Awards Season 2018: Independent Spirit Awards Winners

This is the first of two (possibly three?) posts today about awards season, as it all comes to the grand finale tonight with the 90th Academy Awards. They can be viewed on a dedicated Sky Movies channel in the UK and on ABC in the US.

But before I get on to post my Oscar predictions, there's one more awards body to get out of the way first. 

Yesterday- Saturday 3rd March- saw the handing out of the 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards, in a ceremony hosted by Nick Kroll (Loving, Sing, Vacation) and John Mulaney (Mayne Street, Saturday Night Live) for the second year running.

As you no doubt know by now, the Independent Spirit Awards honour films made (partly or wholly) outside the major film studio system. Some of the winners are below.

Best Feature: Get Out

Best Female Lead: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Male Lead: Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Best Supporting Female: Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Best Supporting Male: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Director: Jordan Peele (Get Out)

Best Screenplay: Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)

Best First Screenplay: Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick)

Best Cinematography: Call Me By Your Name

Best First Feature: Ingrid Goes West

Best International Film: A Fantastic Woman

Best Documentary: Faces Places

John Cassavetes Award: Life And Nothing More

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000. The full list of winners can be found here.

A fairly even spread of awards, with no one film totally dominating. Get Out, Call Me By Your Name, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I, Tonya all came away with two awards each. 

With wins here, McDormand, Janney, and Rockwell surely cement their positions for winning the Oscars (but more on that later). I'm really pleased with both of Call Me By Your Name's wins- Timothee Chalamet's central performance is just superb and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom's cinematography is utterly gorgeous. 

Get Out is a very worthy winner of Best Picture and of Best Director, but it may struggle to replicate that success at the Oscars, due to it being up against more mainstream fare. However, in a hotly contested Original Screenplay category, it could be taking at least one statuette home. 

So, with that done, this just leaves the main event: the Oscars tonight. As promised, my predictions for the big winners will be coming later today.

Awards Season 2018: Writers' Guild Awards Winners

Just a quick update today as The Writers' Guild Awards were handed out yesterday (Sunday 11th February).

The film winners were:

Original Screenplay: Get Out

Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name

Documentary Screenplay: Jane

The WGA nominees for Original and Adapted Screenplays are virtually identical to those for the Oscars: the only difference is that the WGA nominated I, Tonya in the Original Screenplay category as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was ineligible for consideration under WGA rules. 

I'm overjoyed that Call Me By Your Name won; the screenplay is one of the most touching, poignant, and heartfelt pieces of writing I've experienced in ages. Get Out's eclectic blend of genres and styles is a superb piece of writing and, again, really glad to see it awarded. 

Interestingly, none of the nominees for the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award have been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. 

Next Sunday (18th February) sees the 71st British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) handed out. I'll put up a full list of winners after the ceremony. 

Awards Season 2018: Academy Award Nominations

As announced by Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip, Meet The Spartans) and Andy Serkis (The Lord Of The Rings, Black Panther) earlier today, here is a selection of the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)

Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)

Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Jordan Peele (Get Out)

BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.)

BEST ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Meryl Streep (The Post)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Richard Jenkins (The Shape Of Water)

Christopher Plummer (All The Money In The World) 

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

So, by my reckoning, that makes 29 out of 34 (85%)

The Academy's love for Phantom Thread has tripped me up - Day-Lewis' nod for Best Actor was virtually guaranteed, but the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress nods were a surprise (although Lesley Manville is a superb actress so I'm really chuffed to see her nominated). Denzel Washington's nod was also a surprise, although he has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for this performance. 

Meryl Streep gets her 21st- yes, twenty-first, nomination - breaking her own record (which she set last year with Florence Foster Jenkins). There were four nods for Star Wars: The Last Jedi but nothing for Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming or Justice League. 

The Shape Of Water leads the field with a massive 13 nominations, Dunkirk has eight, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has 7.

There's a bit of a break from the awards seasons shenanigans now, as the next major awards event will be the Directors' Guild (DGA) Awards on 3rd February, followed by the Writers' Guild (WGA) Awards on 11th February and then the BAFTA Film Awards a week later on 18th February. 

Huge congratulations to all nominees!

Awards Season 2018: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow (23rd January), the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced.

This year, there'll be a mix of live presentations from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, with pre-taped category introductions, which will only be featured in the first half of the announcement (which generally covers technical awards, such as cinematography, make-up and hairstyling, costume design, and visual effects). 

As has been my practice for the last few years, I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named tomorrow.

NB. Since the 2010 ceremony, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

The Big Sick

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

The Post

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST DIRECTOR

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)

Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)

Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Jordan Peele (Get Out)

BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

James Franco (The Disaster Artist)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

BEST ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Meryl Streep (The Post)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)

Richard Jenkins (The Shape Of Water)

Christopher Plummer (All The Money In The World) 

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)

Hong Chau (Downsizing)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I'ill be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. Last year, amazingly, I got 32 out of 34. I'm not expecting such a high mark this time round. 

There could be potential 'upsets' in many categories. I went with the five DGA nominees, but you could easily see one or more of Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), Steven Spielberg (The Post) or Ridley Scott (All The Money In The World) in Best Director in place of one or more of the names above. 

Whilst Best Actor is fairly solid, there could be a surprise nomination for Tom Hanks for The Post; given recent allegations, Franco could well lose his nomination if that does happen.  

I could have picked a number of actresses to fill the fifth slot for Best Actress (Hawkins, McDormand, Robbie and Ronan have been a solid core of nominees throughout). Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game), Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul) and Annette Bening (Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool) have all given superb performances. In the end, though, the Academy does love Meryl Streep (and she is particularly good in The Post).

For Best Supporting Actor, there could be a surprise nod for Woody Harrelson for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri or (which sadly seems very unlikely) Michael Stuhlbarg for Call Me By Your Name.

Holly Hunter's supporting performance in The Big Sick has also drawn a lot of awards love, so she could easily be nominated. I wouldn't like to say which of the three from Blige, Chau or Spencer wouldn't then make the cut. Janney and Metcalf have been consistent nominees throughout so it's virtually guaranteed to see them mentioned. 

So what do you reckon? Am I on the right track or barking up the wrong tree? If you were a member of the Academy, who would you vote for?

I'll update the blog with my thoughts on the official nominees tomorrow afternoon. 

Awards Season 2018: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

It was an early start to the day for some, as this year's BAFTA Film Awards nominees were announced at 7:30am this morning (9th January) by Natalie Dormer and Letitia Wright.

Here's a selection of the nominees:

BEST FILM

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Darkest Hour

The Death Of Stalin

God's Own Country

Lady Macbeth

Paddington 2

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

LEADING ACTOR

Jamie Bell (Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool)

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

LEADING ACTRESS

Annette Bening (Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool)

Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Hugh Grant (Paddington 2)

Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Christopher Plummer (All The Money In The World)

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Kristin Scott Thomas (Darkest Hour)

Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)

DIRECTOR

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)

Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name)

Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

The Shape Of Water leads the field with 12 nominations, whilst Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri have 9 apiece.

Whilst there's a lot of the usual names been mentioned here, there's always a British slant to the BAFTAs which means it can often buck the trends of the American-based awards bodies; that's why the nods for Lesley Manville, Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jamie Bell might seem surprising at first (but actually aren't that radical; well, maybe Hugh Grant's is). There's also the issue of eligibility due to release- for example, two of the nominees for Film Not In The English Language (Elle and The Salesman) were nominated for many awards last year but not the BAFTA. It may be that films like Mudbound and Downsizing (who have had several nominations throughout this awards season) weren't shown in time to make them eligible. Besides, always good to shake things up a bit, and I'm glad to see Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool get some awards love as it was a superb film. 


This year's EE Rising Star nominees are Timothee Chalamet, Daniel Kaluuya, Josh O'Connor, Florence Pugh and Tessa Thompson. This award is voted on by the general public and you can vote for your favourite here.

The BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out on Sunday 18th February at the Royal Albert Hall, with Joanna Lumley taking up the mantle of host (as Stephen Fry has stepped down after 12 years in the role). 

Congratulations to all nominees!




Thursday (11th January) sees the announcement of the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) and also the Critics' Choice Awards ceremony, so there'll be a post about that on Friday (12th January). 

Awards Season 2018: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) and Producers' Guild Awards (PGA) Nominations

A double dose of awards news today, with the recent announcement of two Guild Awards nominations.

WRITERS' GUILD OF AMERICA (WGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

This year's nominees for the WGA Awards were announced yesterday (4th January).

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Big Sick

Get Out

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

The Shape Of Water

Several films- including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Coco, and Darkest Hour- were deemed ineligible for nomination as they were produced outside the WGA's jurisdiction. AMPAS don't have the same rules so these films would be eligible for the Original Screenplay Oscar. 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Call Me By Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

Good to see Logan getting a nod in the Adapted Screenplay category. Fun fact: at the age of 89, James Ivory (who adapted Call Me By Your Name) gets his first WGA nomination.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Betting On Zero

Jane

No Stone Unturned

Oklahoma City

The WGA Awards will be handed out on 11th February.

* * *

PRODUCERS' GUILD OF AMERICA (PGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

This year's PGA Awards nominees were announced today (5th January). The film nominees are as follows:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Big Sick

Call Me By Your Name

Dunkirk

Get Out

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

Molly's Game

The Post

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Wonder Woman

A lot of the usual names present and correct, although the nods for Molly's Game and I, Tonya have raised a few eyebrows, as has the nomination for Wonder Woman (although it's entirely well deserved). A voting tie- which hasn't been disclosed- means that eleven films have been selected for this award this year (usually, it's an even round 10). I've got a sneaky feeling that you'll see eight of these 11 nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.  

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Boss Baby

Coco

Despicable Me 3

Ferdinand

The Lego Batman Movie

Documentary Film (previously announced)

Chasing Coral

City Of Ghosts

Cries From Syria

Earth: One Amazing Day

Jane

Joshua: Teenager Vs Superpower

The Newspaperman: The Life And Times Of Ben Bradlee

The PGA Awards will be handed out on 20th January.


The next Awards Season post will be Monday (8th January) with the winners of this year's Golden Globes. 

Awards Season 2018: Golden Globe Nominations

Today sees the announcement of the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The HFPA split their awards, giving certain categories for both Drama and Musical or Comedy, rather than just going for the out-and-out drama as most awards tend to do.

Below is a list of some of the nominees:

Best Picture - Drama

Call Me By Your Name

Dunkirk

The Post

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy

The Disaster Artist

Get Out

The Greatest Showman

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)

Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Ridley Scott (All The Money In The World)

Steven Spielberg (The Post)

Best Actor - Drama

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

Tom Hanks (The Post)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.)

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Steve Carell (Battle Of The Sexes)

Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver)

James Franco (The Disaster Artist)

Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Best Actress - Drama

Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game)

Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Meryl Streep (The Post)

Michelle Williams (All The Money In The World)

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy

Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul)

Helen Mirren (The Leisure Seeker)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Emma Stone (Battle Of The Sexes)

Best Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)

Richard Jenkins (The Shape Of Water)

Christopher Plummer (All The Money In The World)

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Supporting Actress

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)

Hong Chau (Downsizing)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Generally speaking, a lot of the names are familiar and were expected- Ronan, Robbie, Franco, Streep, McDormand- and momentum is definitely building to the Academy Award nominations in just over a month's time.

I do have to ask, though: is Get Out really a comedy? Are the producers stretching the definition to ensure the film gets nominated? It's on my watch-list (as I sadly missed it in the cinema) so I haven't seen it but the whole thing doesn't necessarily scream 'laugh riot'. I may be wrong. 

However, there are a couple of surprises, most notably the three nominations for All The Money In The World. This film has, to put it mildly, had a few production issues- with around six weeks to go before release, portions of the film were re-shot when Ridley Scott made the decision to recast the role of miserly millionaire J. Paul Getty in light of the allegations against Kevin Spacey. Christopher Plummer took the role, the reshoots were completed, and now Plummer has a Golden Globe nomination for it as well. 

The Shape Of Water leads the field with seven nominations, with The Post and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri both on six each. 

The Golden Globes will be handed out on 7th January 2018, in a ceremony hosted by Seth Meyers. Congratulations to all nominees!

The next Awards Season post will be on Wednesday (13th December) as the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations are announced.

Awards Season 2018: Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations

More awards season shenanigans today with the announcement of the nominations for the 23rd Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards.

Here are a selection of their nominees:

Best Picture

The Big Sick

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Florida Project

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Post

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water)

Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)

Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name)

Jordan Peele (Get Out)

Steven Spielberg (The Post)

Best Actor

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

James Franco (The Disaster Artist)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger)

Tom Hanks (The Post)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game)

Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Meryl Streep (The Post)

Best Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)

Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)

Richard Jenkins (The Shape Of Water)

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Patrick Stewart (Logan)

Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name)

Best Supporting Actress

Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)

Hong Chau (Downsizing)

Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip)

Holly Hunter (The Big Sick)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Refreshingly, the Critics' Choice Awards also recognise genre cinema, with separate categories for action movies, comedy and scifi/horror. In previous years, there have been nominations for actor/actress in an action movie but that doesn't seem to be the case this year. Although I'm massively pleased that Patrick Stewart has been recognised in the Best Supporting Actor category for Logan. 

As in previous years, we have several actors who have two nominations for the same role. This year, James Franco (Best Actor and Best Actor In A Comedy, Tiffany Haddish (Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress In A Comedy), Margot Robbie (Best Actress and Best Actress In A Comedy) and Saoirse Ronan (Best Actress and Best Actress In A Comedy) have that honour. 

The Shape Of Water leads the field with an impressive 14 nominations across the board. Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, Lady Bird, and The Post all have 8 nominations each.

The Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out on Thursday January 11th 2018. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Next stop on the Awards Season trail will be the Golden Globes nominees announcement this coming Monday (11th December). 

Awards Season 2018: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

With today's announcement of the 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations, Awards Season 2018 is now underway. As they used to say on one of my favourite TV shows as a child (Knightmare), 'the only way is forward; there is no turning back.'

As you will probably know by now, the Film Independent Spirit Awards recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system (although there is becoming an increasingly wide overlap between these and the more 'mainstream' awards). 

Below is a selection of nominations:

Best Feature

Call Me By Your Name

The Florida Project

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Rider

Best Director

Sean Baker (The Florida Project)
Jonas Carpignano (A Ciambra)

Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name)

Jordan Peele (Get Out)

Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie (Good Time)

Chloe Zhao (The Rider)

Best Male Lead

Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name)

Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats)

James Franco (The Disaster Artist)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Robert Pattinson (Good Time)

Best Female Lead

Salma Hayek (Beatriz At Dinner)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Shinobu Terajima (Oh Lucy!)

Regina Williams (Life & Nothing More)

Best Supporting Male

Nnamdi Asomugha (Crown Heights)

Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name)

Barry Keoghan (The Killing Of A Sacred Deer)

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Benny Safdie (Good Time)

Best Supporting Female

Holly Hunter (The Big Sick)

Allison Janney (I, Tonya)

Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)

Lois Smith (Marjorie Prime)

Taliah Webster (Good Time)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Call Me By Your Name leads the field with six nominations, with Get Out and Good Time each with five. 

The Film Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out at a ceremony hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney on Saturday 3rd March 2018 (one of the last award shows before the Academy Awards). 

The next major announcement for awards season will be on 30th November with the Critics' Choice movie award nominations.

Tez

Review: Call Me By Your Name (UK Cert 15)

Call Me By Your Name is a tender, poignant and sensual coming-of-age drama, directed by Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash, I Am Love) with a screenplay by James Ivory (Maurice) adapted from Andre Aciman's acclaimed 2007 novel of the same name.

Northern Italy, 1983. 17-year-old Elio Perlman stays in a villa with his parents for the summer. Elio's father, a professor of antiquities, invites a doctoral student to stay in the villa for six weeks to assist in his paperwork. This year's student is Oliver, a handsome, young Jewish man, carefree and relaxed. Elio is asked to show him around but the two don't exactly get off on the right foot. Eventually, though, as the summer progresses, a bond forms between them and they embark on a relationship. 

It's a wonderful film, a real feast for the senses, and it's anchored by a trio of incredibly strong performances. 

Timothee Chalamet is a revelation as the precocious Elio. Gawky, geeky, introverted, struggling with his feelings for Oliver (especially as he has a girlfriend at the time) and navigating the tricky waters of first love, it's a truly tremendous and incredibly real performance. As the older, more assured, Oliver, Armie Hammer is great. He's handsome, at ease with himself, where Elio may be with a few more years of life experience. One thing that is interesting is that- just as in Carol- it would have been very easy to have shown Oliver as some kind of predator. Nothing could be further from the truth; if anything, it's Elio who instigates several of the encounters and Oliver has to stop them (or not).  

The third performance which moved me greatly was that is Michael Stuhlbarg who plays Elio's father. A kind and supportive man, he has a pivotal father-son heart-to-heart towards the end of the film which gave me a lump in my throat. It's a brilliant supporting turn. There's also solid supporting turns from Amira Casar as Elio's mother Annella, and Esther Garrel as Elio's girlfriend Marzia. 

Ivory's script captures the genuine, authentic feel of first love- slightly irrational, almost obsessive, yearning for a look, a touch, a kiss- and there's a lot that left unsaid or implied which is interesting (for instance, the words 'gay' or 'bisexual' aren't mentioned in relation to Elio or Oliver; there's no labels, it just is). Guadagnino's direction is sublime, understated, allowing the actors to deliver their performances without distraction. The cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is exquisite, bringing the vibrant Italian landscape to life in all its sun-drenched ancient glory.

The soundtrack is also particularly striking, with a mix of various classical pieces including Ravel, Bach and Satie; contemporary pop pieces, such as 'Love My Way' by The Psychadelic Furs, and several songs by Sufjan Stevens which are all beautiful, my favourite of which is 'Futile Devices' as Elio struggles to find the words to express how he feels about Oliver.    

The acting is top-notch. The script is superb. The cinematography is to die for. Raw, emotional, beautiful, bittersweet but not tragic, Call Me By Your Name is destined to be hailed as a modern classic in years to come- and rightly so. I was enthralled from start to finish.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tez