Film Independent Spirit Awards has a host and will no doubt use that fact as a way to poke fun at their bigger competitor, the hostless Academy Awards.
Saturday’s Film Independent Spirit Awards has a host, Aubrey Plaza, and will no doubt use that fact as a way to poke fun at their bigger competitor, the hostless Academy Awards.
But that’s far from the only way that the Spirit Awards will distinguish themselves from the Academy Awards during their afternoon shindig on the beach the day before the Oscars.
More than in most recent years, Saturday’s Spirit Awards won’t be an out-of-town tryout for Sunday’s Oscars, looser and less consequential but honoring many of the same films.
Also Read:Aubrey Plaza Dings Host-Less Oscars in Independent Spirit Awards Promo (Video)
Instead, this year’s Spirit lineup offers a real alternative to the Oscars. The Spirits’ five Best Feature nominees, for instance, were all overlooked by the Oscars in the Best Picture category: Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade,” Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” and Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here,” none of which received a single nomination from the Academy, plus “First Reformed,” which got one, and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which got three.
Those are five exceptional films that can hold their own against the Academy’s lineup, and they make a case for what the Spirit Awards should be: not the baby brother to the bigger, glitzier show across town the next day, but a true alternative. Recognizing the heart and quality of “Leave No Trace” or “First Reformed” or “Beale Street,” after all, is a far worthier achievement than serving as just one more precursor award on the road to the Dolby Theatre.
