The 2018 Indie Spirit Awards Nominations Are Full Of Happy Surprises

The 2018 Independent Spirit Awards nominations were revealed today, and, at least to me, this is the most “indie” the nominees have been in a long time. There seems to have been a concerted effort to get closer to the event’s roots, and we see that in some of the movies that got left out.

Coming away with the most nominations with six was Luca Guadagnino’s beloved summer romance, Call Me By Your Name. The film has been earning incredible reviews since it debuted at Sundance and has appeared like an obvious Best Picture frontrunner for months. Following closely behind with five nominations were Jordan Peele’s Get Out and, surprisingly, the Safdie Brothers’ gritty crime flick, Good Time. Greta Gerwig’s skyrocketing Lady Bird came away with four nominations, more on that in a sec, tied with The Rider which has only played at TIFF. Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri finished up with three, as well as the excellent low-key drama Columbus, while Sean Baker’s The Florida Project had two, and yeah I’ll comment on those right now.

First off, I’m absolutely ecstatic to see that Columbus, one of my favorite movies of the year and a gorgeous dramatic masterpiece from Kogonada, earned three nominations. I’m sad none of them were for stars Haley Lu Richardson and John Cho, but I’ll deal if it gets this amazing film more attention.

Get Out and Call Me By Your Name doing so well was a given, although I remain perplexed by all the love for Guadagnino’s film. Maybe I’m missing something other than the terrific, honest portrayals by Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet, but then our reviewer Mae Abdulbaki wasn’t too crazy about it, either.

Good Time, which saw Robert Pattinson go street for the first time in his career, felt like it should be an indie darling, and it was treated as such. I’m still surprised by the honors it received, though; not just Pattinson but co-star (and co-director) Benny Safie and newcomer Teliah Lennice Webster.

I’m disappointed we didn’t see Danielle MacDonald’s fiery hip-hop performance in Patti Cake$ get some love, but then the same could be said for both Brooklynn Prince and Willem Dafoe for The Florida Project. I could see maybe snubbing Prince due to her age, but there’s no excuse leaving out Dafoe who is an absolute hero in a triumphant movie.

Nothing for Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water or Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River? Both are indie favorites with reviews to match, but I don’t know if they seem too much like studio movies to the voters? In terms of economics they fall within the awards guidelines, so maybe we’ll learn more about the decision-making process here. Actually, we probably won’t.

Even though Lady Bird earned four nominations, part of me still feels it’s a bit of a disappointment. Is that crazy? The film is a box office giant by arthouse standards, with word-of-mouth carrying it to genuine Oscars consideration. I thought there would be more, that’s all, like Gerwig for Best Director?

The full list of nominees is below. The Indie Spirits will be held on March 3rd 2018.