Independent Spirit Awards Honor The Expected, The Random And The Excellent

Say what you will about the quality of mainstream studio movies in 2009, complain about Transformers 2 or New Moon all you like-- it's been a stellar year for independent film, as evidenced by the hugely diverse nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards. Announced today in advance of the March 5 ceremony, the nominees range from micro-indies (Amreeka) to studio supported stuff (A Serious Man), industry veterans (James Gray) and scrappy upstarts (Oren Peli), the entirely expected (Precious) to the out-of-left-field wowsers (Jemaine Clement for Gentlemen Broncos? Ooooo-kay.)

The Spirit Awards are always blast to keep track of because of their refusal to try and simply predict the Oscar nominees, as well as their willingness to reach out and honor the true indies that might not be honored otherwise. Then again, some of their most nominated films-- (500) Days of Summer, A Serious Man, Crazy Heart-- are already very much part of the awards season discussion, so I suppose any crowing about how crazy their choices are is a little premature. Check out the list of nominees below (thanks, Indiewire), along with a touch of commentary about notable omissions/inclusions.
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)

“(500) Days Of Summer,” Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe

“Amreeka,” Producers: Paul Barkin, Christina Piovesan

“Precious,” Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness

“Sin Nombre,” Producer: Amy Kaufman

“The Last Station,” Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Chris Curling, Jens Meuer

Strange to exclude A Serious Man but honor it with the Robert Altman award later... or does that mean it's ineligible? Apologies for a lack of knowledge here.

BEST DIRECTOR

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, “A Serious Man”

Lee Daniels, “Precious”

Cary Joji Fukunaga, “Sin Nombre”

James Gray, “Two Lovers”

Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station”

Fukunaga is also eligible for the Best First Feature award, but apparently they thought his work was so stellar it deserved bigger company (so do I). Love seeing James Gray remembered even though Two Lovers came out in February.

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)

“A Single Man,” Director: Tom Ford, Producers: Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert Salerno, Chris Weitz

“Crazy Heart,” Director: Scott Cooper, Producers: T Bone Burnett, Judy Cairo, Rob Carliner, Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall

“Easier With Practice,” Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Producer: Cookie Carosella

“Paranormal Activity,” Director: Oren Peli, Producer: Jason Blum, Oren Peli

“The Messenger,” Director: Oren Moverman, Producers: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Zach Miller

Oren Peli is a totally oddball but great choice given Paranormal Activity's huge success. It would have been great to see Duncan Jones for Moon or Marc Webb for (500) Days of Summer-- Webb especially is an odd omission.

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD 
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

“Big Fan” Writer/Director: Robert Siegel; Producers: Elan Bogarin, Jean Kouremetis

“Humpday” Writer/Director/Producer: Lynn Sheldon

“The New Year Parade” Writer/Director: Tom Quinn; Producers: Steve Beal, Tom Quinn

“Treeless Mountain” Writer/Director: So Yong Kim; Producers: Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, So Yong Kim, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy

“Zero Bridge” Writer/Director: Tariq Tapa; Producers: Josee Lajoie, Hilal Ahmed Langoo, Tariq Tapa

Siegel won big at the Gotham Awards last night as Breakthrough Director; it's great to see this film remembered as well.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”

Michael Hoffman, “The Last Station

Lee Toland Krieger, “The Vicious Kind”

Greg Mottola, “Adventureland”

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, “(500) Days Of Summer”

Can anything beat (500) Days of Summer here?

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Sophie Barthes, “Cold Souls”

Scott Cooper, “Crazy Heart”

Cherien Dabis, “Amreeka”

Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”

Tom Ford, David Scearce, “A Single Man”

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Maria Bello, “Downloading Nancy”

Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”

Gwentyth Paltrow, “Two Lovers”

Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”

Nisreen Faour, “Amreeka”

Totally bizarre that they left out Carey Mulligan here. At least it clears the way for Gabourey Sidibe to walk away with this prize.

BEST MALE LEAD

Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”

Colin Firth, “A Single Man”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days Of Summer”

Souléymane Sy Savané, “Goodbye Solo”

Adam Scott, “The Vicious Kind”

I had never even heard of this Adam Scott movie before, but kudos to him to sneaking in among this fierce competition.

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Dina Korzun, “Cold Souls”

Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Samantha Morton, “The Messenger”

Natalie Press, “Fifty Dead Men Walking”

Mia Wasikowska, “That Evening Sun”

Before she emerges as a giant star thanks to Alice in Wonderland, Wasikowska will now have a "lost the Spirit Award to Mo'nique" cachet.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Jemaine Clement, “Gentleman Broncos”

Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”

Christian McKay, “Me and Orson Welles”

Raymond McKinnon, “That Evening Sun”

Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins, “A Serious Man”

Adriano Goldman, “Sin Nombre”

Anne Misawa, “Treeless Mountain”

Andrij Parekh, “Cold Souls”

Peter Zeitlinger, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” Director: Sacha Gervasi

“Food, Inc.” Director: Robert Kenner

“More Than a Game” Director: Kristopher Belman

“October Country” Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri

“Which Way Home” Director: Rebecca Cammisa

The Oscar-snubbed Anvil! may rally a lot of support here as a kind of makeup award.

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)

“A Prophet” (France), Director: Jacques Audiard

“An Education” (UK/France), Director: Lone Scherfig

“Everlasting Moments” (Sweden), Director: Jan Troell

“Mother” (South Korea), Director: Bong Joon-Ho

“The Maid” (Chile), Director: Sebastian Silva

It's bizarre that An Education gets lumped in foreign film even though it's in English, but it should be able to win here anyway.

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

Robert Altman Award
“A Serious Man”

Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Casting Directors: Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner

Cast: Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Jessica McManus, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff

Excellent choice.

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD

Karin Chien, “The Exploding Girl,” “Santa Mesa”

Larry Fessenden, “I Sell the Dead,” “The House of the Devil”

Dia Sokol, “Beeswax,” “Nights & Weekends”
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Kyle Patrick Alvarez, “Easier With Practice”

Asiel Norton, “Redland”

Tariq Tapa, “Zero Bridge”

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

NNatalia Almada, “El General”

Jessica Oreck, “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo”

Bill Ross, Turner Ross, “45365”