Gotham Awards

[oscar jubis]

Half Nelson Triumphs at Gotham Awards


Budget drug-addiction drama Half Nelson was a triple winner at this year's Gotham Awards, scooping prizes for Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor. Despite stiff competition from big studio-financed films including The Departed and Marie Antoinette, the $1 million movie dominated the New York ceremony on Wednesday night honoring independent film-making. Host David Cross slammed the inclusion of its big-budget rivals, insisting, "We're here to celebrate the films that show you don't need a big studio, films with an untested director and cast - films like The Departed. How that got greenlit I have no idea." Despite the scathing comments, the $25 million Brad Pitt-starring Babel won the Best Ensemble Cast award, and its star Rinko Kikuchi shared the Breakthrough Actor award with Shareeka Epps of Half Nelson. Oscar-short listed Iraq In Fragments took home the Best Documentary prize.

[Chris Knipp]

You must be pleased about Half Nelson. I think the prize for Babel has some justification. Though "ensemble" is a bit misleading in this case, since the segments are separate, the acting is all good. I am debating how to rate Babel. It deserves consideration. Some of the thinking seems specious to me, but the craft is impressive throughout and the film stays in my mind. Iraq in Fragments has generated a huge buzz, and it has its points. I wonder though if it is right for us to celebrate a movie about Iraq that is "priding poetry over politics," as Nathan Lee puts it in The Voice? I wonder if The Ground Truth is the best documentary about the Iraq "war" as a Time writer recently said. I haven't seen it, but am curious. But if Iraq in Fragments speaks to people and they hear the Iraqi's street opinions about the American invasion, then it has done the work that needs to be done.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
You must be pleased about Half Nelson.
I am. I'm happy for Shareeka Epps too.

I think the prize for Babel has some justification. The acting is all good.
I do too.
Gonzalez-Inarritu deserves credit for the perfs he got from inexperienced or non-actors.

Iraq in Fragments has generated a huge buzz, and it has its points. I wonder if The Ground Truth is the best documentary about the Iraq "war" as a Time writer recently said.
Haven't seen Iraq in Fragments. The Ground Truth is atop my Netflix queue. The War Tapes still my fave doc about the Iraq "war".

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I wonder if The Ground Truth is the best documentary about the Iraq "war" as a Time writer recently said.

The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends consists exclusively of returned Iraq vets telling the world how they were turned into killers during training (the chant about killing kids is chilling), the horrible things they did in Iraq and mostly, how they were psychologically and spiritually damaged by the experience. Potent stuff yes, but Michael Atkinson's caveat resonates with me:

Foulkrod's film backs itself into a Support Our Troops corner, elegizing the soldiers, many with missing limbs and almost all with post-traumatic stress, as they recount being indoctrinated, killing civilians (an everyday occurrence), feeling guilt, and suffering at home as the federal military machine reneges on disability checks and services. Iraqis do not figure in, except as bad memories. Claiming "We're all casualties" seems an act of whiny hubris (for the film, if not the PTSD Marine who said it), because Iraqis, butchered in their homes by the tens of thousands, would surely prefer depression and weeping in their wives' arms at night to having their families and neighborhoods annihilated.

[oscar jubis]

I wouldn't call The Ground Truth pro-administration, but after it shows all those innocent Iraqis killed, including women and little kids, the vets' PTSD feels like what Atkinson calls "whiny hubris". Then again, Ground Truth makes it clear our military effectively trains recruits to kill anything that moves and not give a shit about it. If my kid ever wanted to join, I'd show him this flick.

I'll be attending a screening of Iraq in Fragments at the U of Miami on 2/9/07.

I'm extremely curious about Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. Out on dvd tomorrow.

[Chris Knipp]

Have not seen Spike Lee's new documentary. I suspected the possibility of a pro-administration aspect to The Ground Truth given its recommendation in Time Magazine, never an organ of dissent. Iraq in Fragments does have the advantage of focusing on Iraqis and only on Iraqis. To me its lack of commentary is a weakness, given the complexity of the material, expecially in the middle section. The first segment and last segment have a too-limited focus, and in the big central section it's almost impossible to follow the complicated and chaotic faction picture on display. I wrote a review after seeing Iraq in Fragments at the SFIFF. If this is the best that's on offer, then despite supposedly there being a plethora of Iraq war documentaries, nothing definiitive has emerged. Is this surprising? Americans have no ability to move freely there. The place to look would be Al Jazeera. They would have more material to use. And just as the Iraqis need to rebuild their own country, let them do the documentaries about that process and the destruction that preceded it.