Gotham Awards 2009 Winners

Catalina Saavedra in The Maid (top); Stella Schnabel in You Won't Miss Me (middle); The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow (bottom)

"Kudos to you, great performance," Rosie Perez told Willem Dafoe, after saying that Lars von Trier's Antichrist, a dark, sex-filled drama in which Dafoe co-stars with Charlotte Gainsbourg, was a "sick-ass movie." That was followed by: "Was that your … Oooohhhh. It was?"

And so went the 2009 edition of the Gotham Awards, in which performers cracked jokes that would be unacceptable on network TV. Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily make the jokes any funnier or the show any better than, say, the Oscars or the Golden Globes, but on the bright side some of the Gotham choices were unusual — and thus interesting as well.

Chief among those was the choice of Catalina Saavedra as Breakthrough Actor for her performance as a resentful maid in Sebastián Silva's Chilean-made The Maid (no rhyme intended). Saavedra made her acceptance speech in Spanish, dedicating the award to director-screenwriter Silva, co-screenwriter Pedro Peirano, and fellow cast members. (Silva interceded on her behalf at one point, telling the crowd, "Hey guys, she doesn't have an agent!" Now, if Saavedra is as lucky as Melissa Leo was last year, she'll surely have one after landing a best actress Oscar nod early next year.)

Ry Russo-Young's You Won't Miss Me, the tale of a problematic young woman (Stella Schnabel) released from a psychiatric hospital, was voted the Best Film Not Showing at a Theater Near You, while Robert Siegel was chosen best director for Big Fan, the tale of a New York Giants fan (Patton Oswalt) who gets beaten up by his favorite player — and then has to deal with it.

Unsurprising were the two The Hurt Locker victories: best picture and best ensemble. A Gotham best picture win usually indicates more awards (or at least award nominations) elsewhere. Among past Gotham best picture winners are Frozen River, Into the Wild, Half Nelson, Capote, and Sideways.

Robert Kenner's Food, Inc., a likely Oscar contender, was named best documentary.

The evening's special honorees were producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, who received their award from Joel and Ethan Coen; actress Natalie Portman, who was praised at length by Jim Sheridan, her Brothers director; likely best supporting actor nominee Stanley Tucci, who declared upon receiving his award from his The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia co-star Meryl Streep, "I feel it's a little early…"; and The Hurt Locker director and likely Oscar nominee Kathryn Bigelow, who got her trophy from Willem Dafoe.

A special Gotham tribute should have been handed to Shohreh Aghdashloo as well, for taking care of business without sounding giddy or uttering a single crack.

Among other award presenters were Ellen Burstyn, Anthony Mackie, and Brooke Shields.

And the last Gotham 2009 word goes to Meryl Streep: "If you're not a supporting actor, you're not an actor." (Streep then went on to say that she felt "buttressed" by Stanley Tucci.)

Wait, I take that back. The last Gotham 2009 word goes to Stanley Tucci, referring to the state of the arts — especially the laborious and (relatively speaking) expensive art of independent filmmaking: "I do believe that these ups-and-downs are cyclical, and that things will get better."

Here's hoping he's 100% right.