Awards Season 2022: Independent Spirit Awards Winners

[As it turns out, I had enough time to put this update out before heading off to Brighton. Least you don't have to wait a week for these results.] 

Last night (Sunday 6th March) the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards took place. As I'm sure you all know by now, they recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. 

The awards were handed out in an in-person event at the traditional beachside tent in Santa Monica, hosted by husband-and-wife team Nick Offerman (Parks And Recreation) and Megan Mullally (Will & Grace). Things almost feel back to how they were BC (Before COVID) with one exception: instead of one day before the Oscars, the Spirit Awards were being held three weeks before. Not sure whether this will be a permanent change or if it's just for this year. 

Here's a full list of winners. 

Best Feature: The Lost Daughter

Best Female Lead: Taylour Paige (Zola)

Best Male Lead: Simon Rex (Red Rocket)

Best Supporting Female: Ruth Negga (Passing)

Best Supporting Male: Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Best Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)

Best Screenplay: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)

Best First Screenplay: Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block (Pig)

Best Cinematography: Passing

Best Editing: Zola

Best First Feature: 7 Days

Best International Film: Drive My Car

Best Documentary: Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

John Cassavetes Award: Shiva Baby

Robert Altman Award: Mass

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000, whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

The Lost Daughter leads the winners with three awards, whilst Zola and Passing each get two. 

Congratulations to all winners!

We've got an awards-heavy weekend coming up, with the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) on Saturday 12th March, followed by the BAFTA Film Awards AND the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday 13th March. 

Review: Loving (UK Cert 12A)

It's a surprising (and sobering) fact that interracial marriage has only been legal in the US for fifty years, following the Supreme Court's 1967 ruling in the case of Loving v Virginia, brought by an interracial couple- Richard and Mildred Loving- against their home state. Now, the story of the Lovings' marriage and their legal fight have been turned into a film, directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter, Midnight Special).

Despite dealing with heavy themes and a very emotive subject, the film is gentle, thoughtful, restrained. There's barely a raised voice throughout. 

The lion's share of the praise for the film has come for the dignified performance of Ruth Negga as Mildred, whose lead performance gained the film's only Oscar nomination. There are times when she's fragile and times when she's forthright. There are no showy look-at-me histrionics, it's a very low-key and natural performance which is absolutely magnetic. Negga has a very expressive face and there are times when she doesn't say a word but you can see the emotions play across her face. This is a star-making role for an incredibly gifted actress. 

It is a shame that Joel Edgerton hasn't been praised more but his performance as Richard is just as strong as Negga's. Richard is a man of few words, a laconic, taciturn presence, but utterly devoted to his wife and children. In one of the most powerful moments, when the ACLU lawyer asks Richard if he has anything he wants the lawyer to tell the court, the response is simple: 'tell them I love my wife'.

As you may not be surprised to learn, because the focus is so much on the main couple, the other characters are not fleshed out as much. However, there's good support from Marton Csokas as the utterly deplorable police chief who arrests Richard and Mildred, Bill Camp as a sympathetic small-town lawyer who attempts to help them, and frequent Nicholls collaborator Michael Shannon in a nice cameo as Life Magazine photographer Grey Villet who helped to bring the Lovings' case to the public eye.

The film plays out against the civil rights marches and protests of the 1960s and the period detail, from the music to the cars, is spot-on and really helps to evoke the age. It's a quiet, well-made biopic about an important piece of American history.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez