The Lobster tops nominee chart at British Independent Film Awards

Macbeth and 45 Years also do well at the indie bash.

 

Calm down, calm down. Yorgos Lanthimos’s absurdist romance is a British co-production. So there is no cause to get upset at the Irish Film Board/Element Pictures flick figuring so strongly in the British Independent Film Awards. Nor is there any issue with Saoirse Ronan being nominated for best actress. Brooklyn also absorbed UK money and — as witnessed by the inclusion of Marion Cotillard — to qualify for an acting gong you must merely appear in a British film. (We will just have to wait for theLondon Film Critics Circle awards to get in our annual patriotic huff.) By way of contrast, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, mentioned as best international production, looks (somewhat surprisingly) to have no significant British money on board.

This is a great performance by The Lobster and  will surely offer some compensation for an expected shut-out at the more-conservative Oscars (though I fancy Colin Farrell for a Golden Globe nomination). Lanthimos’s film took seven nominations including Best Film, Best Director and acting nods for Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman and Ben Whishaw. In joint second spot we find Andrew Haigh’s wonderful 45 Years, which took six, including inevitable (and possibly winning) spots for Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. Macbeth also scored the half dozen.

The Brooklyn people would have hoped for a best picture nomination — Ex Machina and Amy joined the films mentioned above — but will be content to have received five mentions. Domhnall Gleeson and Julie Walters join Saoirse in accumulating three acting nominations.

The real losers look to be Suffragette and The Danish Girl, which only managed a smattering of acting nominations between them (including one for Brendan Gleeson). Neither went down brilliantly with the critics, but they have an awards-friendly visibility to them. Then again, the BIFAs are very much concerned with rewarding outliers. As Variety notes, the last four films to win best picture here – Tyrannosaur, Broken, Metro Manila and Pride — accumulated not a single Oscar nomination between them. So one should not jump to the mad conclusion that Ex Machina is now more likely to secure a best picture nod at the Academy Awards than Brooklyn. The awards will be handed out at an agreeably intimate ceremony on December 6th.

THE BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS 2015

Best British Independent Film
“Amy”
“Ex Machina”
“45 Years”
“The Lobster”
“Macbeth”

Best Director
Asif Kapadia, “Amy”
Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”
Andrew Haigh, “45 Years”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Lobster”
Justin Kurzel, “Macbeth”

Best Actor
Tom Courtenay, “45 Years”
Colin Farrell, “The Lobster”
Michael Fassbender, “Macbeth”
Tom Hardy, “Legend”
Tom Hiddleston, “High-Rise”

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, “Macbeth”
Carey Mulligan, “Suffragette”
Charlotte Rampling, “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan, “Brooklyn”
Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”

Best Supporting Actor
Luke Evans, “High-Rise”
Brendan Gleeson, “Suffragette”
Domhnall Gleeson, “Brooklyn”
Sean Harris, “Macbeth”
Ben Whishaw, “The Lobster”

Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, “Suffragette”
Olivia Colman, “The Lobster”
Anne-Marie Duff, “Suffragette”
Sienna Miller, “High-Rise”
Julie Walters, “Brooklyn”

Best Screenplay
Nick Hornby, “Brooklyn”
Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”
Andrew Haigh, “45 Years”
Amy Jump, “High-Rise”
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou, “The Lobster”

Best Foreign Independent Film
“Carol”
“Force Majeure”
“Girlhood”
“Room”
“Son of Saul”

Best Debut Director (Douglas Hickox Award)
Chris and Ben Blaine, “Nina Forever”
Corin Hardy, “The Hallow”
Paul Katis, “Kajaki: The True Story”
John Maclean, “Slow West”
Stephen Fingleton, “The Survivalist”

Best Achievement in Craft
Chris King (editing), “Amy”
Fiona Weir (casting), “Brooklyn”
Mark Digby (production design), “Ex Machina”
Andrew Whitehurst (visual effects), “Ex Machina”
Adam Arkapaw (cinematography), “Macbeth”

Best Documentary
“Amy”
“Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance”
“How to Change the World”
“Palio”
“A Syrian Love Story”

Most Promising Newcomer
Agyness Dean, “Sunset Song”
Mia Goth, “The Survivalist”
Abigail Hardingham, “Nina Forever”
Milo Parker, “Mr. Holmes”
Bel Powley, “A Royal Night Out”

Producer of the Year
James Gay-Rees, “Amy”
Tristan Goligher, “45 Years”
Paul Katis and Andrew De Lotbiniere, “Kajaki: The True Story”
Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos and Lee Magiday, “The Lobster”
David A. Hughes and David Moores, “The Violators”

Raindance Discovery Award
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“Burn Burn Burn”
“Orion: The Man Who Would Be King”
“The Return”
“Winter”

Best Short Film
“Balcony”
“Crack”
“Edmond”
“Love is Blind”
“Manoman”