interesting window into nominating thought processes. Obviously they loved Ex-Machina but viewed it too much as a genre film for acting awards. Which is a pity.
Trivia Alert: Adam Arkapaw shot both True Detective (S1) and Top of the Lake. How's that for a one-two punch calling card?
Best Documentary
“Amy”
“Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance”
“How to Change the World”
“Palio”
“A Syrian Love Story”
If you missed it here's AMPAS's long list for Best Documentary this year. Palio and ...Love Story are not on it.
Bel Powley & Sarah Gadon in "Royal Night Out"
Most Promising Newcomer
Agyness Dean, “Sunset Song”
Mia Goth, “The Survivalist”
Abigail Hardingham, “Nina Forever”
Milo Parker, “Mr. Holmes”
Bel Powley, “A Royal Night Out”
Bel Powley is nominated at both the Gothams and BIFA but for different films.
Producer of the Year
James Gay-Rees, “Amy”
Tristan Goligher, “45 Years”
Paul Katis and Andrew De Lotbiniere, “Kajaki: The True Story”
Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos and Lee Magiday, “The Lobster”
David A. Hughes and David Moores, “The Violators”
Raindance Discovery Award
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“Burn Burn Burn”
“Orion: The Man Who Would Be King”
“The Return”
“Winter”
Best Short Film
“Balcony”
“Crack”
“Edmond”
“Love is Blind”
“Manoman”