The International Oscars Are Here to Stay
The international trend begun by “Parasite” in 2020 continues. On Oscar nominations morning, Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix) was expected to lead the nominations, and did not disappoint, with a record 13 chances (beating other international films “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Roma,” with 10 apiece) to win an Oscar on March 2.
Almost 10,000 Academy voters are invited to cast their ballots from February 11 – 18, and some twenty per cent of those voters live overseas. Both France’s Spanish-language “Emilia Pérez” and Brazil’s Portuguese “I’m Still Here” (Sony Pictures Classics) landed in Best Picture and scored at least one acting nod, along with the expected Best International Feature Film.
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“Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican drug cartel boss who transitions to being a woman, is now positioned to win multiple Oscars. Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascón and New Jersey-born Zoe Salda?a scored acting nominations, and Salda?a is expected to win Supporting Actress. But will dominant streamer Netflix break its Best Picture losing streak? (Including shorts, the streamer notched 18 nominations, while Universal, including DreamWorks Animation and Focus, boasted 25.) Many Academy voters continue to feel antipathy towards the streamer, which harbors deep pockets that it does not always share.
Danish-Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s Cannes entry “The Apprentice,” which played far better internationally than in America, nonetheless notched two key acting slots for Best Actor Sebastian Stan and Supporting Actor Jeremy Strong. While the BAFTA nominations in large part echoed at the Oscars, critics’ fave Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Bleecker Street’s “Hard Truths”) gave way to “I’m Still Here” Globe-winner Fernanda Torres, and James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight), with strong momentum, added breakout Monica Barbaro to Supporting Actress over SAG and BAFTA nominee Jamie Lee Curtis (“The Last Showgirl”). Been there, done that.
Hollywood still holds some sway. Stage to screen adaptation “Wicked” (Universal) scored three more Oscar slots (ten) than BAFTAs and gains momentum for a Best Picture win. Like “Emilia Pérez,” “Wicked” delivers the visual and aural sweep of a musical. (Six have won Best Picture, from “The Sound of Music!” and “Oliver!” to the more recent “Chicago.”)
While “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu did not land a nomination, landing a Best Editing spot is a sign of the film’s strength, even if WGA recognition did not presage an Oscar nod. “Wicked” makes people smile and brings joy at a time when many are not happy with what they see in the world. And the film’s anti-fascist message adds needed gravitas to what is otherwise a frothy green-and-pink confection.
Brady Corbet’s $10-million indie “The Brutalist” (A24) brings plenty of gravitas and also landed ten nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Editing. It could win all three. And Oscar-winner Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) is positioned to take the win for Best Actor, as the ambitious post-World War II immigration story leans entirely on him. At three-and-a-half hours, critics’ darling “The Brutalist” carries the ambition and scope of a Best Picture contender, but it may not play as well as its competitors across the mainstream of the Academy.
While eight nominations marks a strong showing for Vatican potboiler “Conclave” (Focus), including Best Picture and Editing and acting nods for Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini, German director Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) missed a director slot. The likely scenario for “Conclave” is a repeat of the Golden Globe win for screenwriter Peter Straughan. Focus had a good day, racking up nominations not only for “Conclave” but four craft nods for Robert Eggers’ elevated horror film “Nosferatu.”
“Anora” (Neon) landed a respectable six nominations, including Sean Baker for Picture, Editing, Original Screenplay, and Directing, Lead Actress Mikey Madison, Supporting Actor Yura Borisov. But will the raucous, anarchic comedy win anything? Screenplay seems the most likely, along with Editing. The young actors have promising careers ahead of them.
French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat not only celebrated five nominations for Cannes body-horror smash “The Substance” (Mubi’s first ever Oscar contender), but landed a coveted Best Director slot (only the tenth for a woman) along with Best Original Screenplay, Makeup & Hairstyling, and the expected Best Actress position for Demi Moore, who could win her first Oscar on March 2.
Women directors also made a mark among the documentary films, as Shiori Ito “Black Box Diaries” (the first Japanese director of a Japanese subject to score in this category) and co-directors Emily Kassie (Canada’s “Sugarcane”) and Rachel Szor (Palestine and Israel’s “No Other Land”) both landed slots. Also of note, “Sugarcane” is the first film directed by a North American Indigenous person to be nominated for an Oscar. As expected, “Soundtrack for a Coup d’Etat” and “Porcelain War” also nabbed documentary mentions. Shut out of non-fiction contention were three Netflix hopefuls: “Will & Harper,” “Daughters,” and “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.”
While the Scandinavian voting bloc did not come through for “Ibelin,” they delivered an International Feature spot for “The Girl with the Needle.” Also making that category were Latvian entry “Flow,” which also landed in Animated Feature, and German submission “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” as expected. “Flow” marks the second time a film has landed in both international and animated feature, after “Flee.”
Left out of the Best Picture race in favor of presumed tenth slot “Nickel Boys” (which also landed Adapted Screenplay but not Cinematography) were “Sing, Sing” (A24) which landed nods for Best Actor Colman Domingo and Best Adapted Screenplay. Also-rans “September 5” (Paramount) and “A Real Pain” (Searchlight) both landed Original Screenplay nominations. A consolation prize for “A Real Pain” is likely Best Supporting Actor winner Kieran Culkin.
Not having a good day: Luca Guadagnino, whose Best Actor hopeful Daniel Craig (art film “Queer”) was shut out, as well as box-office hit “Challengers.”
We’ll see what comes in the home stretch as Oscar campaigners make their final stands.
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