Back in the old days (i.e., seven or eight years ago and earlier) the Spirit Awards were known as the hip Oscars. Now they’re a secular award forum for the Woke Branch Davidians.
The Spirit Award nominations popped today, and what an inexplicable setback for The Whale‘s Brendan Fraser, who was expected to pick up an easy Best Lead Performance nom on his path to the Oscars.
If the Spirits were still adhering to gender categories, Fraser would have certainly been nominated for Best Actor.
But even under current gender-free system he still should have been nominated. Fraser plays a massively overweight gay guy (two woke points in one character) plus he has his emotional comeback narrative. What was the problem exactly?
On top of which the Spirit Davidians backhanded Danielle Deadwyler’s powerful performance as Mamie Till in Chinonye Chukwu’s Till. They brushed aside a major BIPOC performance in a film about the most searing incident in the 1950s and ’60s Civil Rights movement?
They also told James Gray‘s Armageddon Time to take a hike; ditto costar Jeremy Strong in the supporting category.
As things currently stand, the Spirit Davidians have announced ten nominations for Best Lead Performance, and only two honor male performances — Aftersun‘s Paul Mescal (a performance that I hated with a passion) and The Inspection‘s Jeremy Pope (which I still haven’t seen).
Here are the nominees along with HE’s boldfaced preferences in each category:
Best Feature:
“Bones and All” (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
“Our Father, the Devil” (Resolve Media)
“Tár” (Focus Features)
“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
Best Director
Todd Field – “Tár”
Kogonada – “After Yang”
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert — “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Sarah Polley – “Women Talking”
Halina Reijn – “Bodies Bodies Bodies”
Best Lead Performance
Cate Blanchett – “Tár”
Dale Dickey – “A Love Song”
Mia Goth – “Pearl”
Regina Hall – “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.”
Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”
Aubrey Plaza – “Emily the Criminal”
Jeremy Pope – “The Inspection”
Taylor Russell – “Bones and All”
Andrea Riseborough – “To Leslie”
Michelle Yeoh – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Supporting Performance
Jamie Lee Curtis – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (NO WAY!!!)
Brian Tyree Henry – “Causeway”
Nina Hoss – “Tár”
Brian D’Arcy James – “The Cathedral”
Ke Huy Quan – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Trevante Rhodes – “Bruiser”
Theo Rossi – “Emily the Criminal”
Mark Rylance – “Bones and All”
Jonathan Tucker – “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Gabrielle Union – “The Inspection”
Best Screenplay
“After Yang”
“Catherine Called Birdy”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (NO WAY!!!)
“Tár”
“Women Talking”
Best First Screenplay
“Bodies Bodies Bodies”
“Emergency”
“Emily the Criminal”
“Fire Island”
“Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Best First Feature
“Aftersun”
“Emily the Criminal”
“The Inspection”
“Murina”
“Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Best Cinematography
“Aftersun”
“Murina”
“Neptune Frost”
“Pearl”
“Tár”
Best Breakthrough Performance
Frankie Corio – “Aftersun”
Garcija Filipovic – “Murina”
Stephanie Hsu – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Lily McInerny – “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Daniel Zolghardi – “Funny Pages”
