Eleven Random Oscar Thoughts

Or: I am glad and mad, and what else is new.

1. Top nomination-getter Emilia Perez is, like…it is not a good film. It has some good performances. It isn’t boring. It has a couple of interesting ideas. It certainly takes risks, and I am generally very forgiving when a film takes risks. But one does want at least some of the risks to pay off, and that…that is not what happened here. I’ve written before about how it sometimes pays off to re-watch films I didn’t like the first time, and I promise I'll give this one a second look at, uh, some point. But I’ll be very surprised if my feelings change. On the bright side, it’s actually kind of exciting to have such a polarizing film as the front-runner. I can’t even recall the last time so many people have disliked a movie that’s set to sweep like this one is.

2. Nicole Kidman’s work in Babygirl is career-best. Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s work in Hard Truths is even better. And I just need you to know I am personally mad about them being snubbed. But they are performances for the ages, and will live on. (PS: since Hard Truths is still trickling into theaters, I also need you to know that contrary to billing, it is not a comedy. It’s a great film. It’s a funny film! But if you go in expecting a comedy, you are going to leave feeling like someone punched you in the mouth.)

3. India’s all-male nominating committee really blew it by not submitting Payal Kapadia’s luminous (no pun intended), feminist All We Imagine As Light for reasons of “seeming too European.” It’s seemed clear for a while that its pick, a comedy called Laapataa Ladies that I haven’t had a chance to see, wasn’t getting any traction in Best International, while Kapadia’s film did really well with critics’ groups. So I hoped it would show up on the Best Picture roster. Instead it, and India, were overlooked entirely. Kapadia will be fine. She’s arrived on the world stage no matter what. But I am sorry that it won't get the extra mainstream exposure, because it’s absolutely wonderful and I think anyone who likes thoughtful, character-based drama would enjoy it.

4. Category fraud lives! Zoe Saldaña is going to win in Best Supporting, and I’m fine with that. To whatever degree Emilia Perez succeeds, it’s thanks to her. But SHE IS THE LEAD ACTRESS. She’s in nearly every scene of the film. More importantly, the story is told through her perspective. She is the audience’s eyes. Kieran Culkin, who is deservedly going to win Supporting Actor, is in almost the same boat. Jesse Eisenberg’s character is the one we view A Real Pain through. We empathize deeply with him. He’s marginally the lead. (He’s also really good, by the way! Yeah, he’s still playing the Jesse Eisenberg role, but he’s hitting some new notes this time around. I would have given that boy a Best Actor nom.) But I would call Culkin a co-lead.

5. I’m already exhausted by the Karla Maria Gascon Discourse, and it hasn’t even started yet. Get ready for weeks of online screeching about “a man stealing a Best Actress slot” from people who care deeply about women in matters of elite sports and acting awards, and not at all when it comes to rape, reproductive rights, domestic violence, workplace equity, or anything else that actually affects scores of millions of ordinary women. I actually found myself hoping she wouldn’t be nominated just so we could avoid the Discourse, which is of course unfair to her (and it’s a good performance, though not one of my top five). So my strategy from here is to just ignore it. I recommend you do the same.

6. I’m delighted, and pretty surprised, to see Nickel Boys pick up picture and screenplay noms. Will you please, please go see Nickel Boys? I know you don’t particularly want to, but I don’t care. I think you will be very glad you did, and in any case, it’s just two hours out of your life. Just go. It’s A Great Film.

7. How about this: if you watch Nickel Boys, I’ll watch The Apprentice. Sigh.

8. Happy to see Yura Borisov nominated for Anora, but it’s got me wondering YET AGAIN why the Academy doesn’t have an ensemble category like SAG does. This year alone, I think Anora, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Nickel Boys, and Sing Sing would be worthy nominees, perhaps along with films I haven’t yet seen like September 5 or even Nosferatu.

9. I’m a fan of The Substance, but its screenplay nod…surprised me. I think it’s a lazy screenplay, honestly. The internal logic is shaky at best. The world-building is flimsy. It makes its one point over and over, ignoring a wealth of other ideas screaming out for exploration. It just feels very first-drafty. Same goes for The Brutalist, a film I’m not a fan of. I kept imagining a college boy thinking “I’m gonna make a movie about IMMIGRATION and CAPITALISM and THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE and only then coming up with characters who exist primarily as mouthpieces for his ideas. The ham-fisted epilogue alone should have knocked it out of the running.

10. I’m not sure who I’d swap out, but I really wish Daniel Craig had been recognized for Queer. It’s an oddball film to be sure, but man did I love that performance.

11. No score nomination for Challengers? As Tashi would say: “COME ON!”

Actually, maybe I should do a post where I name my own lost nomination in the main categories and who I’d drop to make room for them. Would people enjoy that? And give me your own hot takes, too!