I was beginning to worry that the powers that be were becoming content with our predictions, and that this awards season would be very predictable. Fortunately that is not the case, but it's still more than a little disappointing. Among the surprises of the British Independent Film Awards nominations is Another Year being snubbed out of the top race. What's even more surprising is what made it into that frame. Monsters just opened to mixed reviews, Never Let Me Go came and went with silence and dread, and I didn't even know Kick-Ass was a British film. On top of that, it seems a little out of character to nominate a superhero film, especially one such as this.
The King's Speech quite obviously made it into the majority of the races, so it's automatically the favorite to win. The only race it isn't in is Best Actress, and that's a complete toss up seeing as Leslie Manville was pushed into the Supporting Actress race for Another Year. What is your opinion of these nominations? Are you surprised, or have you just come to expect as much?
Best British Independent Film
Four Lions
Kick-Ass
The King’s Speech
Monsters
Never Let Me Go
Best Director
Mike Leigh (Another Year)
Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass)
Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
Gareth Edwards (Monsters)
Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go)
Best Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell and Christopher Morris (Four Lions)
Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass)
David Seidler (The King’s Speech)
William Ivory (Made In Dagenham)
Alex Garland (Never Let Me Go)
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins (Made In Dagenham)
Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go)
Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock)
Ruth Sheen (Another Year)
Manjinder Virk (The Arbor)
Best Actor
Riz Ahmed (Four Lions)
Jim Broadbent (Another Year)
Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
Aidan Gillen (Treacle Jr)
Scoot McNairy (Monsters)
Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham-Carter (The King’s Speech)
Tamsin Greig (Tamara Drewe)
Keira Knightley (Never Let Me Go)
Lesley Manville (Another Year)
Rosamund Pike (Made In Dagenham)
Best Supporting Actor
Andrew Garfield, (Never Let Me Go)
Bob Hoskins, (Made In Dagenham)
Kayvan Novak (Four Lions)
Guy Pearce (The King’s Speech)
Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)
Best Technical Achievement
Tim Barker: sound (The Arbor)
John Mathieson: cinematography (Brighton Rock)
Sylvain Chomet: animation (The Illusionist)
Eve Stewart: production design (The King’s Speech)
Gareth Edwards: visual effects (Monsters)
Best Foreign Film
Dogtooth
I Am Love
A Prophet
The Secret In Their Eyes
Winter’s Bone
\Amongst the last major nominations before the Academy Award nominees are announced, the BAFTA didn't really pull any surprises with their announcements, and if they did, they were mild. Javier Bardem made it into the Best Actor race, while Hailee Steinfeld was actually nominated for Best Actress, instead of being lumped in the supporting race. So we've proved that Steinfeld does have enough weight to be legitimately nominated amongst Portman and Bening. Pete Postlethwaite was given a farewell nomination for his work on The Town. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 had minimum presence in the technical categories compared to other films in the franchise. Black Swan got an insane amount of nominations, and it's slowly becoming more and more possible for it to take the big prize if all the dominoes align for it. 
