British Independent Film Awards Nominations

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT  FILM
Four Lions
Kick-Ass
The King's Speech
Monsters
Never Let Me Go

BEST DIRECTOR
Gareth Edward, Monsters
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Mark Romanek, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Vaughn, Kick-Ass

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD
(BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR)
Clio Barnard, The Arbor 
Gareth Edwards, Monsters
Rowan Joffe, Brighton Rock
Chris Morris, Four Lions
Debs Gardner Paterson, Africa United

BEST ACTOR
Riz Ahmed, Four Lions
Jim Broadbent, Another Year
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Adam Gillen, Treacle Junior
Scoot McNairy, Monsters

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, Made in Dagenham
Carey Mulligan, Never Let Me Go
Andrea Riseborouh, Brighton Rock
Ruth Sheen, Another Year
Manjinder Virk, The Arbor

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Andrew Garland, Never Let Me Go
Bob Hoskins, Made in Dagenham
Kayvan Novak, Four Lions
Guy Pearce, The King's Speech
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Tamsin Greig, Tamara Drewe
Keira Knightley, Never Let Me Go
Lesley Manville, Another Year
Rosamund Pike, Made in Dagenham

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
Joanne Froggatt, In Our Name
Tom Hughes, Cemetary Junction
Conor McCarron, Neds
Andrea Riseborough, Brighton Rock
Manjinder Virk, The Arbor

BEST SCREENPLAY
Four Lions- Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris
Kick-Ass- Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn
The King's Speech- David Seidler
Made in Dagenham- William Ivory
Never Let Me Go- Alex Garland

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
The Arbor
In Our Name
Monsters
Skeltons
Streetdance 3D

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
The Arbor- Tim Barker (sound)
Brighton Rock- John Mathieson (cinematography)
The Illusionist- Sylvain Chomet (animation)
The King's Speech- Eve Stewart (production design)
Monsters- Gareth Edwards (visual effects)

One quibble, why does this awards body choose to put all the "tech" categories into one-- how does a films sound, cinematography, art direction or effects compare to each other, and "animation" is ghettoized further here, why?

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Arbor
Enemies of the People
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Fire in Babylon
Waste Land

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Dogtooth
I Am Love
A Prophet
The Secret in Their Eyes
Winter's Bone


The British Independents have announced their nominees for the best of 2010-- show of hands, how many have heard of any of these films?

A few of the bigger contenders have arrived already, noteworthy for Never Let Me Go, which has already "supposedly" crashed and burned critically and commercially in the U.S.  The small, incredibly austere Kick-Ass somehow managed top nominations, despite it's shortcomings (I'm not the only one to see them?)

The rest, including The King's Speech, Another Year, and Made in Dagenham will open in limited release in the next two months, on their way to expected Oscar nominations.  I figure, despite no evidence for anything, this will be an easy victory for The King's Speech, which leads all nominees.  One noteworthy thing specific to the BIFA is the first classification of Lesley Manville (Another Year), here nominated for supporting actress; much debate has already been mentioned whether or not the Oscars will view her as lead or supporting-- the consensus shows she'll get in either way at this point from the accolades all the way back to this years Cannes Film Festival.

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is a picturesque and frustrating hybrid of Phillip K. Dick science fiction meets Merchant Ivory filmmaking.  Based on the highly acclaimed novel by Kazou Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day), the film directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and written by Alex Garland (Sunshine; 28 Days Later)  tells a very-British tale, set in an alternative reality, one in which the human lifespan has elongated drastically, with bristling and pretty photography of the English county-side; it's one of the prettily admirable awards bait films that brims with respectability in every stroke.  Yet what may have come across thought-provoking or emotionally wrenching on the page has been nonchalantly transferred to screen simplified and a bit lifeless.  And what's left is a handful or very admirable performances, a teary, and overblown musical score, courtesy of Rachel Portman (a specialty of hers-- have a listen to The Cider House Rules music for further proof), and yet another refined piece of English filmmaking.

The maddening thing is that there's a few parts of Never Let Me Go, I actually don't want to let go from so easily.  The film starts, very promisingly, with a flashback to the childhoods of three friends-- Kathy H. (Carey Mulligan), Tommy D. (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley.)  Through Kathy's narration were drifted back when the three were kids, and students at Hailsham, a prim and proper English boarding school, on an intense and rich estate-- at the first glance the school looks like a grand mansion, or possibly an insane asylum-- props certainly go the art directors and set decorators.  Hailsham is headed by Miss Emily (played mightily by Charlotte Rampling), a mysterious headmistress who holds a dark secret for her students, while simultaneously preparing them.  There's something odd from the start-- what with the health regiment and the freaking wrist bands the students wear.  We learn fairly early on the picture (courtesy of humane teacher, Miss Lucy, played with effortless grace by Sally Hawkins, what the real story is.)

I won't reveal it, even though I've read many a critic write it all up before me, however it is a bit spooky and sends the early scenes to definitive chill.  After the terrific first third, Never Let Me Go appears to stop to a halt.  It's as if right after the premise is revealed, they filmmakers kind of stopped trying, feeling that was enough.  Simply put, it's not-- the story delves into a sappy love triangle between Mulligan, Garfield and Knightley, where not much actually happens, but still prettily photographed countryside and beaches are shot for maximum quality.  It's a shame for the truly provocative film Never Let Me Go could possibly have been, and also to the gifted performers clearly giving the material their all.  And most importantly to the audience, that at first is given a film that seeks to demand our attention, only to turn into one that appears to only want to manipulate our heartstrings.  Subtle melodrama doesn't exactly go together; then again neither do Phillip K. Dick and Merchant Ivory.

Mulligan definitely makes good of the promise of last year's An Education; in fact I think prefer her Kathy H. to Jenny.  She, along with Garfield and Knightley are adept at cobbling together young adults who are so thoroughly maladjusted due to their mission at Hailsham, and for long stretches of the film, very subtly and nimbly adjusting to their inevitable calling.  The inevitable is what pulls the film down, as simply put the film meanders at a rather dull speed with sharp climatic pings every so often.  It's then when the score swells waking us up to remind us to cry-- an emotional scene ahead, get the hankies out.  Had the music stopped, and film were perhaps better paced, all I would have needed for a good cry was a look at Mulligan's fragile face, or hearing Garfield's painful scream, or Knightley's guilty beach-side confession.

It's a weird status to recommend yet dismiss a film at the same time, but Never Let Me Go doesn't make it easy to love, nor hate.  Ambivalence would be a good way to describe it; ambivalent with a few wonderful characteristics.  C+