2007 Indie Spirit Nominations: commentary & predictions!

Dysfunctional loving families undergoing reality checks, a paralyzed man checking out and a checklist of Dylan figures are the film narratives that have collected the most noms for the 2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Sparkling Fox Searchlight titles of Tamara Jenkins’s The Savages and Jason Reitman’s Juno each grab a significant amount of noms, but it is Todd Haynes’ I’m not There and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly that have collected the most kudos with the Dylan kaleidescope already leading 1 to zero by winning the inaugural Robert Altman award: given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast (Haynes gets cred and so does Laura Rosenthal for casting Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Bruce Greenwood).

As noted in the Hollywood Reporter, these American independent films have a distinct international flair about them this year – from locations, to production money and foreign tongues – several noms this year have jetted off to other corners of the globe to bring forth their stories but with the enforced rules meant that “indie films” breaking the 20 million dollar budget gap were not included, hence the reason why we don’t see Into the Wild, There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men among the noms.   

Notable inclusions for acting awards for thesps flying under the radar includes a best actor nom Pedro Castaneda for “August Evening”, Tamara Podemski for Best Actress with Four Sheets to the Wind.

Below you’ll find a complete list of the nominations, and IONCINEMA.com’s predictions and commentary (excluding the award categories for the JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD, TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD and PRODUCERS AWARD which we will be highlighting separately on another page) for what should be a grand evening on February 23rd.:

Best Feature:

       

Commentary: One would think that the number of mentions for The Savages would guarantee a Best Feature nom, but it was edged out by a comedy (Juno) that stands out “fresher” than its Sundance counterpart. Paranoid Park proves that Gus Van Sant is still delivering solid works of art and Michael Winterbottom might have to thank Angelina Jolie and a summer placement for the attention it is receiving in late November. The true grudge match of the evening will be between Diving Bell and the Dylan X6 fantasy biopic.    

Best Director:

       

Best First Feature:

       

Best Documentary:

       

Best Foreign Film:

       

Best Female Lead:

       

Best Male Lead:

     

Best Supporting Female:

       

Best Supporting Male:

       

Best Screenplay:

       

I’m not There appears to be the toast of this year’s awards, but oddly enough best screenplay nods go to Mike White’s Year of the Dog and Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner’s Starting Out in the Evening instead. Adrienne Shelly might be smiling from above as Waitress struck a cord with auds this summer – but the heavy favorite and 2nd place finishing should be a toss up between either Ronald Harwood’s take on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly or Tamara Jenkins’s dysfunctional family called The Savages.

Best First Screenplay:

       

Number one with a bullet in the Best First Screenplay category is the rich dialogue and believable characters that Diablo Cody created for Juno. Kelly Masterson’s structured screenplay is one of the principle reasons why Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is getting creds these days. Sundance entries and biographically spun tales from doc filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz (Rocket Science) and Zoe Cassavetes (Broken English) get a nod as well and A Mighty Heart’s John Orloff completes the group with his take on the book adapted true story of the Pearl family.

Best Cinematography: