by Nathaniel R
This year's Gotham Awards have fully embraced the female gaze. In fact, the entire Best Feature nominee list is female-helmed films with First Cow leading with 4 nominations. Unfortunately that means Lee Isaac Chung's Minari was shut out for the top prize (it only received one acting nomination), which is a shame but you can't have everything. Though the Gotham Awards are not a traditional "precursor" to Oscar (they rarely align) we tend to like that kind of precursor best. Groups with their own personality are the only ones that have a reason to exist!
Full nomination list with a few comments after the jump...
Best Feature
- The Assistant (Bleecker Street)
- First Cow (A24)
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
- Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures) all over most people's Oscar predictions
- Relic (IFC Midnight) this one is also up for the AACTA Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards often pull from a similar list. Will Minari, Miss Juneteenth, The Sound of Metal, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Nest, One Night in Miami and more do better there and score in their top category?
Best Documentary
Fox and Rob Rich in a shot from the film
- 76 Days (MTV Documentary Films)
- City Hall (Zipporah Films) <--make sure to read Glenn's review
- Our Time Machine (Passion River Films)
- A Thousand Cuts (PBS Distribution | Frontline) <--- make sure to read Glenn's review
- Time (Amazon Studios) <---make sure to read Murtada's interview
Best International Feature
- Bacurau (Brazil) Kino Lorber
- Beanpole (Russia) Kino Lorber
- Cuties (France) Netflix
- Identifying Features (Mexico) Kino Lorber
- Martin Eden (Italy) Kino Lorber
- Wolfwalkers (Ireland) Apple
An eclectic list. Only one of which (Cuties) might be eligible for Oscar's International Feature category. It made France's finalist list but we don't yet know if they'll submit it.
Breakthrough Director
- Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
- Channing Godfrey Peoples for Miss Juneteenth (Vertical Entertainment)
- Alex Thompson for Saint Frances (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Carlo Mirabella-Davis for Swallow (IFC Films)
- Andrew Patterson for The Vast of Night (Amazon Studios)
Best Screenplay
- Bad Education, Mike Makowsky (HBO)
- First Cow, Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt (A24)
- The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank (Netflix)
- Fourteen, Dan Sallitt (Grasshopper Film)
- The Vast of Night, James Montague, Craig Sanger (Amazon Studios)
I really can't get over how much they seemed to dislike Minari. Perhaps it's too family friendly for the more edge-loving Gothams?
Best Actor
- Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
- Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
- Jude Law in The Nest (IFC Films)
- John Magaro in First Cow (A24)
- Jesse Plemons in I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
Steven Yeun was right there in Minari. How did he miss?
Best Actress
- Nicole Beharie in Miss Juneteenth (Vertical Entertainment)
- Jessie Buckley in I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)
- Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari (A24)
- Carrie Coon in The Nest (IFC Films)
- Frances McDormand in Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Interesting that I'm Thinking of Ending Things and The Nest each scored in both leading actor categories but couldn't make it to Screenplay, Film, or Director.
Breakthrough Actor
Saint Frances
- Jasmine Batchelor in The Surrogate (Monument Releasing)
- Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)
- Sidney Flanigan in Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
- Orion Lee in First Cow (A24)
- Kelly O’Sullivan in Saint Frances (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
We keep hearing that Jasmine Batchelor is amazing in her film but we haven't yet seen it. Have you?
Breakthrough Series (Long Form)
- The Great (Hulu)
- Immigration Nation (Netflix)
- P-Valley (Starz)
- Unorthodox (Netflix)
- Watchmen (HBO)
Breakthrough Series (Short Form)
- Betty (HBO)
- Dave (FX Networks)
- I May Destroy You (HBO)
- Taste the Nation (Hulu)
- Work in Progress (Showtime)