The Oscars are only a few days away and like most of the rest of the world, I am plenty keen about the revelation of the winners this year. Some of the nominees this year however are surprising whilst a much larger portion of them are rather deserving of their respective positions. Disparagingly, the Oscars this year consists of a majority of white nominees and Joaquin Phoenix astutely yet elegantly addressed the issue when accepting his 2020 BAFTA award for the leading actor. The surprises in the nominees happen to mostly be white people. Then again, the Oscars this year gave much deserved attention to a foreign film like Parasite by nominating it under six different categories instead of simply limiting it within the confines of the nomination under foreign films.
This year, nine films have been nominated under the category of best picture. And I’m willing to bet that Parasite has the most buzz among the audience around the world. Bong Joon-ho’s mysterious drama is nothing short of exhilaration and shock, and to have those wrapped up in an enticing plot is not less than the perfect gift from a brilliant director. Joker, Marriage Story, 1917, The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood were also the obvious ones to garner attention and obtain nomination. Little Women, JoJo Rabbit and Ford v Ferrari were however the pleasant surprises for these created statements with their respective stories.
Among four other nominated men, Antonio Banderas is the only man of colour to be included under the category of actor in a leading role. Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Pryce and Leonardo DiCaprio, again received the obvious nominations. Adam Driver’s nomination is well earned for his portrayal of man trying to navigate the kinds of curveballs life throws at him. Inclusion of Antonio makes it the first time for him to ever be nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a depressed director. Joaquin’s constant wins thus far this year, makes him an obvious winner and fans of Joker would want him to win considering Heath Ledger won for his portrayal of the Joker during his time.
Among the actresses in a leading role, Cynthia Erivo is the only woman of colour to be nominated for her work in Harriet and if she were to win then she would become the youngest member of the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards) club. The competition is stacked with the likes of Renée Zellweger, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson and Saoirse Ronan. Scarlett Johansson is also one of few people who have had the opportunity of being nominated under different the two acting categories during the same year. She also received a nomination under actress in a supporting role for Jojo Rabbit.
Florence Pugh is a first-time nominee this year under the category of actress in a supporting role, for her performance in Little Women. In the animated feature film category, two out of five of the nominations have been produced by Netflix. I Lost My Body for instance is a unique movie with almost anime like art. It is possibly the quirkiest out of the five nominations. Klaus on the other hand is widely approved as are Toy Story 4 and How to Train Your Dragon the Hidden World. The award for costume design may or may not inadvertently go to Little Women because the costumes from the movie have been in talks ever since the trailer of the movie was out.
The academy did Greta Gerwig a disservice this year by neglecting her in the category of directing. If she could have been nominated for Lady Bird, then she should have been nominated for Little Women. The academy has only nominated a total of five female directors over the course of 92 years and this factual evidence is enough to experience the sheer abandonment of female directors. Greta Gerwig could have made history as the first female director to have been nominated twice for the academy award but she lost the opportunity to five other male directors.
For writing original screenplay, Knives Out surprisingly snatched a position for itself and found itself amidst the likes of Parasite, Marriage Story, 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Even if the murder mystery fails to win it has managed to garner more than sufficient traction. Below the belt of adapted screenplay, Gerwig represents the cult classic in the feistiest way yet. Todd Phillips fleshes out, quite possibly, the most notorious super villain in the superhero genre and Taika Waititi gives wind to the imagination of a witty little boy.