Spirit Award Nods: "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" and "Minari" lead the nominations

Chauncy and Barry helping announce the Spirit nominationsby Nathaniel R

Nominations for the 36th annual Independent Spirit Awards have been announced. Spirit winners Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) and Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) as well as actress Laverne Cox announced the nominations. 

BEST FEATURE

• First Cow (Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani)
  Received 3 nominations
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Todd Black, Denzel Washington, Dany Wolf)
  Received 5 nominations
• Minari (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh)
  Received 6 nominations
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Sara Murphy, Adele Romanski)
  Received 7 nominations
• Nomadland (Mollye Asher, Dan Janveey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloe Zhao)
  Received 5 nominations

A Full list of Film Independent Spirit nominees and commentary follow after the jump...

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NYFF Review: Chloe Zhao's "Nomadland"

by Murtada Elfadl

You know you are not watching just any old prestige drama when a film throws in a shot of its lead character - played by a 2-time Oscar winner - defecating a mere three minutes into its running time. Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is a film concerned with the concrete realities of life. Things that might seem mundane or unmentionable but take up a big part of everyday life. How a woman carves a small place on earth to sleep, eat, work and yes defecate. 

Fern (Frances McDormand), having lost her work and home when the factory that employed her in a now-defunct company town closed, refurbishes her old van and sets out in the vastness of the American West to find seasonal work. She rests when she can, deals with the elements and makes tentative attempts to find a community among the older itinerant people she meets. They exchange DIY tips for survival, share stories and sometimes companionship. But mostly Fern is stubbornly on her own. She is grieving her husband, town and job. Combating her constant grief by constantly moving...

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NYFF: "The Rider"

by John Guerin

One of the more exciting breakouts from this year's festival circuit is Chloe Zhao’s elegiac equine drama The Rider. This wistful blend of documentary and poetic realism follows Brady Jandreau — a 20-year-old horse trainer who suffers a near-fatal head injury that stunts any chance of his continuing an impressive rodeo career. Suffused with a melancholic color palette and somber score, The Rider makes palpable the dashed dreams of our young protagonist, charting the reverberations of his accident and their implications with impressive and authentic skill... 

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