Briefly... on the 29th Independent Spirit Award Nominations

As has become more common than not over the last ten years, the nomination leader for the 29^th Film Independent Spirit Awards is a film released by a boutique division of a major Hollywood studio: Fox Searchlight's 12 Years a Slave, with seven nominations including Best Feature. What makes this year's case potentially interesting is that the film is, at this admittedly very early stage of awards season, a major contender to factor strongly at the Academy Awards, so the usual "win on Saturday, lose on Sunday" pattern usually followed on awards weekend may be broken for the first time in March 2014. Another studio release, Paramount Vantage's Nebraska, earned the second most nominations with six. But some true indies do factor in this list, including the film which placed third on the nod tally, Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate's All Is Lost, with four.

While this list is expectedly populated with a lot of the more popular and acclaimed independent releases this year, as with every year there are some peculiarities. Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha scored a Best Feature nomination, but none for Baumbach's direction or screenplay, and even more curiously, none for the film's star Greta Gerwig--and the film is more or less carried by her performance. Festival and critical darling Short Term 12 earned three nods, including the highly touted Brie Larson for Best Female Lead, the film didn't get a Best Feature nod, nor was its writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton nominated for anything. While the film's screenplay and Julie Delpy's lead performance were nominated, Before Midnight is notably absent from the Best Feature category. Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station has three nominations, but one of them is not a Best Supporting Female nod for Octavia Spencer, but her co-star Melonie Diaz did make that cut. But most annoying of all is James Franco's instantly quotable, and dare I say instantly iconic, work in Spring Breakers somehow didn't make the Best Supporting Male list. If Franco's fearless, all-in, take-no-prisoners performance isn't the very epitome of "independent spirit," I don't know what is.

The full list of nominees:

BEST FEATURE
(Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not awarded)

• 12 Years a Slave - Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad
• All Is Lost - Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb
• Frances Ha - Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Rodrigo Teixeira, Lila Yacoub
• Inside Llewyn Davis - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin
• Nebraska - Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa

BEST DIRECTOR

• Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
• J.C. Chandor, All Is Lost
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• Jeff Nichols, Mud
• Alexander Payne, Nebraska

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Before Midnight - Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater
• Blue Jasmine - Woody Allen
• Enough Said - Nicole Holofcener
• The Spectacular Now - Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
• 12 Years a Slave - John Ridley

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

• Blue Caprice - Alexandre Moors, director/producer; Kim Jackson, Brian O'Carroll, Isen Robbins, Will Rowbotham, Ron Simons, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi, producers
• Concussion - Stacie Passon, director; Rose Troche, producer
• Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler, director; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, producers
• Una Noche - Lucy Mulloy, director/producer; Sandy Pérez Aguila, Maite Artieda, Daniel Mulloy, Yunior Santiago, producers
• Wadjda - Haifaa Al Mansour, director; Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul, producers

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

• Lake Bell, In a World...
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Jon
• Bob Nelson, Nebraska
• Jill Soloway, Afternoon Delight
• Michael Starrbury, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister + Pete

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director, and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.

• Computer Chess - Andrew Bujalski, writer/director; Houston King & Alex Lipschultz, producers
• Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus and 2012 - Sebastián Silva, writer/director; Juan de Dios Larraín & Pablo Larraín, producers
• Museum Hours - Jem Cohen, writer/director; Paolo Calamita & Gabriele Kranzelbinder, producers
• Pit Stop - Yen Tan, writer/director; David Lowery, writer; Jonathan Duffy, James M. Johnston, Eric Steele, Kelly Williams, producers
• This is Martin Bonner - Chad Hartigan, writer/director; Cherie Saulter, producer

BEST FEMALE LEAD

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
• Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus and 2012
• Brie Larson, Short Term 12
• Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now

BEST MALE LEAD

• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Robert Redford, All Is Lost

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

• Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
• Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
• Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
• Yolonda Ross, Go For Sisters
• June Squibb, Nebraska

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Will Forte, Nebraska
• James Gandolfini, Enough Said
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
• Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave
• Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers
• Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Frank G. DeMarco, All Is Lost
• Matthias Grunsky, Computer Chess

BEST EDITING

• Frances Ha - Jennifer Lame
• Museum Hours - Jem Cohen & Marc Vives
• Short Term 12 - Nat Sanders
• Una Noche - Cindy Lee
• Upstream Color - Shane Carruth & David Lowery

BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Award given to the director and producer)

• The Act of Killing - Joshua Oppenheimer, director/producer; Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Michael Uwemedimo, producers
• After Tiller - Martha Shane & Lana Wilson, directors/producers
• Gideon's Army - Dawn Porter, director/producer; Julie Goldman, producer
• The Square - Jehane Noujaim, director; Karim Amer, producer
• 20 Feet From Stardom - Morgan Neville, director/producer; Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers, producers

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
(Award given to the director)

• A Touch of Sin (China) - Jia Zhang-Ke
• Blue is the Warmest Color (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 & 2) (France) - Abdellatif Kechiche
• Gloria (Chile) - Sebastián Lelio
• The Great Beauty (Italy) - Paolo Sorrentino
• The Hunt (Denmark) - Thomas Vinterberg

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

Mud
Director: Jeff Nichols
Casting Director: Francine Maisler
Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

17^th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
The 17^th annual Producers Award, sponsored by Piaget, honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

• Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
• Jacob Jaffke
• Andrea Roa
• Frederick Thornton

20^th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
The 20^th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition.

• My Sister's Quinceañera - Aaron Douglas Johnston
• Newlyweeds - Shaka King
• The Foxy Merkins - Madeline Olnek

19^th ANNUAL STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
The 19^th annual Truer Than Fiction Award, sponsored by Stella Artois, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

• Kalyanee Mam, A River Changes Course
• Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn
• Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, Manakamana

The 29^th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out, as is tradition, in a tent on Santa Monica beach the afternoon the day before the Oscars, on Saturday, March 1, 2014.

The Movie Report wants to attend all your film awards events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!

Briefly... on The Great Gatsby trailer

Ever since I witnessed the unveiling of first tantalizing tastes of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby at CinemaCon 2012 last April, I have been eagerly anticipating the mad Aussie's 3D take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel--anticipation that only grew when Warner Bros. pushed back the release date from an awards-baiting Holiday 2012 berth to an early summer 2013 release date. Usually such a major release shift denotes some sort of trouble, but moving a period romance from a more drama-friendly season to ultracompetitive summer suggests that Warner Bros. sees the film as one that could go over with the masses--which is what happened when Fox did a nearly identical rescheduling move a dozen years earlier with Luhrmann's (now-widely beloved) Moulin Rouge!. Judging by the newest and final official trailer for the film before the May 10 opening, I can see this potentially being the date movie for the season. As with nearly all late campaign trailers, this new one is more conventionally dialogue- and plot-heavy than all previous teasers and spots for the film, but 45 seconds in, a more familiarly, distinctly Luhrmann vibe takes over: clever, unconventional, yet pitch-perfect music choices playing against grandiose costumes and production design that serves as a backdrop to unabashedly outsized, often operatic emotion, best exemplified by the electric, soulful looks of longing exchanged between a truly radiant Carey Mulligan as Daisy and Leonardo DiCaprio comfortably slipping back into his long-neglected romantic lead shoes as the title character. If there's any disappointment with this particular spot, it's the absence of Indian screen legend Amitabh Bachchan (in, shockingly as it may seem, his Hollywood debut), who was prominently featured in previous trailers. But for the home stretch of the campaign, it is a wise choice to push the romantic hook and push it hard--and I am not ashamed to admit that my inner sap is already swooning. But we shall see if the finished product is akin to a romantic evergreen like Moulin Rouge! or a gorgeous but only sporadically effective and affecting Australia when The Great Gatsby opens in cinemas everywhere on Friday, May 10.

Buy The Great Gatsby movie poster here.
Buy The Great Gatsby soundtrack here.

Briefly... on the Don 2 soundtrack

While making sequels to blockbuster films is a long-standing Hollywood tradition, the practice has only become more common fairly recently in Bollywood--and that's the only reason I can come up with for the mixed initial reactions to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's Don 2 soundtrack. One common complaint is the recurring use of the recognizable theme melody of Farhan Akhtar's 2006 Don, which some have taken to be laziness on the part of the celebrated composing trio. I say it's anything but lazy and downright difficult to incorporate that melody line into different tunes in seamless, organic manner, making for an uncommon musical unity across an Indian film's entire song score, which more often than not runs the gamut from club-ready bangers to traditional dress dance numbers to romantic ballads. But there's another, more inspired unifying element to the songs here; early footage from the film suggests that Shahrukh Khan's title character has abandoned the cheeky-cool pimpdaddy costuming this time out, but Akhtar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy keep the retro spirit alive in the music, for every non-remix track here bears strong elements of 1970s funk and R&B--a sound that perhaps comes off a bit (for lack of a better term) alien to longtime Hindi film soundtrack listeners and reviewers. But this is no mere throwback pastiche; Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy marry the rich, soulful instrumentation with the modern electro elements they brought to the first film, making for a music masala as unique as it is utterly irresistible. Here's hoping the film proper can accordingly fall in line come December 23.

Order the Don 2 soundtrack here.
Read my review of 2006's Don here.

Briefly... on the new Don 2 trailer

Two words: Cannot. Wait.

A few more: Farhan Akhtar's 2006 update of the 1978 Amitabh Bachchan starrer was not only one of the best pure entertainments of that year, but about as ideal a modern "reimagining" of an older film should be, honoring not only the story but also the spirit of the original while having its own modern identity. With this long-anticipated sequel, Akhtar is now free of the shackles of the original, and I look forward to seeing what one of the most consistently smart and fresh young filmmakers working anywhere in the world has up his sleeve this time on December 23.

Order the Don 2 soundtrack here.
Read my review of 2006's Don here.

F3TV: Briefly... on the ABC soap online rescue

As a viewer of the ABC Daytime drama lineup for a little over (gasp) two decades, the initial reaction to the unexpected news that the recently cancelled One Life to Live and All My Children will now actually continue on a yet-to-be-launched Internet site following their final network broadcasts (AMC on September 23; OLTL sometime in January) was that of relief--after all, while my interest in the shows wane with the natural ebbs and flows of serial storytelling with constant turnover of writers, producers, and cast, it would be rather unimaginable to no longer have such constant staples of my TV diet completely gone. But then a certain reality set in. The soap opera genre has long suffered budget cuts as ratings have steadily declined over the years; with the move from the tube to the computer, no doubt further cuts are in store, and that budget will only be further reduced by the cut ABC/Disney will take from Prospect Park, the production company to whom they have licensed the production and online broadcast rights. But, perhaps more damaging of all, is the inevitable exodus of acting talent from both shows with the shift from the small to even-smaller screen. As much as the officlal press release insists that production quality will remain the same, what good is that when the core of the show--the canvas of characters--could very well be unrecognizable, as undoubtedly a number of actors would opt to pursue traditionally greener pastures in network and cable television and film. (And indeed, Debbi Morgan, who has played longtime All My Children fan favorite Dr. Angie Hubbard, is reportedly heading to CBS's The Young and the Restless once her show's ABC run concludes.) Then there's the question of how much lag time there will be between the end of the shows' respective network runs and their reappearance online; with neither an official name, much less a preliminary site set up yet for Prospect Park's television site, there certainly will be a time gap, and one that will have to be as brief as possible to maintain any sort of viewership momentum from TV to web. That said, I remain cautiously optimistic despite those inevitable concessions for the shows' survival. Their no longer being produced by ABC means being finally free of the clutches of fan-reviled ABC Daytime president Brian Frons, whose meddling, micromanaging hands have driven AMC and OLTL to their broadcast demises and continues to bleed dry the network's sole surviving soap, General Hospital. Perhaps the new producers, freedom from broadcast restraints, and streamlined casts will open the doors to a creative renaissance with riskier, edgier stories that harken back to the genre's character-driven roots and not the plot-driven gimmicks that have plagued all soaps in recent years. As the soap cliché goes, to find out I guess we'll all just have to tune in tomorrow...

Buy ABC's Daytime's Greatest Weddings DVD here.

Briefly... on the Red State situation

As with many, my initial reaction to Kevin Smith's decision to self-distribute his long-gestating horror film Red State was surprise--but not in the same way most (rather exaggeratedly outraged) observers have expressed. No, my surprise comes in that just about no one ever had the faintest suspicion Smith would follow such a route, especially within the context of his long history of challenging, breaking, and/or redefining traditional boundaries--whether embracing filmmaker/fan interaction long before the advent of social networking over at his official site; or running his own film and entertainment news outlet for a few years; or building a public speaking side career so successful so as to spawn a DVD franchise and, in recent years, a veritable network of podcasts that has grown to invite live audiences. Taking all that into consideration, theatrical self-distribution--piggybacked on his established drawing power as a live speaker--seems not so much insanity than an organic brand extension, albeit his boldest and riskiest. Whatever the outcome, undoubtedly it'll certainly be fascinating and instructive (from all angles, positively and negatively) to watch the situation play out in the coming months.