The IFP Gotham Awards are always one of the very first shows of awards season, but how much can they tell us about the very last one, the Oscars? Sometimes, the taste of the New York-based Gothams and the Oscars matches up exactly, as it did during the three recent years when “Birdman,” “Spotlight” and “Moonlight” took home the top prize at each event. And other times — like last year, when Chloé Zhao’s marvelous but Oscar-snubbed drama, “The Rider,” won the top honor, for best feature — the Gothams will remind you that they often go their own way, with indie-leaning picks nominated by small committees of journalists, and winners chosen by no more than a handful of industry veterans per category. That all must be kept in mind when evaluating the Gothams, but at Monday night’s subdued ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street, it was still striking how much the main story — the continued awards-show incursion of the streaming-service juggernaut Netflix — mirrored the issue that has come to dominate all Oscar conversation.

Source: New York Times December 03, 2019 14:05 UTC