"The Rider" takes Best Feature at Gotham Independent Film Awards

Gotham Independent Film Awards might well be the awards season's first most significant award event and since its past Best Feature winners include the Best Picture Oscar nominated 2016's Moonlight and 2017's Call Me By Your Name (for example), there's no way to deny Gotham Awards really tell us something about the Oscar race.

This year's edition gave the top prize to Chloé Zhao's rodeo drama / study about masculinity The Rider... what a shock for most of us! A movie everyone raves and everyone admires, but a movie no one really believed it could stand a chance against the Oscar titans The Favourite, Roma or If Beale Street Could Talk.

So, let's have a look at Gotham winners and then, let's talk about it:

BEST FEATURE: The Rider

BEST ACTOR: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

BEST ACTRESS: Toni Collette, Hereditary

BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR: Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR: Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES - LONG FORM: Killing Eve

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES - SHORT FORM: 195 Lewis

BEST SCREENPLAY: First Reformed, Paul Schrader

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Hale County This Morning, This Evening

JURY AWARD FOR ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: The Favourite, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone & Rachel Weisz

AUDIENCE AWARD: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

So, is The Rider a stronger Oscar contender than most people thought? Yes! And remeber 2010's Winter's Bone! It seems the indie community is united for The Rider and picking it over some big Oscar favorites really means something. Of course it won't be a major Oscar player... I would say it has nice chances at Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography and it might have a shot at Best Editing, while Best Original Screenplay might be a long-shot nomination (but if it misses Best Picture or Best Director, the AMPAS might recognize The Rider with a screenplay nod like they do a lot of times with indie darlings).

Ethan Hawke is really a major contender for First Reformed and while I believe the movie doesn't have as many good chances in landing a nod for its screenplay when compared with Hawke's chances in Best Actor, having Schrader nominated for Best Original screenplay is also a possibility given this strong early award boost. Bad news for Glenn Close (The Wife) who was expected to win all these "minor" awards, but a "overdue for an Oscar win" status and a subtle tour de force performance weren't enough to beat Toni Collette's work in Hereditary. Is Close not that strong Oscar contender? Early to say just yet, but now I admit she might have some trouble given how strong the Best Actress race is this year.

Finally, I want to cheer Eight Grade - it's a true breakthrough vehicle for both director and leading actress and it's nice to see such a lovely project getting recognized in the categories it is most deserving.

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