GOTHAM LOVES INTO THE WILD, SICKO, AND ELLEN!
The 17th annual Gotham Awards, the first noteworthy Oscar precursor in the awards race, were presented this evening in Brooklyn. Here's a look at the nominees and winners, with some color commentary:
- Best Feature: Sean Penn's Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage) beat out Great World of Sound (Magnolia), I'm Not There (The Weinstein Company), Margot at the Wedding (Paramount Vantage), and The Namesake (Fox Searchlight). While Into the Wild had to be considered the strong favorite in the category, an upset by I'm Not There or Margot would have shaken voter confidence about its long-term prospects, so this is definitely a good night for Paramount Vantage. (It's unimaginable that Juno and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead weren't in this field, though...)
- Best Documentary: Michael Moore's Sicko (The Weinstein Company) held off The Devil Came on Horseback (International Film Circuit), Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (Sony Pictures Classics), My Kid Could Paint That (Sony Pictures Classics), and Taxi to the Dark Side (THINKFilm). Again, Sicko was expected to take this, but a win by Taxi, the only other nominee that also made the Academy's docu shortlist earlier this month, could have shaken things up.
- Best Ensemble Cast: In a strange twist, the casts of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (THINKFilm) and Talk to Me (Focus Features) tied as winners, emerging from a field that also included The Last Winter (IFC First Take), Margot at the Wedding (Paramount Vantage), and The Savages (Fox Searchlight). Frankly, I'm a bit dumbfounded how three relatively high-profile films with smallish casts (Before, Margot, and Savages), a film that petered out months ago (Talk), and a film nobody has heard of (Last Winter) got nominated over larger and more impressive group pieces like Into the Wild, Juno, and I'm Not There, but I digress.
- Breakthrough Actor: The magnificent Ellen Page (Juno) prevailed from a category that featured four other men and women: Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), Kene Holliday (Great World of Sound), Jess Weixler (Teeth), and Luisa Williams (Day Night Day Night). Realistically, this was a Page v. Hirsch race, and Juno-lovers (myself included) have to feel good about Page's chances going forward, while Hirsch backers have to feel he missed a chance to get a much needed boost into the mainstream Best Actor discussion.
- Breakthrough Director: Great World of Sound led the field in terms of most nominations, so you had to figure it was going to show up somewhere, and it did: director Craig Zobel won over a field of equally no-name directors who apparently did nice work in the shadows this year: Lee Isaac Chung (Munyurangabo), Stephane Gauger (Owl and the Sparrow), Julia Loktev (Day Night Day Night), and David Von Ancken (Seraphim Falls).
- Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: Ronald Brownstein's Frownland snagged the prize over August the First, Loren Class, Mississippi Chicken, and Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa. (I forgive you and myself for not particularly caring; I mean, after all... these films are not and will not be playing at a theater near you!)
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