The Independent Spirit Awards is an annual awards ceremony honoring exclusively independent films. The budget cap for these movies is $30 million, which sounds like a lot on its own, but compared to a big budget studio movie like Spider-Man: No Way Home, with a $200 million budget, apparently isn’t that much. Taylour Paige and Raúl Castillo made the announcements of the 2023 nominees via YouTube. Be the front runner this year Everything Everywhere Everything at once and Tar, with eight and seven nominations respectively. However, both films have nominations in the Best Supporting Performance category Everything Everywhere Everything at once has two, and Tar has a. That said, having more nominations in one category doesn’t mean the movie has a better chance of winning – it’s possible that this will split the vote.
For 2023, The Independent Spirit Awards has decided to forego the usual gendered categories of Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Instead, they combined the categories so that the Best Supporting Performance gets ten nominations instead of the five previously given. Other films with nominations in this category include Elevated road, The cathedral, Bruiser, Emily the criminal, Bones and all, Palm trees and power linesand The inspection. But most importantly: who should win? Here’s how we’d rank the nominees for Best Supporting Performance.
10/10 Jonathan Tucker – Palm Trees and Power Lines
First, we have Jonathan Tucker. He has been nominated for his role as Tom in Palm trees and power lines. The film follows Lea, played by Lily McInerny. Director Jamie Dack describes the plot to sun dance as “a disconnected teenage girl enters into a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.” Tucker’s performance as Tom is impressive and successful, but against some really tough roles, he falls behind.
9/10 Brian D’Arcy James – The Cathedral
Next comes in Brian D’Arcy James as Richard Damrosch The cathedral. This movie revolves around only child Jesse and his impressions of his family in the 1980s. Richard Damrosch is his father and the role is heartbreaking and subtle. Seeing the rise and fall of this family through the eyes of young Jesse creates an intimate feeling, so the lows hit even harder. James does an excellent job as a father who masks his pain.
8/10 Theo Rossi – Emily the criminal
In Emily the criminal, Theo Rossi plays Youcef. Aubrey Plaza stars as Emily, a college graduate with more debt than she can handle. She is introduced to a credit card fraud scheme through a friend, which is where Youcef comes in. He is the leader of the operation and his calm demeanor puts both Emily and the audience to sleep with a false sense of security. Their chemistry is strong, but Rossi isn’t listed higher as his performance is slightly outdone by Plaza’s impressive turn.
7/10 Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything everywhere at once
Our first entry for Everything Everywhere Everything at once brings Jamie Lee Curtis in at number seven. She plays Deirdre, an IRS auditor who inspects the Wang family’s taxes. The film then takes a turn as main character Evelyn is thrust into the multiverse. It’s an incredibly fun role, and she does it well, but it’s no match for the second Everything everywhere presentation. More about that to follow…
6/10 Gabrielle Union – The Inspectorate
The inspection is the semi-autobiographical story of a young gay man, played by Jeremy Pope, who joins the Marines to avoid homelessness and even death. Gabriel Union plays his mother, Inez French, a staunch Christian woman who can’t find it in herself to love her gay son. Union’s performance is hugely impressive; she does not allow her character to be reduced to a single facet, even with a short time to enter it. The fact that Union is number six on this list speaks to the quality of each nominee.
5/10 Trevante Rhodes – Bruiser
Known for his role in Moonlight, Trevante Rhodes does some more impactful and impressive work in here Bruiser. The protagonist of the film is Darious, played by Jalyn Hall, a young teenager who gets lost between the seventh and eighth grades. He encounters Rhodes’ character, Porter, in the woods after getting into a fight. Porter becomes a father figure in his life, lending a listening ear in a way his parents can’t. With this triumphant performance, Rhodes proves to be a master at depicting layered masculinity.
4/10 Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway
Recognizable from roles in various projects Atlanta until Eternals, Brian Tyree Henry is not an amateur. In Elevated road, he plays James, a mechanic who befriends Jennifer Lawrence’s Lynsey. The two form an unlikely and touching bond when he brings her back into the world after she suffered a traumatic brain injury. Their friendship is delightful to watch with their easy affection and teasing. Henry brings a special layer of warmth to the movie that couldn’t have been done in the same way by any other actor.
3/10 Nina Hoss — Tar
Tar is a movie full of strong performers. The fact that Hoss holds her own against Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár speaks volumes. The two play a couple that starts off the film a strong couple, but the relationship diverges as the film progresses. tar is not heavy with dialogues and Hoss compensates this well with subtle and evocative expressions.
2/10 Ke Huy Quan – Everything everywhere at once
Now, for the second Everything everywhere presentation. Ke Huy Quan plays Waymond Wang, Evelyn’s husband. Due to the nature of the multiverse, Quan plays a number of versions of Waymond throughout the film. It’s an emotional, powerful performance that impresses at the climax of the movie.
1/10 Mark Rylance – Bones and Everything
If it’s not clear from the title, Bones and all follows the life of a young cannibal, Maren. She leaves the house in search of her mother, meeting others like her along the way. Mark RylanceSully is one of them. He is a constant source of creeping tension throughout the film. Sully has great depth and a savvy that you never know what he’s going to do next. Rylance’s performance is incomparable in its combined uneasiness and sympathy.