Awards season continues on with the Film Independent Spirit Awards! I might be partial to this awards show because as a Film Independent member, I was able to vote for the winners!
To me, this awards show is a terrific showcase for all the brilliant small scale films that get released throughout the year. While some of them do end up getting some mainstream love and cross over into an Oscars nomination (CODA), others are on the cusp and end up get shut out all together (Pig, Red Rocket). Yes, these films get love and attention from critics and Film Twitter, but this awards show is the place to showcase the abundance of amazing performances on a smaller scale budget. This was also the second year that television categories have been included, and while there are fewer of them with somewhat hazy guidelines, it was nice to see some shows on here that really managed to shine critically without getting recognized at the Emmys (Reservation Dogs).
Admittedly, I have never watched the Film Independent Spirit Awards mainly because I didn’t know where I could. Even though I was eligible and did vote last year, I still only just looked up a winners list and read about any highlights after the fact. In watching this year, the ceremony itself also identifies as indie because it’s held in a tent (albeit a very large one) right by the Santa Monica Pier. I do know that this awards show usually takes place the week before the Oscars, but with COVID variants still running amok, this time it came a little earlier in the season. No matter! It was still a really fun time.
Truly every winner of the night made my heart soar. You could even see with many of the nominees that they were just thrilled to be there, winners or not. On the opposite end of most of the films and series nominated for the night, the list of presenters were fairly A-list, but they’ve all done their fair share of indies in the past, like Kristen Stewart and Sebastian Stan. The winner of the night that came as no surprise really, was CODA‘s Troy Kotsur. At this point, I think he’s sweeping the rest of the season in the supporting actor category. It was nice to see Ruth Negga get awarded for her highly praised turn in Passing given that she just narrowly missed being nominated at the Oscars. Seeing Pig take home Best Screenplay and 7 Days take home Best First Feature really made me smile.
I was also tickled to see Michael Greyeyes get love for not only Wild Indian, but also for Rutherford Falls! Both are excellent, and you should definitely seek them out. The main acting categories were so hard, but I was pumped to see Taylour Paige and Simon Rex take home actress and actor for Zola and Red Rocket, respectively. Both of them seemed equally surprised to have won, too. I know from Rex’s Twitter that his money was on his favorite performance of the year, Clifton Collins Jr. for Jockey. These wins not only elicited broad smiles from the recipients, but even from their fellow nominees! I love this awards show! I suppose the big sweeper of the night came in the form of The Lost Daughter. It took home Best Feature, along with writing and directing wins for Maggie Gyllenhaal. Not bad for her first swing at things!
I was slightly less invested in the television categories, because truthfully, I hadn’t seen many of the nominees. With that being said, I wasn’t all too surprised to see Reservation Dogs, Squid Game, and The Underground Railroad take home prizes for the night. Perhaps the only disappointing aspects of the evening were that not all of the categories were announced on air. With an awards show that doesn’t censor what anyone is saying and is airing on IFC, were they really worried about running over? Anyways, nothing I can do about that. Hosts Nick Offerman and Mega Mullally were kind of awful hosts. The jokes didn’t really land and their delivery was stilted and awkward. I vote to bring back Aubrey Plaza or Nick Kroll and John Mulaney!
Overall though, it was a really great show with some fantastic wins. In a category all on its own, Mass was honored with the Robert Altman Award. Similarly, Shiva Baby was honored with the John Cassavetes Award. What a great opportunity to praise these excellent films. If you haven’t seen any of the indie gems nominated, then get to it!