Spirit Awards Find Silver Linings

The first major awards to release its nominations is also one of the last ones to dole out their winners before the Oscars. And so here are the winners from yesterday's Spirit Awards...

Best Feature: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Director: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Lead Actor: John Hawkes, The Sessions
Best Lead Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Best Screenplay: Silver Linings Playbook
Best First Feature: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Best First Screenplay: Safety Not Guaranteed
Best International Film: Amour
Best Documentary: The Invisible War
Best Cinematography: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Robert Altman Award: Starlet
Piaget Producers Award: Mynette Louie
Someone To Watch Award: Adam Leon, Kimme the Loot
Truer Than Fiction Award: Peter Nicks, The Waiting Room
John Cassavetes Award: Middle of Nowhere

For a second year in a row, a Harvey Weinstein-campaigned film won 4 of its 5 nominations dominating the Spirit Awards. Last year it was already Oscar front-runner The Artist while this year it's Silver Linings Playbook which is hoping to play spoiler at tonight's big show. It won Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay and it has a more than good shot at those two latter categories at the Oscars. The one nomination it didn't win was for Best Actor as Bradley Cooper play bridesmaids to the should-have-probably-been-nominated John Hawkes for his work in The Sessions. The film also picked up an award for Best Supporting Actress for Helen Hunt, not shockingly the only Oscar nominee in her category. Matthew McConaughey also won his first major awards in his career ever, which was a bit of a shock to find out. My favorite wins though were all below-the-lines with my favorite film of the year, Perks of Being a Wallflower, winnings its one and only nomination for First Feature. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Middle of Nowhere, and Safety Not Guaranteed only won a lone award each, which is still more than what the Moonrise Kingdom team received last night.

As for how this will effect the Oscars, not by much. Certainly Silver Linings Playbook with its 7 nominations and Harvey Weinstein-led campaign won't go down without fighting. As I said above, its two best shot for an award is Screenplay and Actress with Jennifer Lawrence the prohibitive front-runner at the moment especially with her Golden Globes and SAG wins. The only other award to most likely repeat tonight would of course be Amour for Best Foreign Film.