Well, the Oscar nominations are out, and the race is on! I’ve gotten a little ahead of the game this year, so I’ve already seen a handful of the movies up for the major categories. On the whole, I’d say I’m decently pleased, although there are definitely a few nominations that don’t excite me and a few people/films I really wish would’ve made the list.
Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin are leading the pack. Both are up for Best Picture and are recognized for their direction and screenplays, and both received four acting nominations. I’m thrilled for Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I’m especially excited to see Stephanie Hsu get a nod for Supporting Actress, since she’s been kind of left out of the conversation to date. And I’m really looking forward to seeing The Banshees of Inisherin.
Tár and The Fabelmans both did well for themselves, with five major nominations apiece. No surprise that Tár gives Cate Blanchett another nomination under her belt. Also not a surprise is Austin Butler getting a nod for Elvis, which is also up for Best Picture and Best Cinematography. I was impressed to see Triangle of Sadness make a relatively good showing, getting a Best Picture nod along with its direction and screenplay. Rounding out the Best Picture list are Women Talking, which I’m pretty interested in, All Quiet on the Western Front, which I thought was beautifully made, and Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, neither of which really excite me.
Filling out the rest of my major categories—Best Director, the acting categories, the screenplay categories, and Best Cinematography—are a lot of one-to-two-nomination films. Of these, I’m definitely pleased to see Angela Bassett recognized for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (although I wish the film had gotten more love overall) and Glass Onion recognized for its screenplay. I definitely want to see Living and Empire of Light, and while Brendan Fraser getting nominated for The Whale was a foregone conclusion, I’m pleased that Hong Chau got a Supporting Actress nod too. I could’ve done without Blonde getting a nomination, though I don’t doubt that Ana de Armas gives a strong performance.
There’s a fair amount of diversity in this year’s nominees: six of the twenty acting nominations went to BIPOC, plus Ana de Armas is a white Latina. Of course, that partially speaks to the power of one amazing film, since half of those nominees are from Everything Everywhere All at Once. But it also means that Asian/Asian American representation is popping this year—sorry, Cate Blanchett, but I am 100% rooting for Michelle Yeoh to take her rightfully deserved, long overdue trophy for her incredible performance! In addition, while a key slot in both the lead acting categories is for a straight actor playing a queer character (and one of them’s even in a fat suit!), we also get Stephanie Hsu in the frustratingly rare position of being nominated as a queer actor playing a queer character. No major disability representation, but at least we’ll presumably get Troy Kotsur at the ceremony to present Best Supporting Actress.
Like I said, I wanted to see more for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and it’s utterly wild that The Woman King was ignored completely. If it was up to me, I might’ve made room in Best Picture for Turning Red and Glass Onion as well. Even though they really weren’t in any award conversations, I’d have loved to see Fire Island and late-in-the-game entry Matilda get some love. And even though, of the Best Animated Feature nominees, I’ve only seen Turning Red, I really would’ve wanted to see DC League of Super-Pets make the cut—I enjoyed that film way more than I expected to.
But more on that when I do my Personal Nominations post in March. For now, it’s time to start crossing more of these films off my watch list!
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