Honours season: And they are off

The Weinsteins' quiet pic 'The Artist' won best feature in the NY Film Experts Circle in addition to gained five Spirit nods on Tuesday.Kaira Pitt required home NYFCC's Best Actor award for his perfs in 'The Tree of Life' and 'Moneyball.'With 88 days to visit prior to the 84th Oscars, the kudos season's first responders unleashed a flurry of small experience Tuesday morning but no major surprises or clearness inside a race without any apparent leader as well as an enigmatic new Oscar voting system. Yes, a quiet, black-and-whitened film starring French stars is indeed a contender this season. Absolutely, Kaira Pitt's portrayal of Concord A's gm Billy Beane in "Moneyball" ought to be given serious attention. And three photos -- "Take Shelter," "Beginners" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" -- put themselves into the spotlight in early goings.In La, Film Independent introduced its Spirit Award nominations, with "The Artist" and "Take Shelter" leading at five each. Back East, the NY Film Experts Circle was busy crowning "The Artist" best feature and picking Pitt and Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady") for acting honors.The bicoastal barrage introduced a lift to Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" (Spirit noms for feature and supporting actress Shailene Woodley, though George Clooney was excluded) and Sean Durkin's "Martha Marcy May Marlene," which gained first feature, director and lead actress Spirit noms, as well as the NYFCC's first-feature recognition. Focus Features' "Beginners" also moved on having a Spirit nom put into the Gotham Award it won late Monday.Fox Searchlight's "The Tree of Existence," Terrence Malick's divisive film that shared the Gotham Award with "Beginners," exceeded the Spirit Awards' $20 million being approved limit but was honored through the Gotham experts for cinematography (and shared a bit of acting citations for Pitt and Jessica Chastain).But nothing designed a more powerful statement than "The Artist," the quiet film that's gained $204,878 since its release in four theaters Friday. Its pack-leading five Spirit noms and finest feature recognition in the NYFCC -- as well as director honors in the two cases for Michel Hazanavicius as well as an actor nomination for Jean Dujardin -- place the film squarely within the search. Org's top pick went onto get a best picture Oscar nomination 13 occasions within the last two decades.InchThe Artist" was bought at the outset of the Cannes Film Festival through the Weinstein Co., that is mounting among its trademark campaigns. A week ago in an Academy screening, Harvey Weinstein introduced along Charlie Chaplin's granddaughters within an ode to Hollywood's quiet-film era. Oscar glory for "The Artist" will be a crowning achievement for old Harvey themself: The final time a quiet film was nominated for the best picture was 1929 ("The Patriot") -- and it is been nearly two decades since a black-and-whitened film continues to be nommed ("Schindler's List"). Omissions one of the day's honorees include Paramount's "Constantly,Inch a largely improvised film from Drake Doremus that were receiving targeted buzz but emerged empty Oscilloscope's "We have to Discuss Kevin," that is getting a significant honours push for Tilda Swinton and Woodsy Allen's "Night time in Paris," which gained merely a Spirit nom for supporting actor Corey Stoll and absolutely nothing in the NYFCC.Our prime-profile films that went empty-handed on Tuesday incorporated "The Lady Using The Dragon Tattoo," despite the fact that The new sony had arranged a unique, first-look screening for that NYFCC. However, these honours are the same as early election primaries. You will find still a lot more honours votes in the future -- the nation's Board of Review will weigh in Thursday -- which honours aren't exactly guaranteed bellwethers. This past year, "Black Swan" won the Spirit and "The Social Networking" required the NY crix jerk, while "The King's Speech" arrived within the Oscar winner's circle.(Stuart Oldham, Dork McNary and Gordon Cox led for this story.) Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com