AND THEN THERE'S THE "IRAS"

      For almost thirty years, a group of bright young men (okay, so we're not that young any more -- I knew things were bad when one of our annual meetings turned into a discussion of the merits of Rogaine) has gathered in the late winter to vote its own film awards, usually recognizing films of merit that have been overlooked by the much more widely publicized official critics groups, not to mention the incredible slop that wins Oscars, Golden Globes and other such baubles designed to allow the motion-picture industry to build up its biceps by patting itself on the back.
     Our awards, called the Iras, after one of our founding members (it's a long story -- don't ask), are voted on by a rump group we have taken to calling the New York Independent Film Critics Circle. (Some of us are still working film critics, some of us are still independent, some of us still live in New York, and all of us keep going in circles.) We may joke about the group and kid one another about our taste, but the choices we have made over the years hold up considerably better, I think, than those made by any of the other guys. (Okay, we're still pretty embarrassed by the acting award to Eric Roberts for Star 80; even Homer nods. At least we've never given a best director award to Kevin Costner or named a piece of crap like Forrest Gump as best picture.)
      In fact, we have a fairly distinguished gang of characters. Among our voters are several authors: Damien Bona, author of Inside Oscar, the definitive history of the Academy Awards (his co-author, the late Mason Wiley, was another one of our founding members); Andrew Dickos, author of an excellent study of Preston Sturges, Intrepid Laughter;Ed Sikov, author of On Sunset Boulevard, the acclaimed biography of Billy Wilder, and Laughing Hysterically, a really brilliant analysis of American film comedy of the 1950s; and Jace Weaver, a Yale professor whose bookjs on Native American issues have been widely praised.
      I mention this by way of urging you to click on the links below to go to Amazon.com and buy some of their books and mine. You didn't really think I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart, did you? They even have a pretty good selection of videotapes and DVD, including some of the films mentioned on this website.

Ira Awards 2000!!!

Picture: L'Humanite
Director: (tie)Jim Jarmusch (Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai)
Terence Davies (The House of Mirth)
Actor: Forrest Whitaker (Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai)
Actress: (tie)Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Severine Caneele (L'Humanite)
Supporting Actor: Jack Black (High Fidelity, Jesus's Son)
Supporting Actress: Lupe Ontiveros (Chuck and Buck)
Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Depend On Me)
Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin (The House of Mirth)
Production Design: Gideon Ponte (American Psycho, Hamlet)
Music:RZA (Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai)
Costumes: Monica Howe (The House of Mirth)

Sominex: Mission Impossible 2
Dramamine: The Scabs, er, The Replacements
Mechanical Actor: Ian Holm (Joe Gould's Secret)
Mechanical Actress: Charlize Theron (Reindeer Games)

And my Ten-Best List for 2000:

1. Madadayo -- Akira Kurosawa
2. Yi Yi -- Edward Yang
3. Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai -- Jim Jarmusch
4. High Fidelity -- Stephen Frears
5. L'Humanité -- Bruno Dumont
6. Kippur -- Amos Gitai
7. Fragments * Jersualem -- Ron Havilio
8. Claire Dolan -- Lodge Kerrigan
9 Beau Travail -- Claire Denis
10. The Ninth Gate -- Roman Polanski