by Nathaniel R
A24's restless inventive sleeper hit Everything Everywhere All At Once continues to win. It's now the leader at the 38th annuel Independent Spirit Awards with 8 nominations and all four of its principal actors were nominated. In second place is Tár with seven nominations. Aftersun missed a couple categories we thought it might hit but it still did very well with five nominations overall. Love for the rest of the eligible movies was more measured but Bones and All, The Inspection, The Cathedral, and Women Talking also showed up in a few places.
Since the Spirit Awards have a budget cap ($30 million now) many key potential Oscar players weren't eligible including most Netflix titles as well as presumed Oscar players like The Fabelmans, Banshees of Inisherin, Empire of Light and naturally all of the spectacle blockbusters. The Spirit Awards rule also deny international cinema the chance to compete in major categories, relegating them to a single "international" category...
Best Feature
- “Bones and All” (3 nominations)
- “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (8 nominations)
- “Our Father, the Devil” (1 nomination)
- “TÁR” (7 nominations)
- “Women Talking” (2 nominations + The Robert Alman Award)
ABOUT THAT SEPARATION OF INTERNATIONAL FEATURES / AMERICAN FEATURES AGAIN...
Here's one of the reasons the rules separating international from main categories are so silly. The lines are way too gray to do this in contemporary very global cinema. AMPAS eventually realized they had to loosen their own rules about specific countries in their "Best International Feature Film" category by allowing for non-indigenous languages and then loosening up further and making it slightly more vague about constituted enough creative input from that country specificially. But they always allowed international films in the normal categories as long as they played in the US (totally fair). The Globes also got into a little media trouble classifying The Farewell and Minari as "foreign" despite both being from American directors.
Somehow Film Independent Spirit Awards and Gotham Awards have never been taken to similar task for the arbitrary-ness of separating these things. For example this year Our Father the Devil (which only shows up in this top category) is directed by a Cameroonian American (hence eligible in all the main categories and NOT considered "international") and yet it has some of its funding from France and takes place in France and is in the French-language. Meanwhile Aftersun, from a Scottish director is considered American (due to partial US funding) but The Wonder (also in English) from Ireland with a Chilean director is considered International but wasn't nominated (it's best bet was always going to be Florence Pugh but she wasn't eligible due to that "international" tag.
Best Director
After Yang
- Todd Field, “TÁR”
- Kogonada, “After Yang”
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
- Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”
- Halina Reijn, “Bodies Bodies Bodies”
Thrilled about the Kogonada nomination. After Yang is officially 2022's most underrated beauty. For those who liked Halina Reijn's work on Bodies Bodie Bodies, we recommend checking out her Dutch Oscar submission Instinct (2019)
Best First Feature
Aftersun
- “Aftersun”
- “Emily the Criminal”
- “The Inspection”
- “Murina”
- “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Aftersun is looking to sweep "first feature" and "debut director" style prizes, isn't it? It's interesting that Palm Trees and Power Lines did so well with the Spirit Awards. It's played at lots of small festivals since Sundance but is still waiting on a release date. It's looking like it will be sometime in 2023 from the ironically named Momentum Pictures. (Just kidding. We know budges for small indie distributors are always a challenge as the market is not in their favor)
Best Lead Performance
- Cate Blanchett, “TÁR”
- Dale Dickey, “A Love Song”
- Mia Goth, “Pearl”
- Regina Hall, “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul”
- Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”
- Aubrey Plaza, “Emily the Criminal”
- Jeremy Pope, “The Inspection”
- Taylor Russell, “Bones and All”
- Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”
- Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
It'll be interesting to see if Cate Blanchett can triumph here. She already has three Spirit Awards (two individual acting prizes (Blue Jasmine, I'm Not There) and one Robert Altman prize (I'm Not There) or if the Spirits go in a more "independent" direction.
Paul Mescal and Jeremy Pope are the only men competing in this newly gender neutral category. (Young rising male stars have long been a fixture at the Spirit Awards though Oscar voters don't tend to be enthused.)
Best Supporting Performance
- Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
- Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”
- Nina Hoss, “TÁR”
- Brian d’Arcy James, “The Cathedral”
- Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Trevante Rhodes, “Bruiser”
- Theo Rossi, “Emily the Criminal”
- Mark Rylance, “Bones and All”
- Jonathan Tucker, “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
- Gabrielle Union, “The Inspection”
The big surprise here is surely Trevante Rhodes from Bruiser. The film has played just three festivals (TIFF, AFI, and Stockholm) and hasn't garnered much buzz.
The Women Talking cast members are all honored together in the non-competitive annual "Robert Altman Award"
Breakthrough Performance
Stephanie Hsu in "Everything Everywhere All At Once"
- Frankie Corio, “Aftersun”
- Gracija Filipović, “Murina”
- Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
- Lily McInerny, “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
- Daniel Zolghadri, “Funny Pages”
With Hsu's placement here, the entire central quartet of Everything Everywhere All At Once is nominated! That table is going to be having a time at the Spirit Awards.
Best Screenplay
GORGEOUS LINEUP, don'cha think?
Best First Screenplay
- “Bodies Bodies Bodies”
- “Emergency”
- “Emily the Criminal”
- “Fire Island”
- “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Fun to see Fire Island here. "First" categories often have interesting lineups because it forces awards bodies to think out of the primary lines drawn.
Best Cinematography
Neptune Frost
TÁR is the only film in the top category to appear here. But that's a relatively fun thing about the Spirits is that the Best Film category doesn't tend to monopolize the other categories.
Best Editing
- “Aftersun”
- “The Cathedral”
- “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
- “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
- “TÁR”
Robert Altman Award
Best Documentary
- “A House Made of Splinters”
- “All That Breathes”
- “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
- “Midwives”
- “Riotsville USA”
Best International Film
Saint Omer
- “Corsage” (Austria)
- “Joyland” (Pakistan)
- “Leonor Will Never Die” (Phillipines)
- “Return to Seoul” (Cambodia)
- “Saint Omer” (France)
All but Leonor Will Never Die are Oscar submissions this year.
Someone to Watch Award
- Adamma Ebo, “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul”
- Nikyatu Jusu, “Nanny”
- Araceli Lemos, “Holy Emy”
The nominees here make you wonder why they don't just expand the Best First Feature category to 10 nominees? These are all also first features for their directors who previously made short films.
Truer Than Fiction Award
- Isabel Castro, “Mija”
- Reid Davenport, “I Didn’t See You There”
- Rebeca Huntt, “Beba (Bayba)”
John Cassavetes Award
A Love Song
- “The African Desperate”
- “A Love Song”
- “The Cathedral”
- “Holy Emy”
- “Something in the Dirt”
This prize is for films that were made for under $1 million (it used to be a $500k cap)
Producers Award
- Liz Cardenas
- Tory Lenosky
- David Grove Churchill Viste