In Contention

Tag: British Independent Film Awards

  • ‘King’s Speech’ rules BIFAs, ‘Ghost Writer’ sweeps EFAs

    Apologies for getting to both these announcement so late: my laptop is currently (perhaps terminally) hospitalized, so posting is rather spotty on my end. The timing is particularly bad, since this past weekend’s awards activity included two major European ceremonies that I should have been all over.

    That said, if you paid even vague attention to the nominee lists for the British Independent Film Awards and the European Film Awards when they were announced, you probably could have guessed how they panned out without much help from me.

    In both ceremonies, the nomination leader emerged easily as top dog. With the BIFA voters throwing fewer curveballs than usual for them, “The King’s Speech” won five of its eight bids, including Best British Independent Film and three of the four acting races. It was left to scrappy sci-fi sleeper “Monsters” to disrupt the yawnfest, as debut helmer Gareth Edwards pipped Tom Hooper to the Best Director prize. (He lost Best Debut Director the same night, incidentally — such is the spread-the-wealth logic of juried awards.)

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘127 Hours’ dissent, BIFA nods, interviews

    • Guy didn’t much care for “127 Hours.” That got you talking.

    • Happily, Kris did, and got talking to director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy.

    • The British Independent Film Award nominations threw some surprises into the mix, handing scads of noms to “The King’s Speech”… and “Kick-Ass.”

    • Chad’s Life Without Oscar column eased into the late 1980s, showcasing one films on either side of the Hollywood border.

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  • ‘King’s Speech’ leads BIFA nods, ‘Another Year’ snubbed

    Mike Leigh has long bemoaned the fact that he gets more respect from American awards bodies than those in his homeland. He received further proof of that this morning, as his broadly acclaimed new feature, “Another Year,” was snubbed in the top category at the British Independent Film Awards in favor of, among others, Matthew Vaughan’s dismal po-mo superhero movie “Kick-Ass.”

    The BIFAs are, of course, to the BAFTAs what the Indie Spirits are to the Oscars. They can always be relied upon to make some interesting calls, but while some of this year’s surprises are laudable, others are just perverse.

    Leigh receives some compensation in the shape of a Best Director nod, plus a trio of acting bids (which interestingly place Ruth Sheen in lead and the much-fancied Lesley Manville in support). But Leigh’s omission from the Best Screenplay category — when the pleasant but join-the-dots writing of “Made in Dagenham” makes the cut — is, if anything, even more of a jawdropper than the Best Film miss. The BIFAs were similarly cool on “Happy-Go-Lucky” two years ago, somewhat anticipating the film’s BAFTA whiteout — here’s hoping we’re not setting ourselves up for a repeat.

    (More thoughts, and the full list of nominations, after the jump.)

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Avatar’ awe, ‘Bones’ defense, original songs

    Avatar• A little movie called “Avatar” premiered. This week’s Oscar Talk tucked into the film.

    • As “The Lovely Bones” faces a frosty critical welcome, this week’s Off the Carpet column went to bat for the film.

    • We interviewed a quartet of young actors making strides this year: Abbie Cornish, Saoirse Ronan, Ben Foster and Bryce Dallas Howard.

    • In The Long Shot, we examined the animation race — and stood up for under-the-radar contender “Mary & Max.”

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  • ‘Moon,’ Carey Mulligan, Tom Hardy take BIFA Awards

    Tom Hardy in BronsonThe British Independent Film Awards really spread the wealth this year, with only two films — “Moon” and “Fish Tank” — taking more than one award. In a slightly surprising result, Duncan Jones’s sci-fi debut claimed the night’s top prize, Best British Independent Film, as well as Best Debut Director honors.

    Meanwhile, “Fish Tank,” which entered the ceremony with the most nominations, took a well-deserved pair of awards: Best Director for Andrea Arnold (the first woman ever to receive the honor) and Most Promising Newcomer for 18 year-old sensation Katie Jarvis.

    Jarvis lost the Best Actress award, however, to Carey Mulligan for “An Education” — one of the night’s few winners likely to figure prominently in the awards race across the pond. (This in stark contrast to last year’s BIFA awards, which were all about “Slumdog Millionaire.”)

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  • ‘Fish Tank,’ ‘Moon,’ ‘Education’ lead BIFA noms, female directors rule

    Katie Jarvis in Fish TankYou’ve heard me natter on enough for months about how “Fish Tank” is one of the year’s best films — now you don’t have to just hear it from me anymore.

    Andrea Arnold’s lyrical character study of an unhappy Essex teenager (now being dubbed ‘the British “Precious”‘ by some lazy wags) leads the nominations for the British Independent Film Awards, with mentions in a whopping eight categories, including two for 18 year-old sensation Katie Jarvis.

    Once a very niche Transatlantic equivalent to the Indie Spirits, the BIFA Awards are gaining in profile every year, painting a far more revealing picture of the state of the UK film industry than the Oscar-toadying BAFTAs.

    They’re also naming more contenders who go on to feature heavily in awards season: “Slumdog Millionaire” was the belle of last year’s BIFA ball, while this year’s major crossover nominee promises to be “An Education.”

    (More discussion, and a full list of nominees, after the cut.)

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Slumdog’ surges, ‘River’ emerges

    Sorry it’s a day late, but here’s the week that was. Awards and nominations left, right and centre — the season is officially under way, folks:

    • “Slumdog Millionaire” emerged as a bona fide frontrunner, taking Best Picture at the season kickoff, the National Board of Review awards …

    • … only days after taking top honours across the Atlantic, at the British Independent Film Awards.

    • Speaking of indies, “Frozen River” also enjoyed a great week, emerging victorious at the Gotham Awards …

    • … while it was also one of the top nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards.

    • We took a break from the awards beat to chat to the impressive ladies of “I’ve Loved You So Long,” Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein …

    • The former of whom took a gong at the European Film Awards, which were otherwise all about “Gomorrah.”

    • The Annie Awards for animation revealed their nominees, with “Kung Fu Panda” surprisingly leading the field.

    • Meanwhile, the mysterious Golden Satellite nominations were as head-scratching as ever.

    • The first reviews finally emerged on “The Reader,” and they generally like it … from a distance.

    • While the appearance of reviews doesn’t make “Gran Torino” any less of a puzzle this awards season.

    • And all the while, the rumblings around “The Dark Knight” grow louder.

  • ‘Slumdog’ scores at BIFA Awards

    Thanks to bright-eyed, bushy-tailed commenter Silrone for pointing out that the winners of the British Independent Film Awards were announced while I was mired in technical problems.

    “Slumdog Millionaire” emerged as the evening’s big winner, taking Best British Film, Best Director and Best Newcomer for Dev Patel, though “Hunger” ran it close, also taking three prizes, including Best Actor for Michael Fassbender. I’m simultaneously surprised and unsurprised: “Slumdog” was certainly the obvious frontrunner, but the BIFAs have a history of not following the script.

    Such was the case in the Best Actress category, where “Happy-Go-Lucky”‘s seemingly unbeatable Sally Hawkins lost out to Vera Farmiga for “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas.” I’m disappointed for Hawkins, though she will have other opportunities this season. In any case, I’m quite pleased to see some credit for Farmiga, my admiration for whom I recently expressed on these pages.

    Meanwhile, “Happy-Go-Lucky” was rewarded with well-deserved victories for supporting stars Eddie Marsan and Alexis Zegerman, while my fellow “In Bruges” fans will be pleased to see Martin McDonagh took home some hardware for his writing.

    Incidentally, I scored 7/13 in my predictions. Poor form — hopefully it’s all up from here. Full list of winners below the cut.

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  • BIFA Awards tonight

    Just a reminder that the British Independent Film Awards take place tonight. A full list of nominations, and discussion thereof, can be found here.

    I’ll try and deliver the results as soon as they are available, but for now, I’ve ventured some predictions after the cut.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Milk’ unveiled, London winds down, Halloween horror

    It’s been a quieter seven days after the upheaval we’ve seen in the race lately, but here’s how things went down:

    • “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon” finally unspooled for the LA crowd…

    • … and boy, some people don’t take kindly to criticism of either flick.

    • Meanwhile, “Doubt” kicked off the AFI Fest…

    • … while the London Film Festival drew to a close, showcasing “Che” and “The Wrestler” along the way. Check out our assorted reviews and “best in show” wrap-up.

    • ‘Tis the season to be scared shitless… the 20 all-time best horror films, as assembled by our team.

    • Christopher Nolan offers pretty much the final word on “The Dark Knight,” while some wonder if he can complete a Batman hat-trick.

    • The British Independent Film Awards revealed their nominees… “Hunger” and “In Bruges” are sitting pretty.

    • Best Sound Editing gets its week in the sun at Tech Support.

    • Looking at some new blood in this year’s tepid Best Original Song race.

  • ‘Hunger,’ ‘Bruges’ lead British Independent nominees

    The British Independent Film Awards are an odd, under-the-radar institution that frequently like to avoid the obvious and champion the underdog. Last year, for example, they bypassed the starrier likes of “Eastern Promises” and “Notes on a Scandal” to award their top prize to Anton Corbijn’s magnificent, under-rewarded “Control.” The previous year, they were even more daring: Best Film justly went to “This Is England” over “The Queen,” while Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker — gasp — lost to the unknown leads of Andrea Arnold’s “Red Road.”

    So it is this year that the nominations feature one doozy of a snub: while the top prize, Best British Independent Film, features such obvious contenders as “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Hunger,” Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky” is nowhere to be found. Ditto Best Director and Best Screenplay — the omission particularly galling when the likes of (gack) “Son of Rambow” made the cut. Did Leigh run over the voters’ dogs or something? Sanity at least prevailed in the acting categories, where Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan and the wonderful Alexis Zegerman all made the cut.

    Zegerman’s category, Best Supporting Actress, is an indication of how slim the pickings were this year: nods for the mediocre likes of Hayley Atwell in “The Duchess” and Sienna Miller in “The Edge of Love” don’t suggest a very deep pool of nominees. Meanwhile, Kristin Scott Thomas’ mention for the fun but flimsy trifle “Easy Virtue,” which I saw this morning at the Festival, is clearly an indirect nomination for her ineligible awards-bound work in “I’ve Loved You So Long.”

    Still, there’s plenty to cheer about here, not least the impressive showing for Martin McDonagh’s superb “In Bruges,” which jointly leads the field with “Hunger,” both films receiving seven nominations. The inevitability of the nominations for “Hunger” and “Slumdog Millionaire” doesn’t make them any less deserving, and “Man on Wire” is a pleasingly left-field choice in the top category.

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