ReelBob: ‘Spotlight,’ ‘Room’ honored by Indiana critics

By Bob Bloom

“Spotlight,” a drama exploring the Boston Globe investigation of widespread sexual abuse by priests in that city covering up child abuse by Catholic priests, was named best film of 2015 by the Indiana Film Journalists Association.

The movie also was honored best original screenplay and Mark Ruffalo was named best supporting actor.

The IFJA also gave three awards to “Room,” an adaptation of the best-selling novel about a young woman raising her young son inside a solitary room. The film was runner-up for best picture. Its stars, Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, were named best actress and best actor, while its script was honored as best adapted screenplay.

George Miller was named best director for “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and the film also was cited as best musical score.

Greta Gerwig won the best supporting actress award for “Mistress America,” and Phyllis Smith won for best vocal/motion capture performance for “Inside Out.”

Charlie Kauffman’s “Anomalisa” was named best animated film and also won the original vision award.

The Hungarian Holocaust drama, “Son of Saul,” was named best foreign language movie. “Amy,” about the late singer Amy Winehouse, was chosen as best documentary.

The IFJA’s Hoosier Award, which recognizes a significant cinematic contribution by a person or persons with roots in Indiana, or a film that depicts Hoosier state locales and stories, went to filmmaker Angelo Pizzo.

IFJA members issued this statement for the Hoosier Award: “Angelo Pizzo has forged an important Hollywood career with iconic films such as “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” while remaining devoted to his Indiana roots. We also laud him for bravely making the jump into the director’s chair for the first time after three decades as a writer and producer with this year’s ‘My All American’.”

The IFJA also honored eight other movies as finalists for the 10 best movies of 2015. Those titles are, alphabetically:

“Anomalisa”
“The Big Short”
“Carol”
“The End of the Tour”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“Steve Jobs”
“Straight Outta Compton”

The IFJA is comprised of a group of writers dedicated to promoting quality film criticism in the Hoosier state.