Looking ahead to this weekend’s Oscars, this year’s crop of best picture nominations are a pretty strong bunch. That being said, some are better than others and as always, can be ranked.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s Oscars, my most anticipated event of the year, this year’s crop of best picture nominations are a pretty strong bunch. There’s no clear villain (hi, Emilia Pérez), no obligatory biopics, and there’s more than one film that isn’t American, which is always welcome. That being said, some are better than others and as always, can be ranked.
Frankenstein
I am normally here for Guillermo Del Toro. I love the Shape of Water, I will defend Nightmare Alley, but I just cannot get on with his adaptation of Frankenstein. His flair for craft is the big draw here, there are some great costumes and the make-up job on the monster is wonderful (even if I don’t like the design) – but pretty much everything else is a misfire. The performances are misjudged and actors miscast, there is no new spin on any of the incredibly well-worn thematic elements of the novel, and it is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It might as well be yelling NATURE VS NURTURE for the entire second half. Sorry Guillermo.
F1
It is not the worst best picture nominee! It might be easily the second worst, but it is not the worst. F1 is an absolutely fine piece of blockbuster entertainment. It looks great, it sounds great, and it effectively replicates the feeling of going fast in a car; at the end of the day, that’s all it needs to do. There are frustrating elements, mostly concerning Brad Pitt playing ‘man who is always right’, but it does the job it sets out to do and I can’t be mad at that.
Bugonia
The fact that we live in a world where a film as spiky and unpleasant as Bugonia can get a pretty easy best picture nomination from the Oscars is a very cool sign of the shifting tastes of the Academy. Bugonia is far better than F1: it has a tight screenplay, a great performance from Jesse Plemons (who in a weaker year would surely be getting a best actor nomination), Emma Stone absolutely doing her thing, and a super fun twist. But is it the best Yorgos Lanthimos can do? No.
Hamnet
When I first saw Hamnet, I was absolutely blown away by its intensity and emotion, largely because Jessie Buckley is a powerhouse at the centre of it. But I am sad to report that every time I think critically about it, I like it a little less. Paul Mescal as Shakespeare is a performance that really does not work for me. And the third act that some are deeming ‘undeniable’ is, for me, quite deniable. I have no ill will for Hamnet, but it getting the big prize would feel underwhelming.
Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme is a great time. A real whirlwind of a film that goes in all sorts of fun directions, has a roster of fantastic supporting performances (including Gwyneth Paltrow who I think is great in this). The world feels lived in, the score is propulsive, and even though I am a Timothee Chalamet agnostic, he is near his best here. The reason it’s not higher really is that there are five excellent films that are better nominated this year.
The Secret Agent
After being slightly underwhelmed by I’m Still Here last year, I am happy to report that this year’s Best Picture nominated Brazilian political thriller is incredibly deserving of the hype. Set in the 70s and revolving around a beloved Brazilian star, The Secret Agent is a strange, beguiling version of the political thriller which plays out slowly and hits all the better for it.
Wagner Moura is fantastic here, his best actor nomination is so deserved. The rest of the cast is a wonderful mix of great faces and personalities that give the film so much life. I have a feeling this will be the most underseen nomination of the bunch, but you should rectify that. This is a great nomination, probably the coolest on here.
Train Dreams
Despite Netflix doing their best not to give this a real release as they so often do, I managed to see Train Dreams at the cinema in its short run and I am so glad I did. The film is gorgeous, both aesthetically and emotionally, with shots of woodland that make me want to move to turn-of-the-century rural America and characters that had me weeping as I left the cinema. A simple but beautiful story, Train Dreams will not win best picture this year, but if the nomination gets more eyes on the film, it’s all worth it.
One Battle After Another
This top three is a real toss-up. They almost perfectly align with my favourite three films of the year in general, and are all monumental efforts that would be great Best Picture wins. What more needs to be said about One Battle at this point? Every member of the cast is incredible (Chase Infiniti, I will travel back in time to get you that actress nom), it looks great, and the narrative momentum is so exciting to watch while also hitting every emotional beat perfectly.
I might not be the biggest Paul Thomas Anderson guy (although this might be the best film ever made) but it surely is his time to win big at something. It’s hard to imagine he tops this now.
Sinners
The blockbuster doesn’t get much better than Sinners. Ryan Coogler puts his Black Panther cred to the best possible use by making something simultaneously singular and broadly appealing. Sinners is a rare Oscar film, with a lot going on thematically while being completely approachable – and to me, that makes it the perfect Best Picture winner.
The action is wonderful, the sense of place is strong and grounds the supernatural elements, and every performance is a powerhouse. Wunmi Mosaku is my pick for the best of them, but Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindon, Miles Catton, Jack O’Connell – really anyone who is in it – does a fantastic job. A future classic in the making and a worthy pick for best picture.
Sentimental Value
Sentimental Value is pretty easily my favourite film of the year. I already loved the Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve duo – The Worst Person in the World is one of my favourites – but this is their best work yet. A deeply emotional, richly weaved family drama that spans the full range of feelings that stories like this could possibly offer. Stellan Skarsgård gives my favourite performance of the year, but I’m open to the opinion that two or three other main performances may be even better.
I’ve written a full piece on why I loved it so much and there are infinitely more reasons why I think it is such a wonderful piece of work. It might be one of the smaller films nominated, but it by far packs the biggest punch.
I sat down with director Elias Demetriou to talk about his film ‘Maricel’ which follows a Filipino domestic worker in Cyprus caring for an elderly couple who have a lot of unspoken family drama.
