‘Past Lives,’ ‘May December’ and ‘American Fiction’ Lead Spirit Award Nominations

 US actor Charles Melton arrives for the premiere of "May December" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on November 16, 2023. (AFP)
US actor Charles Melton arrives for the premiere of "May December" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on November 16, 2023. (AFP)
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‘Past Lives,’ ‘May December’ and ‘American Fiction’ Lead Spirit Award Nominations

 US actor Charles Melton arrives for the premiere of "May December" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on November 16, 2023. (AFP)
US actor Charles Melton arrives for the premiere of "May December" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on November 16, 2023. (AFP)

Celine Song’s "Past Lives," Todd Haynes’ "May December" and Cord Jefferson’s "American Fiction" got a leading five nominations, including best feature, from the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Natalie Morales and Joel Kim Booster announced the nominees Tuesday on a YouTube livestream.

Song’s quietly romantic film, starring Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as childhood friends who reconnect later in life, earned nominations for her direction, script and for both actors. "May December," about an actress preparing to play a Mary Kay Letourneau-like role got nods for Natalie Portman, Charles Melton and screenwriter Samy Burch. MGM’s "American Fiction," featuring Jeffrey Wright as a frustrated novelist, got recognition for Wright, Erika Alexander and Sterling K. Brown. Jefferson was nominated for his script but not for his direction, however.

It was a good morning for A24. In addition to the nominations for "Past Lives," the indie film company received 11 overall for "All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,Earth Mama" and "The Zone of Interest." Kelly Reichardt’s "Showing Up" was also named winner of the Robert Altman Award, which is given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast. Michelle Williams plays a small-time sculptor in the film, leading an ensemble that includes André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch and Amanda Plummer.

Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers," about a curmudgeonly teacher played by Paul Giamatti, got four nominations including for cinematography, best screenplay, best supporting performance for Da’Vine Joy Randolph and best breakthrough for newcomer Dominic Sessa. Neither Payne nor Giamatti were nominated.

Directing nominees were: Andrew Haigh ("All of Strangers"); Ira Sachs ("Passages"); William Oldroyd ("Eileen"); and Haynes and Song.

The Spirit Awards limit eligibility to productions with budgets of $30 million or less, meaning films like "Oppenheimer,Maestro" and "Poor Things" did not qualify for nominations.

Lead performance nominees include Wright, Lee, Yoo, Portman, Jessica Chastain ("Memory"), Trace Lysette ("Monica"), Judy Reyes ("Birth/Rebirth"), Andrew Scott ("All of Us Strangers"), Franz Rogowski ("Passages") and Teyana Taylor ("A Thousand and One").

Supporting performance nods went to Noah Galvin ("Theater Camp"), Anne Hathaway ("Eileen"), Glenn Howerton ("BlackBerry"), Marin Ireland ("Eileen"), Catalina Saavedra ("Rotting in the Sun") and Ben Whishaw ("Passages"), in addition to the aforementioned Melton, Randolph, Brown and Alexander.

NFL veteran Marshawn Lynch was also nominated for his breakthrough performance in the wild high school comedy "Bottoms."

Films nominated for best international film include both Sandra Hüller films, Justine Triet’s "Anatomy of a Fall" and Jonathan Glazer’s "The Zone of Interest," from Poland, as well as Denmark/Iceland’s "Godland," Nigeria’s "Mama Wata" and Mexico’s "Tótem."

Last year’s big winner was " Everything Everywhere All At Once," which accepted seven awards including best feature, best director and acting prizes for Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan – categories in which it would go on to win Oscars.

Josh Welsh, the president of Film Independent, said the spirit awards look for films and shows that, "demonstrate the uniqueness of vision, original, provocative subject matter, economy of means and diversity, both on screen and off."

The Spirit Awards also recognize television series. The nominees include "Jury Duty," for best series and best ensemble cast, "Beef" for series, Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, and "The Last of Us" which got acting nods for Bella Ramsey, Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman. Billie Eilish was also nominated for "Swarm."

Saturday Night Live’s Aidy Bryant is hosting the show, which will take place on Feb. 25 in Santa Monica, California. The awards will be streamed live on IMDb and Film Independent’s YouTube channels.



How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".