Fun morning of Oscar nominations, waking up at 5am for the ungodly reason of watching the live announcement. Before I jump into the nominations, need to point out that this was a good year for the Oscars. Even if a few films and actors were snubbed here-and-there, the majority of people went away happy. Personally speaking, many nominations made me quite happy. Most of the Oppenheimer and Poor Things mentions. May December in original screenplay. Anatomy of a Fall getting editing, picture, director and screenplay. Outside of that, none of my favorites were anywhere close (and I’ll be seeing The Zone of Interest next Friday)
Best Picture
Starting with Best Picture, the PGA ten was the obvious pick. Even the SAG Ensemble nomination couldn’t save The Color Purple and Spider-Verse wasn’t beloved enough. Two foreign language films breakthrough continuing the upward trend of Oscar’s nominationing a number of international films out of Cannes. Past Lives a Sundance representative made it the full calender year. Overall, even if Maestro is a baity joyless film, the ten is one of the most solid I can remember.
Moving onto director, the most discussed category along with lead actress of the day. Yes, Greta Gerwig missed for Barbie. As did Celine Song, Alexander Payne, and Bradley Cooper. The history of the directors branch shows populist films being snubbed all the time. That’s not their taste. The more important trend, international, mainly European centric directors, have been making it in here regularly. The honor was initially saved for one director, but with Jonathon Glazer and Justine Triet landing nominations, a new era begins. The directors did an excellent job with this category.
Performance Nominations
Turning to performance based nominations, Margot Robbie missing was the shock of the day. It’s not the most layered work, so missing here isn’t a complete shock, but she got SAG and BAFTA of all award shows. If felt hard to grasp rewarding Barbie but not Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, the heart and soul of the film. Hiliarously, American Ferrera got into supporting for the ultra memorable and horribly contrived “monologue” sequence of Barbie. The worst element of the film amplified by the industry. Nominating that performance over Julianne Moore for May December is the true crime. Now, Jimmy Kimmel will get to write a Barbie joke for his monologue and oh, how we’ll laugh and laugh…
As for the rest of the category, Emma Stone vs Lily Gladstone will be a (not) good time. Annette Benning making it in for squinting hard feels unfair, but it’s Annette Benning at the end of the day. She’s untouchable. It’s not surprise Greta Lee missed considering Asian actors don’t exist. The Carey Mulligan nomination is just insulting, considering her accent is trying so hard to get Oscar nominated. The best nominations, however: Sandra Hüller for Anatomy of a Fall. Well done, Academy. She’s wonderful in that film.
Lead Actor was predictable. Leonardo DiCaprio fell out of favor and focused the campaigning on others. Once Colman Domingo hit at SAG, it was over.
Switching to supporting, it all went according to plan outside Ferrara and Sterling K. Brown. SAG went four-for-five, but with Mark Ruffalo in for Poor Things instead of Willem Dafoe. Ferrera knocked out Penelope Cruz and Ferrari went home empty handed. On the men’s side, Charles Melton missed after being a critics darling and Dominic Sessa missed after a small BAFTA boost. Other than that, two fairly predictable categories. Only Ferrera, who showed up absolutely nowhere this season, was an actual shock.
Screenplay
The last two categories I wish to discuss are the screenplays. Starting with adapted, Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth miss for Killers of the Flower Moon. Rumblings began of people disliking the structure of Killers, and that comes to fruition with a miss on Oscsr nomination morning. Barbie switching from Original to Adapted made a major difference too. And, The Zone of Interest flexes its superiority with a BAFTA and Oscar nomination in adapted, with many describing it as a director achievement. Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction had a successful morning, landing a nomination over Scorsese. The Adapted category is one of the deepest in years.
Zooming out to original, Barbie moving over allowed room for Todd Haynes’ May December to get a single nomination. Undoubtedly one of the sharpest scripts of the year. The favorite for a win turns towards Alexander Payne as a Oscar mainstay, but Anatomy of a Fall with director, actress, and picture feels dangerous. It’s a great bunch if screenplays.
Final note, a Hayao Miyazaki film got another Oscar nomination. It probably won’t win, but love to see it here regardless. Koji Yakusho’s turn as a janitor in Perfect Days is Oscar nominated. The film hasn’t gone wide yet, so I haven’t had a chance to see it, but Wim Wenders and Yakusho feel sensibly inclined. I hate Diane Warren. No, I sort of love her shamelessness and the Academy’s willingness to go along with it. Until further notice, she is a lock at every single Oscar nomimatio ceremony. The tech categories have some dumb shit, but there’s also interesting choices like Godzilla: Minus One. Oppenheimer should have tied the all-time nomination record, but the visual effects branch said “nah.”
Weird Cinema 