Hamnet - 8 Nominations

 

Best Casting: Nina Gold

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Max Richter

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes

Best Achievement in Directing: Chloé Zhao

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jessie Buckley

Best Adapted Screenplay: Maggie O’Farrell, Chloé Zhao

Best Achievement in Production Design: Fiona Crombie (production designer), Alice Felton (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Malgosia Turzanska

Hamnet is the beautiful and deeply moving story of William Shakespeare and his family; how he met his wife, his rise in popularity, and the family that he left behind when he went to London to put on what would become enduring work that would live well beyond his lifetime. With this film, Chloe Zhao has done something powerful. While we have seen films before that play out a “real life” story that eventually become a Shakespeare play (a la, Shakespeare in Love), this feels grounded in a world that feels as real as it is theatrical, and as theatrical as it is real. Of course the technical categories lend themselves to the experience, but what makes this movie are the performances from Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, and the three child actors who play their children. (At this point, I can’t see anyone taking the gold from Jessie Buckley.)
We know that Chloe Zhao is an outstanding director, but the thing that connects her Oscar winning Nomadland to Hamnet is her ability to have enduring compassion for her women leads while still showing them to be fully human, whether pooping in a bucket in a van or giving birth alone in the woods.
And here is my big reveal - if you are going to see only 2 or 3 of the nominated Best Pictures this year, make sure that Hamnet is one of them.

Sentimental Value - 9 Nominations

 

Best International Feature Film: Norway
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Best Achievement in Directing: Joachim Trier
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Renate Reinsve
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Stellan Skarsgård
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Elle Fanning
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
Best Original Screenplay: Joachim Trier (writer), Eskil Vogt (writer)
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Olivier Bugge Coutté

Sentimental Value centers on estranged sisters Nora and Agnes, who reconnect with their once-famous but emotionally distant filmmaker father Gustav after their mother’s death. Gustav, a celebrated director whose career has slowed, returns with a personal new script inspired by their family history and hopes that Nora will star in it, but she refuses, leading him to cast an American actress instead, which further fractures their uneasy reunion.

This is one of two films this year to appear in both the International Feature and Best Picture categories, and I was deeply moved by this one, and impressed with the play within a play nature of the story. What I loved about the movie, in particular, is that the complexity of real relationships isn’t often smoothed over by a perfect reconciliation with a hug and a tear and a confession; sometimes people are able to move forward even when their affection isn’t perfect, and their wounds are not completely healed.

The acting was quite brilliant, but I was mostly blown away by the screenplay. A most deserving film to be honored by the Oscars, and a worthwhile watch for those who delight in storytelling that takes its time.

Frankenstein - 9 nominations

 

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Dan Laustsen

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: : Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Alexandre Desplat

Best Sound: Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian T. Cooke, Brad Zoern

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Scott Stuber

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Jacob Elordi

Best Adapted Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro

Best Achievement in Production Design: Tamara Deverell (production designer), Shane Vieau (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Kate Hawley

I thought I’d seen enough Frankensteins to last me a lifetime, so when Guillermo del Toro announced that this would be his new film, I was not excited. But knowing that GDT, who made Pan’s Labyrinth and other extraordinary genre reinventions, was at the helm, I was open to it.

This Frankenstein is a whole other narrative. The obsessive scientist who methodically puts together a human body and reenvisions how one could animate that body pieced together is a whole story in itself. Oscar Isaac’s brilliant portrayal of the man obsessed with solving a puzzle and his descent into madness is gut punching. The level of detail put into the human anatomy of the work gives the audience the feeling that this crazy idea could become reality.

That’s the first half of the film, though the story is not told in a linear way. But the second half of the story is through the eyes of Frankenstein’s creature himself and how being animated and being alive are two different things. We realize that it’s not just a question of just because you can doesn’t mean you should, it’s also the impossible question of now that you did, what’s next for now and for eternity? In every iteration of the monster genre, there is the moment before and the moment after and the binary is about alive and revived, but not really about being human. This new iteration is much more about becoming than being, and it completely changes the story to make it a richer, much more interesting tale. It’s the questions, not the answers, that makes this film so special.

Del Toro also makes the brilliant choice to connect the past to the present by filming in black and white, and that’s why the cinematography is so magnificent. It gives old world vibes while making a Frankenstein that is utterly new, utterly fresh, and completely worth your while - even if you are not a fan of this genre (which, as I mentioned, I am not). Every one of these 9 nominations is deserved, including the one for Jacob Elordi who gives Frankenstein’s creature the humanity I could never have anticipated - he what makes the whole film come together and work.

I highly recommend it, if for no other reason than it’s absolutely not what you are expecting when you sit down in front of a creation called Frankenstein.

One Battle After Another - 13 nominations

 

Best Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis
Best Achievement in Cinematography: Michael Bauman
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Jonny Greenwood
Best Sound: José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Achievement in Directing: Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Benicio Del Toro
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Sean Penn
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Teyana Taylor
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Achievement in Production Design: Florencia Martin (production designer), Anthony Carlino (set decorator)
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Andy Jurgensen

How about a year when 13 nominations isn’t even the most nominations a picture has received? Well, that’s exactly what you get in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film. PTA is a little all over the place for me - some of his movies are bafflingly good (like this one and Boogie Nights) and others are The Master.

Let me tell you a little bit about this very exciting plot. “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are young activists and revolutionaries reminiscent of the Weather Underground. They pull off an explosive action to release detained immigrants that could well be defined as domestic terrorism, despite its noble intent. Before they do, Perfidia meets and humiliates commanding officer, Steven Lockjaw who continues to hunt the members of their group for the next 16 years. He will not rest until they are all dead.

Perfidia has a baby, Charlene, but she refuses to change her lifestyle and leaves. Meanwhile, Pat and Charlene flee and become Bob and Willa, hiding from the danger Pat knows will always hunt him. Years pass, and Bob has become a tired and rundown paranoid couch dweller, while his teenage daughter has thrived but has been raised with an off the grid paranoia. When danger comes to his doorstep, he runs, and Willa is taken from her high school to an out of town order of revolutionary nuns. Once he is able, Bob mounts a quest to find his daughter and reunite with her.

And, as is true with all PTA films, I left out quite a bit of the plot, because all of this is to say, you should watch this movie. Simplistic on its face, it asks all the important questions about governmental overreach, domestic terrorism, resistance in the face of injustice, the role of white supremacy, immigration, and more. What does lawlessness look like from those with unchecked power, and what is the appropriate and rational response to it? At its core, the film examines how commitment—to art, to politics, to other people—evolves over time, and whether persistence itself can still count as a form of victory.

This is no popcorn movie, but it is worth every minute of your time. If you don’t finish and do just a little bit of questioning of your own lens and politics, then either the film hasn’t done its job, or you haven’t.

Sinners - 16 nominations

 

Best Casting: Francine Maisler

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Ken Diaz, Michael Fontaine, Shunika Terry

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Ludwig Göransson

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): Ludwig Göransson (music and lyric), Raphael Saadiq (music and lyric) - For “I Lied to You”

Best Sound: Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler

Best Achievement in Directing: Ryan Coogler

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Michael B. Jordan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Delroy Lindo

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Wunmi Mosaku

Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler (writer)

Best Achievement in Production Design: Hannah Beachler (production designer), Monique Champagne (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter

Best Achievement in Film Editing: Michael P. Shawver

---

Identical twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (both played by nominated lead actor Michael B. Jordan) return home after years in Chicago looking to start fresh by opening a juke joint for the Black community. They recruit family and friends, including a young blues guitarist, but their hopes are soon eclipsed by a deadly supernatural threat in the form of vampires descending on the town. As the night unfolds, survival becomes as much about confronting internal demons as the literal vampire menace. The brothers may not share a fate in the long run, but they certainly share a destiny.

There’s something bafflingly special about this movie, and that’s not just about 16 Oscar nominations, but also that Sinners had nominations in every single category for which it was eligible except one (lead actress), and it didn’t really have a lead actress. Ruth Carter has worked with Coogler before and has won 2 Oscars for Costumes for the Black Panther films, thanks to that association. Ludwig Goransson is also Coogler’s longtime music collaborator who also won an Oscar for the original Black Panther film. Coogler has a talent for assembling a band of exceptionally talented artists in front of and behind the screen, and this film is surely his masterpiece.

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The Substance - 5 nominations

 

• • Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

  • Pierre Olivier Persin 
  • Stéphanie Guillon 
  • Marilyne Scarselli
• 
  • Best Motion Picture of the Year

  • Coralie Fargeat 
  • Tim Bevan 
  • Eric Fellner
• 
  • Best Achievement in Directing

  • Coralie Fargeat
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

  • Demi Moore
• 
  • Best Original Screenplay

  • Coralie Fargeat

Well, I haven't exactly been panting to write this blog post. I saw the preview for this film and I thought it looked like a brilliant and scathing commentary on aging and fame. What I got was a horror movie with a basically interesting idea (though if you take one moment to think about it, the premise is deeply flawed) with a seriously questionable ending. 

The basic plot is that Demi Moore (who is pretty wonderful and who ironically looks amazing) is a middle aged former model and current fitness show star and her creepy boss/studio exec gives her notice that he is shutting down her show and tells her that she is no longer marketable because she is too old. She comes upon a handsome young man and his seemingly older counterpart who explains that they are same person and that they are taking a substance that gives back youth. She tracks down the "company" and begins a regimen. What they don't tell her is that she isn't going to go back in years and that a younger version of her is going to be birthed from her body and they will have to switch off one week at a time. (and for my taste, that scene... ew.)

The plot hole is that she doesn't know what happens in the weeks that she is lying dormant, and her younger twin doesn't know what she is doing while she is lying dormant. So, why would anyone recommend something that they themselves don't get to experience? Moore's character doesn't recapture her youth, the mutant she births does. She doesn't get to live a new younger life, she gets to lie on the floor being fed intravenously while her mutant lives the younger life. Why would anyone recommend this once the bait and switch has happened for the first person in the experiment?

At any rate, of course things don't go exactly to plan and the ending is possibly the only plausible one they could muster but I'm betting there are a bunch of act threes somewhere in a garbage can. Many people are raving about this film and it has a more than decent chance of winning this prize. My only theory is perhaps they watched the movie while on substances of their own.

Emilia Perez - 13 nominations

 

• 
  
  

  • Best International Feature Film, France
• • Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

  • Julia Floch-Carbonel 
  • Emmanuel Janvier 
  • Jean-Christophe Spadaccini
• 
  • Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

  • Clément Ducol 
  • Camille
• 
  • Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song), "El Mal"

  • Clément Ducol 
  • Camille 
  • Jacques Audiard
• 
  • Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song), "Mi Camino"

  • Clément Ducol 
  • Camille 
  Jacques Audiard
• 
  • Best Sound

  • Erwan Kerzanet 
  • Aymeric Devoldère 
  • Maxence Dussère 
  • Cyril Holtz 
  • Niels Barletta
• 
  • Best Motion Picture of the Year

  • Pascal Caucheteux 
  • Jacques Audiard
• 
  • Best Achievement in Directing

  • Jacques Audiard
• 
  Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

  • Karla Sofía Gascón
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Zoe Saldana
• 
  • Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Jacques Audiard 
  • Thomas Bidegain 
  • Léa Mysius
  • Nicolas Livecchi
• 
  • Best Achievement in Cinematography

  • Paul Guilhaume
• • Best Achievement in Film Editing

  • Juliette Welfling

Remember when I said that being nominated 4 times for a single movie was pretty impressive? Well Jacques Audiard is nominated 5 times for this single movie, where he seems to have done everything except craft services. Guess what else? The film is nominated for Adapted Screenplay, because Audiard had already produced an opera libretto which was based on a book.

The story follows Rita, a discontented defense attorney who is engaged by a cartel kingpin to give him the cover he needs to transition to being a woman, including helping him fake his own death and relocating his wife and children to Switzerland. Once she has transitioned, she begins to live a new life as a philanthropist and do-gooder (with a hint of corruption on the side), and she decides that she misses her family terribly and asks Rita to bring them back to Mexico to live with her. Her ex-wife rekindles an affair she was having while still married, and adds another layer of complication to this already complicated life. The film reflects on criminality, corruption, family, and the question of whether life truly changes when the core personality does not.

Before I saw the film, I had no idea it was a musical. Selena Gomez turns out to be a non-fluent Spanish speaker who pulls off acting and emoting while speaking the language. Zoe Saldana turns out to be a trained dancer who can also really sing. And those were just the smallest of surprises. Everything about this film is not what you expect it to be, in all of the best ways. I loved it, the music and the songs are excellent and beautifully choreographed. The cinematography was exceptional. I imagine that Selena Gomez was a breath away from a Supporting Actress nomination (which would have tied EP with the three other films in history to garner 14 nominations, the record.) The whole of this film is even greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty magnificent.