Nicole Beharie & Riz Ahmed win at the Gothams

by Nathaniel R

It's not always helpful to "lead" in the nominations. First Cow came on strong when the Gotham nominations were announced but two months later at the hybrid real / virtual ceremony it didn't manage a single win. The winners lineup surprised with an award for the wondrously talented Nicole Beharie for Miss Juneteenth and two ties in other categories. We don't remember the Gothams doing this before but maybe they have? I don't know if you've heard but there are... things going on in the world... and in the nation's capitol... in short: it's difficult to focus).

Without the hubbub of traditional awards ceremonies this year we don't know how much of that "winner" aura is going to rub off on various contenders as we head toward Oscar. Will anything stick?  The winners and a few speeches are after the jump... 

Best Feature

• The Assistant  (Bleecker Street)
• First Cow (A24)
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
• Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures) ★
• Relic (IFC Midnight)

Nomadland has long since emerged as the frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars, even if it would make for an atypical winner (to say the least). Now had First Cow won this perhaps it might have helped that film with traction. Not that the Oscar race is everything, mind you. Congratulations to Chloe Zhao and Frances McDormand. 

Best Documentary

• 76 Days  (MTV Documentary Films)
• City Hall  (Zipporah Films)
• Our Time Machine  (Passion River Films)
• A Thousand Cuts (PBS Distribution | Frontline) ★
• Time (Amazon Studios) ★

Time has been collecting plenty of hardware and media attention but this is a nice get for A Thousand Cuts which needed more attention. They both face robust competition in the upcoming Oscar race. The 15 finalists for the Oscar will be announced on February 9th. 

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

Well, that's a surprise! Identifying Features, about a Mexican woman trying to find her son who had travelled to the US for work, premiered as a work-in-progress in the fall of 2019 at the San Sebastian Film Festival before taking the Sundance World Cinema prize a year ago this month. Nevertheless the other films have all racked up much more subsequent attention.

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) ★

I am not anti Vast of Night. I found it interesting but I haven't quite accounted for its obviously large appeal in terms of breakthrough or debut prizes against such considerable competition this year. 

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)

Another TIE. 

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)

Nice get for Riz who is just superb in the disability drama. Rooting for the Oscar nomination but that competition is pretty crowded. 

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)

Beharie has been winning raves for Miss Juneteenth all year long. We've admired her since Shame (2011) so this is a nice crescendo for her career (she was also just sensational in her episode of Monsterland on Hulu this past fall.)

Breakthrough Actor 

• 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 though Flanigan would triumph here, being such a critical darling, but we were wrong. 

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)

Audience Award Nomadland

Actress and Actor Tributes: Viola Davis & Chadwick Boseman

Ensemble Tribute: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Directors Tribute: Steve McQueen

Industry Tribute: Ryan Murphy

Made in NY Tribute: Jeffrey Wright

Comments

[Peggy]

Why are not reacting the other nominees? It's super creepy

[Mipsy]

Beharie and Ahmed's wins are SO well deserved. I hope the spirits follow suit

[thefilmjunkie]

So happy for Nicole Beharie! I know she still has one helluva a mountain to climb in terms of Oscar recognition, but I'm not ready to count her out yet. Her reaction to winning was so sweet. I have to catch up on The Sound of Metal, but I love that Riz is getting so much recognition either way.

[Bushwick]

I haven’t seen Miss Juneteenth yet but I’m elated for Nicole Beharie. I loved her in Shame (2011) and have been hoping she’d receive a film vehicle since.

[Owen]

This is awkward

[NATHANIEL R]

Owen -- what's awkward? (i swear i'm not following the comments lately... is there a typo somewhere?)

[Carl]

What does "Breakthrough" etc. mean?

[Sean]

Nothing to say about Ben-Adir? Instead you focus on someone else.

[NATHANIEL R]

Sean -- we have an interview with him this week. We'll cover him.

[Jesus Alonso]

any reason why the Gothams didn't nominate Bakalova even at Breakthrough? Because it is clearly the breakthrough performance of the year, given the impact (and huge amount of awards that she's scoring)

[Brevity]

Somehow, back in November or December, BET aired Miss Juneteenth, so I recorded and watched it. (Basic cable. Who knew?)

The stories are different, but it reminded me a little of Support the Girls, with its Texas setting and 1990s indie film vibe. You could sneak either movie into a Richard Linklater retrospective and neither would feel out of place.

Nicole Beharie anchors the film and tells us as much about her character from her muted reactions as from her dialogue. It is a strong but not a particularly showy performance. Her character's journey is mostly inward, as tries to gain control of her situation, but it is ultimately satisfying.

I think the economics of Oscar attention won't let a performance like this crash a nominee lineup. Netflix, Searchlight, and the major studios will throw around a lot of money for their showier choices. As stated above, a Spirit nomination is a worthy goal here. As is some career vindication.