39th Spirit Awards: My Personal Ballot

by Cláudio Alves

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are almost here! While one waits away the hours before the ceremony starts retrieving a tradition from the Film Experience past feels like a good idea. So, here goes my ballot as a Spirit Awards voter, but only in the film categories since I'm much more unsure in the TV categories – evaluating only from submitted episodes of shows I don't watch feels tricky, especially when it doesn't look like folks submitted their best option. Even in film, many of the nominees were unfamiliar to me, making the voting process an experience marked by discovery. 

There were a lot of beautiful surprises, resulting in a varied ballot. At least, I hope it reads that way, though my absolute favorite contender is easy to suss out…

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 

• Katelin Arizmendi, Monica
• Eigil Bryld, The Holdovers
• Jomo Fray, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
• Pablo Lozano, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
• Pat Scola, We Grown Now

I assume The Holdovers will win this, being the most mainstream nominee and an Oscar favorite. However, I'm no fan of its faux 70s look, all post-production grain over flat digital imagery. I was more taken by We Grown Now's images, even if their impact correlates to its design than lensing. Monica is a sensual experience, full of gorgeous frames to counterpoint its moody narrative tones. Still, it all came down to Fray vs Lozano, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt's earthy beauty, and Chronicles of a Wandering Saint's transformation of mundane realism into something closer to religious fantasy. In the end, the Argentinean film got my vote.

BEST EDITING

• Stephanie Filo, We Grown Now
• Santiago Cendejas, Gabriel Díaz & Sofía Subercaseaux, Rotting in the Sun
• Daniel Garber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline
• Jon Philpot, Theater Camp
• Emanuele Tiziani, Upon Entry

There's a lot to admire about Tiziani's work, how it makes Upon Entry move at light speed while still working within its dramaturgical particularities. It's both an exercise in growing tension yet concise enough to wrap its agonizing story in 74 minutes. Nevertheless, when it comes to suspense, there's nothing quite like what Garber achieved in How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Watching it, you feel trapped in a sprint, shifting perspectives and tonal approaches. The political urgency shines through, transforming through mechanical means, structure, form. That said, I suspect something like Theater Camp will nab the prize.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM  

• Anatomy of a Fall, France
• Godland, Denmark & Iceland
• Mami Wata, Nigeria
• Tótem, Mexico
• The Zone of Interest, UK, Poland & USA

By far, the year's best category finds a quintet of sublime films, all working on radically different milieus and approaches. I've written about all of them at one point or another here on The Film Experience so that I won't overexplain my decision. I chose Tótem because it remains one of the year's most underrated gems, and I expect my runner-up, The Zone of Interest, to get plenty of votes anyway. Indeed, I think it's between Glazer's experiment and Anatomy of a Fall.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Bye Bye Tiberias
• Four Daughters
• Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
• Kokomo City
• The Mother of All Lies 

Another strong lineup, with three films where the filmmaker appears before the camera and proposes an experience where the very construction of the documentary is problematized within itself. They're also focused on matriarchal figures as the human materialization of their themes. I'm, of course, referring to the stellar Bye Bye Tiberias, Four Daughters, and The Mother of All Lies. Kokomo City is also excellent, though I question some of the focus it puts on cis testimonials within a collective portrayal of Black trans sex workers. As the most conventional of the nominees, Going to Mars is my least favorite and the one I never considered for the top spot. Ultimately, I chose Bye Bye Tiberias because it moved me the most while also feeling like a daring piece of non-fiction cinema.

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

• Marshawn Lynch, Bottoms
• Atibon Nazaire, Mountains
• Tia Nomore, Earth Mama
• Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
• Anaita Walizada, Fremont

Lynch is one of the few things I liked about Bottoms, while Walizada feels like the most significant problem at the center of Fremont's monochrome deadpan. Nazaire stars in my favorite of these films, but there were better breakthrough performances within the gentrification drama of Mountains. Sessa was not an option for me, even though he's the likely winner. I simply don't see what others do in his Holdovers star(?) turn. That leaves Tia Nomore, the self-conflicted beating heart, at the center of Savanah Leaf's feature debut. The scenes she shares with Erika Alexander are some of the year's best, synthesizing social issues without missing character specificity or falling into prescriptive morality. 

And speaking of Alexander…

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE 

• Erika Alexander, American Fiction
• Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
• Noah Galvin, Theater Camp
• Anne Hathaway, Eileen
• Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry
• Marin Ireland, Eileen
• Charles Melton, May December
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
• Catalina Saavedra, Rotting in the Sun
• Ben Whishaw, Passages

First of all, I will never vote for a leading turn defrauding its way into a Supporting race, not even if the performance at hand is my favorite of the lineup. So, Melton was out of the question, and so were Howerton and Saavedra. Of the remaining seven nominees, I was most taken by Whishaw's woundedness and Alexander's ability to be like a breath of fresh air yet never flatly idealized or one-dimensional. If he lets us perceive years' worth of compromises in a relationship mostly contained beyond the narrative frame, she suggests a galaxy of possibilities in her character's future. When she leaves, you feel the sting of her absence – it hurts. Maybe because I was unfamiliar with Erika Alexander's brilliance before this year, she surprised me more than Whishaw, who I've loved since I can remember. I suspect the eventual win will be between Melton and Randolph.

BEST LEADING PERFORMANCE 

• Jessica Chastain, Memory
• Greta Lee, Past Lives
• Trace Lysette, Monica
• Natalie Portman, May December
• Judy Reyes, Birth/Rebirth
• Franz Rogowski, Passages
• Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
• Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
• Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
• Teo Yoo, Past Lives

Although Wright is the only nominee competing for the Oscar, I wonder if he'll sway enough voters to secure a Spirit victory. Instead, the award seems destined for the likes of Scott and the Past Lives duo, Taylor's ferocious performance, and Portman's distorted showcase. In that sense, this may be one of the few times my vote coincides with one of the popular favorites. Fingers crossed, Haynes' newest muse can get a well-deserved prize for a work that summarizes all her best attributes as a screen actor, her penchant for artifice and meta-textual friction. If I were to name a runner-up, it would be Teo Yoo, with honorable mentions to Taylor and Lysette.

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY 

• Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik, May December
• Tomás Gómez Bustillo, Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
• Alejandro Rojas & Juan Sebastián Vásquez, Upon Entry
• Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt, Theater Camp
• Laurel Parmet, The Starling Girl

No contest, May December's Oscar-nominated script takes the cake. Burch and Mechanik's perverse comedy twists you up from the inside out, inspiring laughter and then making you feel conflicted, if not downright guilty, about finding mirth in such misery. That's not to say the other nominees are chopped liver. Upon Entry is especially impressive and would make a fantastic winner, while Chronicles of a Wandering Saint deserves points for originality. If you haven't seen the flick, try to avoid spoilers, for there's a structural shock at the end of act one that deserves to be experienced without forewarning or concrete expectations.

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Laura Moss & Brendan J. O'Brien, Birth/Rebirth
• David Hemingson, The Holdovers
• Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
• Emma Seligman & Rachel Sennott, Bottoms
• Celine Song, Past Lives

Compared to the other screenplay category, this is one dispiriting bunch. I assume the Oscar nominees will fight it out for the win, but I couldn't even imagine voting for American Fiction's failure of an adaptation or The Holdovers' hollow warmth. I also hated Bottoms, so it's not like that's a viable contender in my eyes. That leaves two films whose scripts are solid but so much less exciting than the director's work it's not even funny. Past Lives is my near-default choice, a lovely script that still feels like it could and should have faced much stronger competition.

BEST DIRECTOR

• Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
• Todd Haynes, May December
• William Oldroyd, Eileen
• Ira Sachs, Passages
• Celine Song, Past Lives 

It feels like shade to say this was an easy choice, but it was. Haigh made a beautiful film, re-shaping a ghost story entrenched in the horror gender, making it phantasmagoria heartbreak. Oldroyd wasn't as successful with his Eileen, but it's still daring work, mixing wild narrative swerves with midcentury somberness. Sachs does impressive things with his cast, and Song crystalizes a feeling of loss without loss, regret that hurts beyond reason, and poetry that sings, whether through Skype or in stolen subway touches. And yet, Haynes deserves the win. If nothing else, he has nerve for days, in tonal gamesmanship and audience alienation, actorly contrasts and self-questioning cinematic form.

BEST FIRST FEATURE  

• All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
• Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
• Earth Mama
• A Thousand and One
• Upon Entry

Five bold visions, varied in approach and mood, from abstract lyricism to what can best be described as a chamber drama thriller. In the middle, there's a metaphysical critique on the self-interest of religious do-gooders and two dives into a crisis of Black motherhood in widely different terms. All of them would make good winners in their own right, but Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is unstoppable. An immersive memory play constructed out of sensorial swings and ineffable feeling, it overwhelms the viewer in a flurry of poetic impressions. I love it so much.

BEST FEATURE

• All of Us Strangers
• American Fiction
• May December
• Passages
• Past Lives
• We Grown Now

All of Us Strangers dives into the depths of queer depression, swimming in loneliness before coming up for air in an ending that's weirdly hopeful despite its tragedy. I didn't care for American Fiction, but its cast is a dream, alright. Passages examines a love triangle like none other, a dark reflection of its director's life catastrophized around the big screen's messiest bisexual. Past Lives evokes such strong emotion, but it's the images conjured that stayed with me, conversations that are both intimate and worlds apart. I imagine it'll win tonight. Looking to the past, We Grown Now is a time machine in the form of film, childhood memory rematerialized for the camera. However, May December is my pick, a perfect film that's often obscene and left me queasy, shattering cinematic comfort into a thousand jagged shards. I could choose no other winner. 

Please share your Spirit Awards picks and predictions.

Comments

[Robert G]

The biggest mystery of Awards Season this time around for me is how Erika Alexander did not also gain traction with the love for American Fiction. She's wonderful in this film. This takes nothing away from Da'Vine Joy Randolph who will be a fine and worthy Oscar winner for The Holdovers.

[Frank Zappa]

No predictions, just preferences.
Supporting: Noah Galvin
Leading: Jessica Chastain
Screenplay: Cord Jefferson
Director: Andrew Haigh
Feature: American Fiction

[Aq. H]

So this is always fun. This is how I voted:

Feature: Past Lives
Director: Todd Haynes, May December
Screenplay: Past Lives
First Screenplay: May December
First Feature: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Cinematography: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Editing : How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Doc: Kokomo City
International: The Zone of Interest
Lead Performance: Franz Rogowski, Passages
Supporting Performance: Charles Melton, May December
Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

[Michael B]

Here's how I voted:
Best Feature - Past Lives
Best Director - Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Best Lead Performance - Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Best Supporting Performance - Anne Hathaway, Eileen
Best Breakthrough Performance - Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Best Screenplay - Past Lives
Best First Screenplay - Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt, Theater Camp

[Michael B]

Here's how I voted:
Best Feature - Past Lives
Best Director - Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Best Lead Performance - Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Best Supporting Performance - Anne Hathaway, Eileen
Best Breakthrough Performance - Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Best Screenplay - Past Lives
Best First Screenplay - Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt, Theater Camp

[Amy Camus]

Well, this year I really outdid myself and voted for exactly one (count 'em) winner, (Best Documentary) even lower than my usual 3 or 4. I want to complain about the distributors of Totem, who did not make it available for streaming and which was completely unavailable in any form, and was the only nominee I could not track down. I loved The Chambermaid, so I was very unhappy I couldn't evaluate Totem at all. Still, Zone of Interest is a very strong film, so I don't regret voting for it.

Film: All of Us Strangers
Director: Andrew Haigh
Lead: Andrew Scott
Supporting: Catalina Saavedra
Breakthrough: Tia Nomore
1st Film: Earth Mama
Documentary: Four Daughters (almost voted for Mother of All Lies, so I blew a perfect record)
International Film: Zone of Interest
Cinematography: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Editing: Rotting in the Sun

I'm relatively unimpressed by Past Lives, don't much like The Holdovers, and absolutely loathe American Fiction and May/December, so this was obviously not my year.