The IRA Awards 2006: The Full Story

IRA favorites Alexis Dziena of Broken Flowers and Kevin Zegers of Transamerica. No awards yet, just a lot of admiration.








BEST PICTURE:
Mysterious Skin -- 33 points
A History of Violence -- 20 points
2046 -- 18 points
The Aristocrats -- 12 points
Brokeback Mountain -- 11 points

(At this point, it was obvious Mysterious Skin was going to triumph. When four or five people band together, they can invariably push through almost any movie unless everyone else is vehemently opposed AND willing to support the same alternate film. This year's IRA voters, by the way, totaled 12 people.)

BEST DIRECTOR

Gregg Araki for Mysterious Skin -- 34
Werner Herzog for Grizzly Man, White Diamond and The Wheel of Time -- 24
David Cronenberg for A History of Violence -- 22
Bennett Miller for Capote -- 11
Wong Kar-Wai -- 8

(Again, support for Mysterious Skin was so broad, there was little call for debating this victory. But Herzog is a great runner-up: three documentaries out in one year, two of which are very good indeed.)

BEST ACTOR:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Mysterious Skin -- 38 points
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain (but not Casanova or The Brothers Grimm)-- 24
David Strathairn for Good Night and Good Luck -- 15
tie: Damien Lewis for Keane/ Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote -- 13

(Gordon-Levit won with the highest point total of the evening. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the IRA voters -- invariably suspicious of Oscar approval -- hadn't turned against Brokeback Mountain. I argued that Jake Gyllenhaal had the more difficult role and that Ledger had the "easy" opportunity to act up a storm with his mumbling and fighting and anger. Ed (a frequent Popsurfer) said I was crazy and that Ledger was brilliant and many others agreed. The real dismissiveness was saved for Hoffman: he didn't capture Capote's charm, he was showboating, he was gimmicky. No grandstanding from actors at the IRAs thank you.

BEST ACTRESS
Maria Bello for A History of Violence -- 28
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica -- 18
Dina Korzun for Forty Shades of Blue -- 16
tie: Emily Blunt for My Summer of Love/Sibel Kekilli for Head-On -- 13

(Was Maria Bello a "crotch" vote (the charming IRA term for an actor who a voter finds appealing)? Perhaps, but her supporters also said it was the first good work she's ever done. Huffman was the most controversial of the nominees, though her supporters were adamant, even if the film was not up to the standards of her acting. Blunt played the wealthy girl in My Summer Of Love. Co-star Nathalie Press also had strong support. If voters could have decided who was the lead and who was supporting, the movie could have scored more victories. The real problem? Press was the lead but Blunt was sexier. Similar problems bedeviled The Squid and the Whale. Was Jeff Daniels the lead or Jesse Eisenberg? If Eisenberg was a supporting actor, others preferred Owen Kline. The result? No victories.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Frank Langella for Good Night and Good Luck -- 14 RESCINDED!
Clifton Collins Jr. for Capote -- 13 RESCINDED!
Paddy Considine for My Summer Of Love -- 11 WINNER!
tie: George Clooney for Syriana and GNAGL/ Ray Wise for GNAGL -- 9

(The most dramatic voting of the evening. Frank Langella scored the most points, but his total was so low you can tell that support was widely scattered. I thought Langella was fine, but if I was going to single out a supporting actor from that movie it would have been Ray Wise (the sad-sack anchorman). I also thought Collins Jr (the prisoner Perry in Capote) was better than I remembered on a second viewing of the movie. But I really had my eye on Considine, who was great in My Summer of Love (not to mention that director's even better first film Last Resort). Besides, Langella had the aura of too much of a traditional, obvious choice for the IRAs and we'd just put Keener into the winner's circle -- voting begins with Costumes and works its way up) so I gambled that people were in the mood to shake things up. Besides, even if Considine got rescinded, it would mean a victory for Wise and Clooney, which I'd be happy about anyway. And as you can see, a RESCIND for Langella was quickly followed by a RESCIND for Collins and my man Considine was the victor. Hurrah! Voting was so tense I screwed up my stunt balloting -- a vote for someone so unexpected but appropriate or clever that it garners widespread support or at least laughter. My first IRA victory at this unacknowledged competition was nominating Leni Riefenstahl for Best Actress for the interviews she gave in a documentary about her life. First, I nominated Gromit of Wallace & Gromit but was immediately belittled since the dog clearly belonged in the Best Actor category. That threw me off my game and kept me from nominating the very worthy Wilson from the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom -- that kid had more star power and magnetism when he got on the dance floor than almost any other actor of the year.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Catherine Keener for Capote, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and The Ballad of Jack and Rose (but not The Interpreter) -- 32
Sarah Silverman for The Aristocrats -- 15
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Happy Endings -- 14
Zhang Ziyi for 2046 -- 13
Amy Adams for Junebug -- 12

(Clearly support was broad for Keener -- only Bello had a larger margin of victory. And I was thrilled since she was terrific and had a career year. But it did seem rather conventional for the IRAs. Sarah Silverman in a documentary would have been more typical of the IRAs style. But she had some vehement detractors who despised her concert film Jesus Is Magic as self-indulgent and excruciating. Many hadn't seen Gyllenhaal in Happy Endings, though everyone that did singled her out. And Amy Adams had hearty detractors as well, mostly from the strong minority that despised Junebug. (Hating a movie with passion is even more admired at the IRAs than loving a movie with passion.) Only Zhang came close to widespread admiration. But Keener's victory set me up for victory in the Supporting Actor category, so my misgivings over the obviousness of it turned into a win-win.

BEST SCREENPLAY
Gregg Araki for Mysterious Skin -- 36
Noah Bambauch for The Squid and the Whale -- 20
George Clooney, Grant Heslov (and Edward R. Murrow) for GNAGL -- 16
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for Brokeback Mountain -- 12
Dan Futterman for Capote -- 9
(Here is where the bandwagon for Mysterious Skin got a'rolling. I was happy to see The Squid and the Whale get recognized at least here: confusion over the ensemble cast and who belonged in what category kept it from even scoring a runner-up position anywhere else.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Elswit for GNAGL and Syriana -- 25
Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan, and Yiu-Fai Lai for 2046 -- 24
Steve Gainer for Mysterious Skin -- 20
tie: Adam Kimmel for Capote/ Taishi Kirokawa for Tony Takitani -- 13

(Tech awards are often much more scattered, so no surprise that Elswit squeaked out a victory by one vote. Tony Takitani made an appearance, but not enough people saw it to give the film any momentum.)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
William Chang for 2046 -- 23
James D. Bissel for GNAGL -- 19
Nathan Crowley for Batman Begins -- 18
uncredited, but probably goes to Frank Miller for Sin City -- 14
Jess Gonchor for Capote -- 12

(No big arguments here: 2046 was one of the most sumptuous looking movies since In The Mood For Love. This was the first hint that GNAGL had solid IRA support. I was especially pleased that the innovative Sin City got a nod and especially annoyed that Batman Begins did too. Yes, it's the best Batman movie so far, but the Batmobile was absurd and the Batcave not much better.)

BEST SCORE
Howard Shore for A History of Violence -- 22
Mulatu Astatke for Broken Flowers -- 21
Richard Thompson for Grizzly Man -- 15
Ryuichi Sakamoto for Tony Takitani -- 12
Alberto Igelsias for The Constant Gardener -- 11

(The scene of my bitterest disappointment. I'm a major fan of Richard Thompson (start with Shoot Out The Lights and thank me later) and I had visions of him garnering an IRA award as the highlight of the evening. Everyone who voted for him gave the score the maximum number of points -- 5 -- but it wasn't to be. What made it more annoying was that the winner was Howard Shore for Violence. I'd seen the film twice, appreciated its technical achievements even more the second time, but never noted the score as more than serviceable. (I know, sometimes a score shouldn't be noticed, but when you own 300+ soundtracks, you tend to notice whether they want you to or not.) I also made the futile gesture of suggesting we change the category to Best Use Of Music, since a movie like Broken Flowers is being recognized for its canny use of classic tunes by The Ethiopiques, not for its original score. No, they argued, using a pop song is not "creative" the way creating an original score is creative. What about 2001: A Space Odyssey, I argued. One of the greatest merges of image and music in film history and you don't think that's creative? Shut up, they said. The IRAs ain't pretty.)

BEST COSTUMES
William Chang for 2046 -- 32
Danny Glicker for Transamerica -- 18
Alix hester for Mysterious Skin -- 16
Kasia Walicka Maimone for Capote -- 14
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh for Breakfast On Pluto -- 13

(Who can argue with gorgeous costumes worn by the most beautful women in the world? No one.)

DRAMAMINE
Crash (by acclamation)

SOMINEX
Saraband -- 15
9 Songs -- 10
Downfall -- 8
March of the Penguins -- 5

(I argued that Downfall was too noisy to be a Sominex winner, but they said it was so rote, a few bombings weren't gonna keep them awake.)

MECHANICAL ACTOR
Tom Cruise for War of the Worlds and his appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show but not for his appearance on The Today Show -- 17
Anthony Hopkins for Proof and The World's Fastest Indian -- 13
Steve Martin for Shopgirl -- 9

(I campaigned for making an exception for Cruise's appearance opposite Matt Lauer on The Today Show since that was one of tne most riveting scenes of the year. If Hopkins had won, he probably would have been placed into the Mechanical Actors Hall of Fame and thus been ineligible down the road. You can't keep honoring the same people year after year.)

MECHANICAL ACTRESS
Dakota Fanning for War of the Worlds, Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story, and Hide and Seek -- 20
tie: Jane Fonda for Monster-In-Law/ Sarah Jessica Parker for The Family Stone -- 10
Scarlett Johansson for Match Point -- 9
three-way tie: Katie Holmes for Batman Begins/ Sandra Bullock for Crash and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous/ Alison Lohman for Where The Truth Lies -- 8

(If I repeated the cruel, nasty things that were said about Fanning, it would make The Aristocrats sound like a Disney movie. Besides, I actually think she's talented. Jane Fonda was pilloried for waiting 25 years to return in a Jennifer Lopez vehicle, though some also claimed she was always talentless, which is absurd. And Sandra Bullock came the closest to Fanning by inspiring venom for her poorly written role in Crash.)

And another IRAs comes to a close.