Entertainment
'Anora' wins at an emotionally charged Spirit Awards
Continuing to build momentum as award season nears its conclusion, “Anora” won three prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, including best feature. The movie was also recognized for director Sean Baker and lead performance for Mikey Madison.
Kieran Culkin won for supporting performance for “A Real Pain,” while Jesse Eisenberg won for the film’s screenplay.
The winner of the Spirit Award for best feature has gone on to win the Oscar for best picture in four of the last 10 years. And in 2023 and 2024, the two years since the Spirit Awards switched to gender-neutral acting categories with 10 nominees each, the winner for supporting performance has gone on to win the Oscar, while the winner of the lead performance award has been nominated for an Oscar but lost.
In the television categories, “Shōgun” won best new scripted series, while “Baby Reindeer” swept the performing prizes with three wins.
In her opening monologue, host Aidy Bryant referred to the event as “Hollywood’s third or fourth biggest night,” capturing the relaxed, low-pressure atmosphere befitting an afternoon ceremony held in an oversize tent near the beach in Santa Monica.
With a number of awards shows postponed in the aftermath of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles last month, there have often been awkward moments at events, as presenters and hosts struggle to find the right tone that still allows for a sense of celebration.
“I do want to acknowledge that I know it feels a little silly to have an awards show now, but your films are important to people,” said Bryant. “Independent film is passionate people working together to build something better. And who better to help rebuild the city of Los Angeles than our community?”
She noted a fund for people to make donations to help filmmakers affected by the recent wildfires.
“Film is what this city was built on,” added Bryant. “And who built it? A bunch of annoying dorks like us.”
A rousing speech from ‘Anora’s’ Sean Baker
In accepting the award for best director, Baker gave the evening’s most rousing speech. Setting his statue down and pulling pages from his pocket, he began to read an impassioned plea on what he called the “current state of indie film.”
“I’m an indie-film lifer,” Baker said, noting that he doesn’t make movies to be calling cards for larger studio projects. “Some of us want to make personal films that are intended for theatrical release with subject matter that would never be greenlit by the big studios.”
But the state of indie film was precarious, he warned.
“The system has to change because this is simply unsustainable,” Baker continued, detailing in depth the average time needed to make an indie film and the personal costs involved for directors. “We are creating product that creates jobs and revenue for the entire industry. We shouldn’t be barely getting by.”
Calling for higher upfront fees, Baker said, “Let’s demand what we’re worth. I know that if you’re in this room, you’ve proven you’re worth it. So let’s not undervalue ourselves any longer.”
As the audience erupted in cheers and a standing ovation, Baker pleaded for filmmakers, financiers, sales companies and distributors to work together “to make indie films sustainable for creatives and keep indie film alive. This is for all the indie-film lifers who are holding on and fighting the good fight.”
How to face ‘dark times’
Last year’s Spirit Awards were disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters using a loudspeaker outside the tent to amplify their message. Though the overall atmosphere this year was not as stridently political, the outside world still found its way into the tent.
What could have been the event’s most charged political moment — when the film “No Other Land,” made by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian directors, won the documentary award — ended up slightly muted. No one from the film was in attendance and no speech was given.
But the policies of the new U.S. administration have already had an impact on some of those in the room Saturday. Hunter Schafer, the trans performer nominated for her lead performance in “Cuckoo,” revealed this week that her newly issued passport misgenders her. Schafer made no mention of the incident as she took to the stage to co-present an award that went to trans actor Nava Mau for “Baby Reindeer.”
In her speech, Mau said, “We don’t know what is going to happen, but we do know our power. We do know that we get to decide who we work with. We get to decide what we work on. Even if it doesn’t feel that way, we do have all the power. Because we are the people and our labor is everything. So please, please — let’s stick together. We can do this. We’re going to get through it.”
In accepting the John Cassavetes Award for a film made for under $1 million, “Girls Will Be Girls” filmmaker Shuchi Telati acknowledged, “Honestly, these are dark times and we’re culture makers. And thank you to all the people who support this work, who support stories of quiet rebellion.”
The prize for ensemble in a scripted series went to “How to Die Alone,” which was recently canceled by Hulu. In accepting the award, the show’s star and creator Natasha Rothwell noted she was not going to cry because she took beta blockers, but, choking up regardless, said, “beta blockers need to do more beta blocking.”
Rothwell added, “At its core, ‘How to Die Alone’ is a show about the need to feel seen, to be valued just as you are. And for Black stories, visibility isn’t a privilege, it is a necessity. We deserve to take up space.”
Rothwell finished her speech by saying, “To the trans community that is under attack right now, know that you are not alone. I see you. We see you. We all see you. We stand with you.”
Accepting the award for new non-scripted or documentary series for “Hollywood Black,” executive producer Justin Simien said, “I did not expect this, so I’m going to say what’s on my heart here. If you really are serious about stopping the white nationalist coup taking over the country — have you heard of it? — if you’re serious about stopping this, how about amplifying Black history? Because Black people, we’ve been in a fascist country this whole time.”
Josh Welsh remembered
The acting president of Film Independent, Brenda Robinson, gave a speech in the middle of the ceremony in which she mentioned Josh Welsh, the organization’s longtime leader who died on New Year’s Eve after battling colon cancer for five years. At the mention of Welsh’s name the room burst into applause and an emotional standing ovation.
Before leading the audience in a second standing ovation, Robinson said, “Josh is a visionary of the type that comes along once in a lifetime. We want his work and impact to continue on, because he is a great leader. He is a person of exceptional character. I speak about him very deliberately in the present tense, because he is still here. He’s here. We will feel his spirit in the programs he created and the lives of filmmakers who he impacted, always and in all ways. Josh is only absent in the body, but the spirit of who Josh is and what he means to this community — that is forever.”
In accepting the Robert Altman Award for “His Three Daughters,” filmmaker Azazel Jacobs acknowledged “the spirit of Josh Welsh,” saying, “I’m one of the people whose kindness and encouragement he deeply touched and I’m grateful for him.”
In his speech for winning the feature prize for “Anora,” Baker also noted, “I know we are all thinking about Josh Welsh tonight, a true champion of independent voices and a wonderful, kind human being. We’ll miss you, Josh. We’ll miss you. Long live independent cinema.”
A complete list of today’s Spirit winners
FILM CATEGORIES
Best Feature
“Anora”
Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan
Director
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Screenplay
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
First Feature
“Dìdi”
Director: Sean Wang
Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters
First Screenplay
Sean Wang, “Dìdi”
John Cassavetes Award
(for best feature made under $1,000,000)
“Girls Will Be Girls”
Writer-Director-Producer: Shuchi Talati
Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne
Breakthrough Performance
Maisy Stella, “My Old Ass”
Supporting Performance
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” (Searchlight Pictures)
Lead Performance
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Robert Altman Award
“His Three Daughters”
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto
Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders
Cinematography
Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”
Editing
Hansjörg Weissbrich, “September 5”
International Film
“Flow”
Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Documentary
“No Other Land”
Directors: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
Producer: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Someone to Watch Award
Sarah Friedland, “Familiar Touch”
Truer Than Fiction Award
Rachel Elizabeth Seed, “A Photographic Memory”
Producers Award
Sarah Winshall
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
Best New Scripted Series
“Shōgun”
Creators/Executive Producers: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Executive Producers: Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, Michael Clavell
Co-Executive Producers: Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Jamie Vega Wheeler
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Hollywood Black”
Executive Producers: Shayla Harris, Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss, Jon Kamen, Justin Simien, Kyle Laursen, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Amy Goodman Kass, Michael Wright, Jill Burkhard
Co-Executive Producers: David C. Brown, Laurens Grant
Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series
Nava Mau, “Baby Reindeer”
Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series
Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”
Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”
Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“How to Die Alone”
Ensemble Cast: Melissa DuPrey, Jaylee Hamidi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Arkie Kandola, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Chris “CP” Powell, Conrad Ricamora, Natasha Rothwell, Jocko Sims
Movie Reviews
‘Night Nurse’ Review: A Caretaker Explores Her Kink for Elder Abuse in the Year’s Strangest Erotic Thriller
There are any number of erotic thrillers in which rich old men are robbed blind and/or left for dead, but Georgia Bernstein’s admirably bizarre “Night Nurse” might be the first movie of its kind where elder abuse is the source — and possible subject— of its erotic thrills. If there are others, I’m not sure I want to know.
But this woozy debut feature doesn’t rely on its audience being turned on by the relationship between a nubile caretaker and her dementia-addled patient. Their psychosexual bond, meanwhile, hinges on cold-calling vulnerable old people under the guise of a grandchild in financial distress. (“I’m in trouble, nana, send me $10,000 or I’ll be left to rot in jail!” That sort of thing). With its slim wisp of a premise stretched into a Strickland-esque dreamscape that substitutes kink for conflict, the film itself hardly seems convinced by its own wrinkled lust — all desperate kisses and non-touching poses of subservience. More important to Bernstein is what that lust reveals about her characters’ deepest needs, specifically how their need to care and be cared for can be as easily perverted as any other form of desire.
As moody and weightless as the noir-accented score that blows through the movie like a curlicue gust of wind in an old cartoon (credit to musicians Sam Clapp and Steven Jackson), “Night Nurse” lacks the pulse required for its stray feelings to come alive. Still, the film ambiently taps into the latent eroticism of teasing out the distance between how you see yourself and who you really are. Bernstein plays with that distance like a telephone cord wrapped around her fingers, and Eleni — played by the excellent newcomer Cemre Paksoy, powerfully helpless — only frays even more as the receiver is brought near the hook. “Everything I did before today wasn’t me,” the nurse tells co-worker Mona (Eleonore Hendricks) after starting a new job at an Illinois retirement home. “It was somebody else.”
What she did before today remains unexplored (specifically, what she did to get herself fired from her last gig), but I’m guessing she’s probably changed less than she thought. There’s a faraway flicker in her eyes the moment she catches the vibe between Mona and Douglas (a ribald and elusive Bruce McKenzie), a white-haired seventysomething who shows early signs of dementia but still commands an undiminished sexual energy. “I’m not an invalid,” he coos as Mona bathes him in the tub, to which she replies, “yes, you are,” in a supplicant tone that hints at a rich history of power games between them.
Later that same night, Douglas will force Eleni to call a stranger, pretend that she’s their granddaughter, and ask for money — he’ll wrap the phone cord around the nurse’s body as she talks and shove her against the wall as they kiss. She’s into it. So into it that he has to clarify the terms of his whole deal: “If you’re looking for a pogo stick, I’m really not your guy.” But Eleni isn’t looking for anything to bounce on. She just wants to be needed, and maybe to need someone in return. Someone who will see her for who she really is and allow her the fantasy of pretending she isn’t being herself when she cons vulnerable strangers out of their money — when she exploits how enthralled those strangers are by the care they have for their loved ones.
“Night Nurse” doesn’t belabor the psychology, as Bernstein prefers to express her story through heavy-lidded suggestion. Somnambulating from the moment it starts, the film moves through a series of beautifully arranged poses that stretch their latent meaning thin across the surface (Lidia Nikonova’s cinematography lacquers every shot with a seductive dreaminess). We see Douglas smoking in a lawn chair with Mona and Eleni curled around his feet. Eleni riding in the backseat of a convertible as the wind blows through her curls. The full staff of nurses — all of them under Douglas’ sway — stumbling around his condo in a state of zonked out bliss as they roll on the prescription drugs they’ve stolen from the residents.
Once you’ve seen one shot of this movie, you’ve practically seen them all, at least until things escalate during a rushed and unsatisfying third act that forces Eleni into an honest confrontation with herself. People will do just about anything to feel needed — they’ll give whatever degree of care allows them to receive it in return. “Night Nurse” understands that desire, but remains far too numb to treat it.
Grade: C+
The Independent Film Company will relase “Night Nurse” in theaters on Friday, July 10.
Entertainment
Lucas Museum to give free annual passes to South L.A. neighbors, host community preview day
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is moving at light speed toward its Sept. 22 opening, announced Thursday that it will give free annual passes to its South L.A. neighbors living in the 90037 ZIP Code. The 300,000-square-foot, $1-billion museum located in Exposition Park will also host a special community preview day on Sept. 13, more than a week before the general public gets to step inside.
The 90037 ZIP Code has a population of more than 65,000 and is bordered roughly by the 110 Freeway to the west, Slauson Avenue to the south, Central Avenue to the east and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north. Residents can register for passes at lucasmuseum.org/lm37 and will be alerted in August when the program launches. Pass holders can reserve tickets for themselves and one guest.
Tickets for non-pass holders go on sale July 21. They cost $25 for adults and $21 for seniors. Kids 17 and under are free.
“Storytelling has the power to bring people together and create a sense of community,” said Lucas Museum Chief Executive Tracey Bates in a news release about the program. “Through LM37, we are inviting our South Los Angeles neighbors to make the museum part of their lives and take their own path of discovery through the art, programs and experiences that will help shape this new cultural hub for Los Angeles.”
The community preview day is designed to give local business owners, community partners, civic leaders and registered LM37 pass holders a sneak peak of the 10,000 square feet of exhibition space, as well as the expansive gardens with 11 acres of park space.
The opening programming, curated by co-founder George Lucas, features 20 inaugural exhibitions across more than 30 galleries, including one titled “Star Wars in Motion,” containing vehicle designs, high-speed racers, flying vessels, props, costumes and illustrations from the first six films in the beloved franchise.
More than 1,200 objects will be on display from Lucas’ personal collection of narrative art. Highlights include work by Norman Rockwell and Dorothea Lange, as well as a variety of manga, children’s book illustrations and comics.
Last year’s “Superman” ended with Iggy Pop singing “Because I’m a punk rocker, yes I am” — an ironic coda for a superlatively square hero. But it rings straightforwardly true for Superman’s cousin.
Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl, sports not a spandex suit but a Blondie T-shirt. When we meet her in Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl,” she’s been on an interstellar bender for days. She’s more Courtney Love than Clark Kent.
Nonchalant and sarcastic, Kara is also a little Han Solo-ish, you might say, given that she moves capriciously through the galaxy in her junky spaceship while getting in fights in extraterrestrial bars. She’s a welcome, jagged riff on more buttoned-up superheroes, and Alcock is terrific in the role. If only “Supergirl” was as good as she is.
While the latest DC release, and second under James Gunn’s stewardship, has its moments, “Supergirl” struggles to match Kara’s punk-rock energy with an equally spirited supporting cast and story.
Skepticism seems to have gathered for “Supergirl” ahead of its release. Many fans have argued it wasn’t the right next step for DC Universe. But I’m not so sure. Alcock’s breezy cameo in “Superman” was one of that movie’s highlights. Handing the follow-up to her, and her faithful floating dog Krypto, strikes me as an extremely natural next step. When in doubt, follow the dog.
And much of “Supergirl” is winning. It resides almost entirely in space, touching down only momentarily on Earth. In its consistently creative production design, clever needle drops and underdog story arc, “Supergirl” resides a little closer to Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies than other DC entries. Its outer space is filled with cosmic detritus, mean characters and cute critters. Seth Rogen as the voice of a tiny alien co-piloting a space bus is an inspired concoction, as is a shabbier sci-fi realm with rest stops along the intergalactic highway.
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