Last week, I introduced you to my voting process for the Spirit awards, and detailed my thoughts on some NYC-set indies. This week we’ll look at a couple of dramas and a couple of docs.
Once the nominations came out, I took the first step in tracking down the honorees, determining what’s available to rent, what’s in theaters, and what I’ll see via screeners and screenings. After I properly stocked my Netflix queues, I began the home viewing portion. So amidst re-watching my favorite Christmas movies, this week I took in the following:
Lovely, Still ~ Directed by Nicholas Fackler
This Christmas-set drama tells a bittersweet tale of love blooming in the winter of life; it reminded me of The Notebook minus the lively young lover sequences. Starring Ellen Burstyn and Martin Landau, it’s a moving film with a great supporting cast that includes Elizabeth Banks and Adam Scott, but at the end I felt more cheated than romanced.
Nominations: Best First Screenplay – Nik Fackler
Snubbed? None. The cast is full of wonderful actors, but they’ve done better work elsewhere. In fact, check out a favorite of mine from last year’s nominees The Vicious Kind, which was the film that first made me take serious notice of Scott.
Sweetgrass ~ Produced by Ilisa Barbash
Praised by many for its low-frills presentation of the lives of a family of cowboys in Montana, Sweetgrass relies on no music, narration or interviews to spell out the events or their meanings. While I can see why some people were drawn in by this minimalist approach, I found myself wishing for a Pop-up Video style series of explanations of the goings-on, as my knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of shepherding is woefully limited. For me, the highlight was a surprising scene in which a lonely cowboy swears like a sailor, breaking the seemingly peaceful soundscape of bleating sheep with a tirade of profanity so intense I could have been watching Deadwood.
Nominations: Best Documentary, AVEENO® Truer Than Fiction Award
Snubbed? Naaaah.
Please Give ~ Directed by Nicole Holofcener
Catherine Keener (once again) stars in Holofcener’s dramedy, which got a lot of flack for tackling issues of upper class guilt during a time when many are struggling to get by. And yes, it is difficult to sympathize with a character whose biggest problem (as she sees it) is that she has it too good. While the cast (which includes Amanda Peet, Rebecca Hall and Oliver Platt) expertly handles the biting and oft clever dialogue, the piece seems to ramble. I think I understood what Holofcener was striving for, but her goal seemed as shallow as some of her characters’.
Nominations: Best Screenplay – Nicole Holofcener
Snubbed? No. In fact, the ensemble cast has already snagged the Robert Altman Award, so it’s less than shocking they weren’t mentioned in the individual acting categories.
Restrepo ~ Directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington
Named for a fallen soldier, this doc (which is on the Oscar nom shortlist) is a harrowing and unflinching look at the lives of embedded soldiers in the brutal yet often forgotten Afghanistan war. One of the few war docs I’ve seen that’s politics are hard to parse – if they exist at all – this one is really a reveal of the men who risk their lives in service to our country. To say it’s humbling is an understatement.
Nominations: Best Documentary
Snubbed? N/A
This week by the Numbers:
Indie Darlings: 4
Fights over $200 jeans: 3
Bleating Sheep: Thousands
Curse words: Innumerable
Fallen soldiers: Too many
Films Watched: 7/35
Runningtime conquered: 682 minutes
State of Mind: Okay. After chuckling at wealth disparity, indie dialogue, and cursing cowpokes, Restrepo was a vivid wake-up call. I’m ending this week rattled.
Next week, I’ll take a look at Winter’s Bone, The King’s Speech, and The Black Swan.
What are your thoughts on these nominees?