It’s getting down to the wire folks! Usually, the Film Independent Spirit Awards takes place the afternoon before the Oscars, but in this unprecedented time of a pandemic, they switched their usual plan of attack by airing in a prime time slot during the week (a Thursday to be exact). Hey, I don’t care when they air, I promise I’ll be there to watch it. Normally, I would not be catching the Spirit Awards until after the fact, but this year, yours truly was a voting member, so I had to tune in!
While the whole ceremony was virtual, it flip-flopped between pre-recorded segments and live acceptance speeches, although sometimes it was hard to tell. All in all, it reminded me of a longer version of this year’s SAG Awards. Which, as I said then, was not my favorite layout, but I understand the need to be flexible. Saturday Night Live‘s Melissa Villseñor was this year’s host, so naturally there were going to be impressions. I actually found her Owen Wilson impersonation quite funny, especially in the context of talking with Fern from a scene in Nomadland, but otherwise they were sort of just fairly boring filler.
I know a lot of the Oscar winners for this Sunday seem like a shoe-in, but if this ceremony, which is known synonymously for predicating Sunday night winners, then people might want to update their own last minute predictions! I say that because Chadwick Boseman migh get upset by Anthony Hopkins, who took home the Best Actor win, and who knows, maybe Paul Raci does edge out Daniel Kaluuya. I really liked Kaluuya’s performance, but I also feel like there was come category fraud there for his nomination slot at the Oscars. Nomadland continued its domination in Best Picture and Best Director, so I really don’t see that changing come Sunday. To be fair though, a lot of the films nominated in the Oscars don’t qualify for the Film Independent Spirit Awards because of a budgetary criteria. All the films nominated here had to have a budget of 22.5 million or less. That means you’re missing out on films like The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank.
I was a little sad to see Never Rarely Sometimes Always walk away empty-handed. Especially with all the love I saw critics give it. I figured if it was going to have its day in the sun it would be at this little indie spotlight ceremony. Same goes for The Assistant! That film is underrated, and if you have Hulu you better go watch this tense thriller right now! The last point I’m conflicted on. In one respect I am pumped this was the first year recognizing television, but there were only five measly categories! I know that budgets for shows can be a lot higher because of number of episodes, but hopefully moving forward they can expand upon available categories.
Overall, this was a super fun thing I got to be a small part of, and I can’t wait to vote on next year! Who knows, maybe there will even be a live ceremony that I could attend! I’ll be curious to see how everything shakes out at the Oscars, because despite some actors and projects dominating at all the other awards ceremonies this season, it still seems like anything could really happen. I love it! Click here for a full list of winners.