Hours after Birdman went empty handed at the New York Film Critics Circle awards, Alejandro G. Inarritu's Broadway satire came roaring back at the Gotham Independent Film Awards. The film won two, although NYFCC favorite Boyhood still won a key prize.
Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was named Best Feature and star Michael Keaton won Best Actor. Boyhood was up for awards in both categories, with Ethan Hawke nominated for Best Actor.
In his acceptance speech, Inarritu said that he made the film, which is daring in its structure, with only two cuts in the entire film, “for all of us that in our age are still wandering and questioning what ... life is about, what's the point of all this,” notes The Associated Press.
The Gothams did overlap with the NYFCC for Best Documentary, as both gave that award to the Edward Snowden film CitizenFour.
Best Actress went to Julianne Moore for Still Alice, in which she plays a woman dealing with an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. It is widely expected that she will be a frontrunner for the Oscar. She beat Patricia Arquette, who won Best Supporting Actress earlier from the NYFCC.
The Bingham Ray Breakthrough Actor award went to Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Alone At Night. Dear White People’s Tessa Thompson won Breakthrough Actor.
Boyhood did take home the audience-voted Audience Award. Lastly, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Carell and Channing Tatum won a special jury prize for their ensemble performance in Foxcatcher.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com