My Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
Here's the thing. The Academy is a large group. It's always going to be a consensus choice, and thus oftentimes weirder/less seen films such as Titane or Pig are not usually going to get nominations, especially when the studios behind them don't have the money or backing to mount a significant campaign. Sometimes there are also some genuine surprises. The overwhelming show of love for Drive My Car (nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Foreign Film) also shows how sometimes genuine adoration for a film can build buzz - and also shows how the slow but efficient changing of the makeup of the members of the Academy has allowed films such as this to get more attention than they would have just a few years ago.
Let's talk about surprises. I don't like the notion of the word "snub" because nothing is ever set in stone, so let's go with surprises...
Lady Gaga missing best actress is a shock. For a while I thought she could win and she isn't even nominated. It's clear the Academy didn't like House of Gucci at all, as Jared Leto also missed a nomination that many thought he would get. Others who I thought would get nominated that didn't: Denis Villeneuve for directing Dune (10 nominations for this beautifully directed sci-fi epic and he misses; odd), Caitriona Balfe and Ruth Negga in Supporting Actress, Being the Ricardos and West Side Story for Screenplay. A few on the fringes who may have gotten in but didn't: Bradley Cooper for Supporting Actor, Belfast for Editing, Cate Blanchett for Supporting Actress, Jennifer Hudson for Actress, and Leo for Actor. The one takeaway from this: Belfast may not be as strong of a best picture contender as I thought. An editing nomination usually (but not always) goes hand in hand with the Best Picture winner. I was also a bit surprised (but not shocked) to see tick...tick... Boom! only get a Best Actor nomination. I still think Garfield has a chance to win, but him being the lone nomination for the film makes it a tougher battle.
As for the nominations that we didn't really see coming? Drive My Car is the big surprise of the day, as I mentioned. Also: Jessie Buckley in Supporting Actress, Jesse Plemons in Supporting Actor (which thrills me; it's about time for one of our best young actors), The Worst Person in the World in screenplay (which makes an interesting race between this and Drive My Car in foreign film,) J.K. Simmons in Supporting Actor.
We can always sit and lament what should or shouldn't have gotten a nomination, but all in all I think this is a reasonably strong set of nominations that captures the year in film.
If I had a ballot, here's what I would vote for in the major categories:
Best Picture: The Power of the Dog
Best Director: Jane Campion
Best Actor: Andrew Garfield
Best Actress: Olivia Colman
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose
Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur
What are your thoughts on this year's Oscar nominations?
Comments
Post a Comment