Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

I don't have much to say about this list, but I do want to note the presence of Ralph Fiennes in the supporting actor category. Fiennes gave a truly charismatic, hilarious and maddening performance -- one that so dominates A Bigger Splash that only his absence from the final reel makes the supporting placement plausible. Between this film and Grand Budapest Hotel, I think he's showing himself to be a far greater character actor than the past 20 years of movie stardom had suggested.

My question: is it possible the critics bring him into the race this year? Though the lead and supporting actress fields are quite full, and best actor at least has Affleck and (likely) Denzel heading it, supporting actor seems virtually empty. So much so that the kids at Awards Watch have Liam Neeson/Silence as their front-runner -- always dangerous to have something unseen-by-Thanksgiving in that slot (Viva Unbroken!). But even more skeptical sorts would have to note that Mahershala Ali is a sure contender, despite the brevity of his role, simply because, who else? And Jeff Bridges might well make it, but he's hardly on par, in certainty terms, with 3 or 4 of the actress hopefuls. So might critics' groups bring Fiennes -- or Tracy Letts in Indignation -- to the forefront in time to make a nomination possible, despite their films' relative obscurity?

Just dawned on me that Paterson got totally locked out. They clearly had no love for it.

Funny, I knew that last year when Spotlight was in the same situation. It's been a really long year.

It's an award for the ensemble and casting, so all the actors are already getting an award.

It's kind of silly to name an award after a writer-producer-director and allow the winning film to be nominated in all three categories, but not acting. Maybe they should call it the Alt-wrong award.

Moonlight won the Altman award, so it was ineligible for individual acting nominations,

For those who do not have easy access to theatres showing some of this year's more obscure nominees, The Witch has been out on Blu-ray and DVD since last May; Other People releases on DVD only on 12/6, Little Men on DVD only on 12/13 and American Honey on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/27.

Among the more high profile films, Hell or High Water was released on Blu-ray and DVD yesterday.

Moonlight and American Honey, being the only two films nominated for both Best Picture and Director probably have a leg up in both categories.

Most surprising to me were the omissions of Moonlight in Supporting Male and Supporting Female; Loving in Best Feature and Male Lead and Manchester by the Sea in Supporting Female and Director. I also found surprising the nomination of Ben Foster instead of Jeff Bridges in Supporting Male for Hell of High Water.

The year's first major awards nominations:

2017 Independent Spirit Award Nominations: ‘Moonlight,’ ‘American Honey’ and ‘Jackie’ Lead the Way

Best Feature:
“American Honey”
“Chronic”
“Jackie”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
 
Best Director:
Andrea Arnold, “American Honey”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Pablo Larraín, “Jackie”
Jeff Nichols, “Loving”
Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”
 
Best First Feature:
“The Childhood of a Leader”
“The Fits”
“Other People”
“Swiss Army Man”
“The Witch”
 
Best Female Lead:
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Sasha Lane, “American Honey”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
 
Best Male Lead:
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
David Harewood, “Free In Deed”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Jesse Plemons, “Other People”
Tim Roth, “Chronic”
 
Best Supporting Female:
Edwina Findley, “Free In Deed”
Paulina García, “Little Men”
Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Riley Keough, “American Honey”
Molly Shannon, “Other People”
 
Best Supporting Male:
Ralph Fiennes, “A Bigger Splash”
Ben Foster, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Shia LaBeouf, “American Honey”
Craig Robinson, “Morris from America”
 
Best Screenplay:
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, “Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Mike Mills, “20th Century Women”
Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, “Little Men”
Taylor Sheridan, “Hell or High Water”
 
Best First Screenplay:
Robert Eggers, “The Witch”
Chris Kelly, “Other People”
Adam Mansbach, “Barry”
Stella Meghie, “Jean of the Joneses”
Craig Shilowich, “Christine”
 
Best Cinematography:
Ava Berkofsky, “Free In Deed”
Lol Crawley, “The Childhood of a Leader”
Zach Kuperstein, “The Eyes of My Mother”
James Laxton, “Moonlight”
Robbie Ryan, “American Honey”
 
Best Editing:
Matthew Hannam, “Swiss Army Man”
Jennifer Lame, “Manchester by the Sea”
Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, “Moonlight”
Jake Roberts, “Hell or High Water”
Sebastián Sepúlveda, “Jackie”