The three biggest winners from this morning’s Spirit Award nominations announcement: Rachel Getting Married, Frozen River, and the fantastic, relatively unknown Southern drama Ballast, which scored six nominations each. Other deserving indies also fared well: The Wrestler (three nominations), Wendy and Lucy (two nominations), and The Visitor (three nominations). And it’s great to see both Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz recognized for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Meanwhile, today’s biggest surprise was an omission: Though Milk, the strongest Oscar contender of the pack, picked up four nods (for Sean Penn, James Franco, screenplay, and cinematography), it was left out of the feature and director categories. Here are the nominees in the main races.
Feature
Ballast
Frozen River
Rachel Getting Married
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler
Director
Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer, Ballast
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Tom McCarthy, The Visitor
Male Lead
Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Sean Penn, Milk
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Female Lead
Summer Bishil, Towelhead
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Tarra Riggs, Ballast
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy
Supporting Male
James Franco, Milk
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott, Frozen River
Jim Myron Ross, Ballast
Haaz Sleiman, The Visitor
Supporting Female
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez, The Take
Misty Upham, Frozen River
Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married
Screenplay
Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Sugar
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman, Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla, Sangre De Mi Sangre
First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Lance Hammer, Ballast
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Jonathan Levine, The Wackness
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
Cinematography
Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler
Lol Crawley, Ballast
James Laxton, Medicine for Melancholy
Harris Savides, Milk
Michael Simmonds, Chop Shop
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Happy for Winger, Penn and Franco. But where’s Hiam Abbas? And the Milk best pic & director snub is baffling. It may not be indie enough
“Ballast” is indeed worth seeing. I got an advance screener copy of it so I could review it in my college newspaper, and it’s definitely one of the better movies of the year. “Rachel Getting Married” is my second favorite movie of the year (and I’ve seen 50 so far) after “WALL-E”. As for “Frozen River”, I regret not getting around to seeing that in theaters; when I saw my uncle over Thanksgiving break (who’s a tougher critic than I am), he said that that and “The Visitor” (another Must-See) were his only two “A” movies from 2008.
once again, darren aronofsky gets snubbed
Congrats to Michelle Williams and Wendy and Lucy! I hope they win although I know that this is a really competitive year for these Spirit Awards.
I’m surprised there are no noms for Snow Angels.
I also thought the Visitor should’ve received a Best Pic nom.
Milk not making it into Best Picture/Director is a shame. Do I smell another Brokeback Oscar snub?
Does Sunshine Cleaning not qualify? I would have thought (and hoped) that it would get a nomination or two.
The most auspicious debut by a new director (also, writer, producer, Tom Quinn), and head and shoulders more affecting and authentic than any other début, The New Year Parade, missed out on any nominations? Unbelievable, considering newcomer Jennifer-Lynn Welsh’s luminous performance, and Quinn’s first-rate realization of his material.
As for Ballast, Lance Hammer’s mumblecore, Bressonian début, may be minimalist, European-style filmmaking, but this indie feature managed only (for this viewer) to come off as pretentious “this is good for you” filmmaking.
I’m happy to see Hathaway, Winger and, especially DeWitt pick up nominations for “Rachel Getting Married”, but I’m disappointed Bill Irwin didn’t make the cut. His funny, sad, overmatched father was one of my favorite performances this year.
An outstanding group nominated for supporting actor. Glad to see Haaz Sleiman cited for his heartfelt performance. Let’s hope Oscar goes outside the box and nominates his truly astounding work.
i bet Rachel Getting Married sweeps the all of its categories
A pretty good list of nominations all told. I’m cheering for Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” and Sean Penn in “Milk” (can’t make up my mind which is better). While “Ballast” will certainly make my list of the year’s best films, another great film that I’d rank even higher is absent and that is David Gordon Green’s triumphant “Snow Angels.” What a dumb omission as a feature, direction (DGG finally dealing with conventional things like plot) and also for the always terrific Sam Rockwell who was devastating in his role in “Snow Angels” and hilarious in the similarly unseen “Choke.”
Ceballos , I wholeheartedly agree about Bill Irwin. He was beyond brilliant- his body language, facial expressions, and his different vocal reflections were priceless. Also, Irwin’s agony for the loss of his son, his parental guilt, and the fanatic way he attended to the needs of Kym – became the Heart this wonderful film.
P.S. One of the many great aspects of this film, every actor in this ensemble gets the opportunity to shine.
The first striking snubs I noticed was Hiam Abbas from the visitor not getting supporting actress, and the visitor not getting nom for best picture! I was really hoping she got noticed come oscar season. I love Debra Winger, but her role was so small and she had so little to do, that that slot should have gone to Hiam.
Luke Goss was robbed of a nomination for his role as Prince Nuada in Hellboy II.