2023 Oscars: Picks

As always, these are my picks, not necessarily my predictions. I’d always much rather talk about who I’d like to see win.

Best Director – The Banshees of Inisherin

I debated between this one and Everything Everywhere All at Once, but I think the direction on The Banshees of Inisherin does such a fantastic job of bringing this very specific, self-contained setting to life. It balances the humor and sadness with equal skill, and it presents the impossible conflict at its heart in a way that somehow feels plausible.

Best Lead Actor – Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)

I had to think quite a bit on this one, lot of great entries here. But ultimately, I had to give it to Farrell, who pulls off such a deft blend of humor and melancholy in this film, often simultaneously. He’s so wonderful here.

Best Lead Actress – Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

I’m really, really pulling for this one. Not that Blanchett isn’t great in Tár, but Yeoh’s performance here is so versatile, so affecting, so expansive. She shepherds this wild, weird movie from minute one, and she does it with seemingly effortless humor, agility, and emotion.

(Note: I didn’t see Blonde or To Leslie.)

Best Supporting Actor – Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Everyone in this category is terrific, but this is an “accept no substitutes” situation. While there are a lot of awards I want Everything Everywhere All at Once to win on Oscar night, I’m riding at dawn if Quan doesn’t get his trophy. He gives three distinct performances in this movie, and all of them are brilliant. Quan or bust!

Best Supporting Actress – Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

No shade to Angela Bassett (I swear this isn’t just me being bitter that Tony Leung Chiu-wai wasn’t nominated last year for Shang-Chi.) She’s fantastic, but Hsu is just dynamite: constantly surprising, utterly wild, and nakedly emotional. It’s so weird to me that, coming into the nominations, Jamie Lee Curtis’s nod seemed inevitable while Hsu’s was up in the air. (No shade to Curtis, either—Hsu is simply electrifying to watch.)

Best Adapted Screenplay – Women Talking

I debated between several for this one, although it was tricky when I hadn’t read/seen any of the source material beyond the first Knives Out. But Women Talking does a wonderful job of taking an inherently “talky” story and still making it feel compelling, which is no easy feat onscreen.

Best Original Screenplay – Everything Everywhere All at Once

I don’t think every single second of the script is a slam dunk, but there was no film whose story moved me as much as this one. In all its wild careering from drama to comedy to sci-fi and back, it doesn’t lose the very intimate human story at its center.

Best Cinematography – Elvis

There were some great nominees in this category, but in the end, I had to give it to Elvis. I always appreciate when a musical biopic can do something to break out of its typical mold, at least a little, and for Elvis, the camera work was a major part of that.

Best Picture – Everything Everywhere All at Once

This was a pretty decent year for the Oscars, with several Best Picture contenders that I thought were truly wonderful. My heart, though, has to give it to Everything Everywhere All at Once for its bonkers originality, its stunning cast, and the raw beating heart in the middle of all the kookiness.

(Note: I didn’t see Avatar: The Way of Water.)