2021 Oscar Nominations

It’s that time of year again! Considering the trouncing Hollywood and the film industry took this past year, it’s impressive how exciting some of the nominations are. Lots of anticipated 2020 films are still awaiting their release, and even the Oscar nominations themselves are coming out much later than they normally do, but for me personally, the nominations don’t give me any sense of the Academy “scraping the bottom of the barrel” to come up with picks in a sparse year.

For starters, can we talk diversity? Nearly half of the nominated actors are people of color – it’s like the 2016 Tony Awards in here! Best Picture nominees Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, and The Sound of Metal all scored important nods. I’m especially excited for Steven Yeun and Young Yuh-jung from Minari, since last year revived the conversation about about movies with Asian characters getting nominated for, or even winning, Best Picture without a single nod for any of the actors, and Riz Ahmed is the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Leading Actor. I’m excited for Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah, although I fail to see how both of them could be considered supporting actors. Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis both got nominated for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, as did Andra Day for The United States vs. Billie Holiday. I wish more of the actors from One Night in Miami would’ve gotten nods, because all four of them were splendid, but I’m happy to see Leslie Odom Jr. on the list. What’s more, we have two women, Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell, getting nominated for both directing and writing their Best Picture nominees (Nomadland and Promising Young Woman, respectively,) and Zhao is the first woman of color ever to be nominated for Best Director.

I’m thrilled about all this recognition and representation. A part of me wonders if a number of studios held back their big Oscar-bait films starring white actors while choosing to release their smaller films during the pandemic, more of which starred BIPOC actors. Are we going to have a glut of “look at all our white people!” movies, a la The Big Short or The Post, next year, crowding out other deserving, less-recognized talent? Maybe it was just a great year for people of color in movies and the Academy actually decided to acknowledge that. Either way, I’m happy.

Nice-looking Best Picture list. In addition to the five I mentioned above, The Father, Mank, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. I don’t know much about The Father (and it seems the one I might be least likely to see, since it’s one of the only ones that’s available exclusively in theaters right now,) but I always enjoy Olivia Colman, and I’m glad to see Gary Oldman getting another Best Actor nod for Mank. There’s a decent amount of love displayed for all the Best Picture nominees, with each of them getting at least six nominations apiece.

As for non-Best Picture nominees that caught my eye in some of my other favorite categories, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm snagged nominations for its screenplay and Maria Bakalova as a supporting actress – I never saw the first Borat, but I’ve heard interesting things about the sequel (beyond just the infamous Rudy Giuliani scene!) It’s always cool when international films get recognized outside of their designated category, so I liked seeing Another Round getting a Best Director nod (plus, I love Mads Mikkelsen, and I’ve never actually seen him in a Danish film before.)

So, for all the 2020 jokes that “Sonic the Hedgehog is going be nominated for Best Picture,” it looks like we’ve pulled together a pretty good roster for this past year. It’s good to see that movies endure, and that so many artists from marginalized communities are getting their well-earned spotlights.