Two Lovers

Peter Debruge’s Top 10 of 2009

by Peter Debruge    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 11:08 pm

A rough year, you say? Maybe for your 401(k). Hollywood raked it in, enjoying record box office numbers, while the indie and foreign lineup (though spread between fewer companies perhaps) yielded an unprecedented number of treasures. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I had such a hard time cutting my best-of list off at 10. Surveying my choices, I’m hard-pressed to find a common theme. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I might even wonder what kind of critic can love a G-rated Japanese-animated cartoon and Lars von Trier’s genital-mutilation opus in the same breath, or reconcile the esoteric with the popcorn populism of James Cameron’s Avatar. But there you have it. Of the 274 first-run and festival films I saw last year (that’s as many movies as qualified for Oscar consideration in 2009 – though not the same ones), the 10 best are listed after the jump:

2009 Spirit Award Nominees

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 1st, 2009 at 10:47 am

Film Independent’s Spirit Awards are meant to honor “indie” films, i.e. no blockbuster movies allowed but if you played at some festivals and didn’t cost a lot of money, you’re in consideration.  The Spirit Awards are a good indicator of what smaller films could be getting a shot at Oscar nominations in various categories.  Usually, their nominees are pretty solid and play like a nice alternative universe where the Oscars went to more deserving nominees (last year The Wrestler won Best Film and Best Actor).

But this year’s choices are obvious mixed with disappointingly bizarre.  In a year where some strong, hard-sell films came out of Sundance with strong buzz, the Spirit Awards have instead shown love to movies like Two Lovers, Cold Souls, and (500) Days of Summer.  It’s not that any of these films are resoundingly bad, but when placed alongside obvious contenders like Precious and A Single Man, it feels like Film Independent (who chooses the nominees) were struggling to fill all the nomination slots.  It’s even more bizarre for what you won’t find: Colin Firth for A Single Man; any nominations for A Serious Man beyond cinematography, direction, and the Robert Altman Award; and a Best Director nomination for Marc Webb just to name a few.  Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  The 2009 Independent Spirit Awards will air on March 5, 2010 at 8pm PST on IFC.’

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