At Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards, host Rainn Wilson joked that with his background as a TV star, he couldn't possibly understand the intense, edgy world of indie film. The solution: Hook him up with indie mentor Dennis Hopper, who schooled him in the ways of knuckle tattoos, drug smuggling, and getting pummeled on the street. Between all those sucker punches and kicks to the head, our little Rainn may never be the same.

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Juno, I'm Not There, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were big winners at Saturday's beachy, laid-back Independent Spirit Awards, which recognized the year's best independent films. Juno won awards for Best Feature, Best Actress, and Best First Screenplay, while Diving Bell won awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography — a precursor to tomorrow's Oscars? Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett won an acting award for I'm Not There, and the film also received the Robert Altman Award, which recognizes an outstanding ensemble cast.

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There's something about the tone of director Gus Van Sant's work that gives me a deep uneasiness in the belly. His previous indie movie dealing with teens and violence, Elephant, won a bunch of awards at Cannes (including the Palm d'Or) in 2003 and it was certainly effective in delivering this dark queasiness I now feel again having watched the trailer for his newest film Paranoid Park. Nominated for Best Feature and Best Director at this year's Independent Spirit Awards, Paranoid Park again focuses on troubled teenagers.

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Last year it was all Sunshine all the time when Little Miss Sunshine took home the majority of the Independent Spirit Awards, given out yearly by Film Independent. This year, the nominations are dominated by Juno, the teen pregnancy dramedy opening December 14, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and to a lesser degree I'm Not There. Some of the nominations have me squealing with delight: Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated for Best Supporting Male for his outstanding performance in Talk to Me, Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris nominated for Best First Feature, and the Irish musical Once nominated for Best Foreign Film.

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