I hope you’ll forgive me for a while as this blog transforms from The Voracious Bibliophile to The Voracious Cinephile. Although, to be fair, this blog has always had more than its fair share of film-related posts, so forgiveness is probably not needed. At any rate, tomorrow (which is also my BIRTHDAY!) we will find out this year’s Oscar nominees in all 23 categories. The contendahs (Marlon Brando, anyone?) will be announced live starting at 8:18 AM EST by Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan. What a delightful birthday present!
The Oscars are a bigger deal for me than Christmas.
The Oscars are a bigger deal for me than Christmas. I make a special punch. I have my own Oscar my father made for me several years ago sitting proudly atop my movie shelf. I buy all the magazines. I read all the articles. I look at the odds much like an itchy gambler at a racetrack. I stalk the Twitter feeds of the hopefuls. I attempt to watch all of the films themselves before the big night but sometimes availability is an issue. For example, I feel like chances are slim I’ll get to see Licorice Pizza before the big night. I am more caught up this year than in most of the past several years, probably because many of the hopeful nominees are streaming natives. There’s been loads of buzz for streaming films this year, a trend which seems to be going nowhere but up. Don’t Look Up, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, and tick, tick… Boom! all hail from Netflix. Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth and CODA are both denizens of Apple TV+. Being the Ricardos is the baby of Amazon Prime Video. As you can see, the field of Oscar hopefuls is simply verdant with streaming darlings.
He [Denzel Washington] somehow takes the Bard’s words and amplifies them from their original context into something even more powerful. He is expressive, multi-layered, and haunting in his portrayal of Macbeth, and the Academy would be remiss to not reward his work with a nomination for Best Actor.
I’m going to start with my strongest opinions and then work my way down. First of all, it will be an absolute tragedy if Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth isn’t nominated for Best Picture. It is incredibly difficult to transform such a familiar work of art into something that is both classic and contemporary. Let me just say here that this is some of Denzel Washington’s best work. He somehow takes the Bard’s words and amplifies them from their original context into something even more powerful. He is expressive, multi-layered, and haunting in his portrayal of Macbeth, and the Academy would be remiss to not reward his work with a nomination for Best Actor. Frances McDormand is no slouch as Lady Macbeth, either, and while I wouldn’t be surprised to see her name on the list of nominees for Best Actress, I am much more invested in Denzel.
While the Academy doesn’t always go along with them [the New York Film Critics Circle] in this category, the winners for both awards were the same for three of the past eleven years: Laura Dern for Marriage Story in 2019; Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018; and Patricia Arquette for Boyhood in 2014.
Likewise, I will personally send a letter of complaint to the Academy (the disposition of which I will leave up to their discretion) if Kathryn Hunter isn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her roles as the Witches and the Old Man. She is delightfully creepy and otherworldly and I hope the Academy takes notice. In her favor is the fact that she was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress. While the Academy doesn’t always go along with them in this category, the winners for both awards were the same for three of the past eleven years: Laura Dern for Marriage Story in 2019; Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018; and Patricia Arquette for Boyhood in 2014. Note: Laura Dern was awarded by the New York Film Critics Circle for her performances in both Little Women and Marriage Story.
Kristen Stewart was considered the front-runner for the longest time for her performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, but now there is talk that she may not even be nominated.
For me and it seems a lot of other critics and movie lovers, the Best Actress race is the most fraught right now. Kristen Stewart was considered the front-runner for the longest time for her performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, but now there is talk that she may not even be nominated. Talk about a dramatic turnaround. It’s somewhat annoying for the simple fact that this wouldn’t be Stewart’s first time being snubbed by the Academy. She was the first American actress to win the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Clouds of Sils Maria, and what did she get from the Academy? Crickets. For the past decade, she’s been churning out stellar performances in films one right after the other. See: Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), mentioned above, Still Alice (2014), Certain Women (2016), Personal Shopper (2016), Seberg (2019), and now Spencer (2021). When will the Academy stand up and take notice? This year should be the year, and shame on them if it’s not.
I don’t know many actresses with the chutzpah to take on Lucille Ball, especially since we have so much of Ball’s own screen work to use for comparison and judgment. Kidman isn’t one to shy away from a challenge, however, and she sinks her teeth into the life and work of the Queen of Comedy with aplomb and panache.
Also on my radar for the Best Actress race are Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) and Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos). Actually, I was all but certain the award was Stewart’s until I watched Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter. In my review of the film, which you can read here, I said that Colman (along with Gyllenhaal) had gifted us with “one of the most honest depictions of motherhood ever seen in any medium”, and I stand by that assessment. Kidman is a darker horse. We know from her past work that she is quite adept at playing historical figures and real-life individuals. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002). I don’t know many actresses with the chutzpah to take on Lucille Ball, especially since we have so much of Ball’s own screen work to use for comparison and judgment. Kidman isn’t one to shy away from a challenge, however, and she sinks her teeth into the life and work of the Queen of Comedy with aplomb and panache.
A more streamlined script [for Being the Ricardos] could have catapulted Kidman all the way to the stage to accept her second Oscar.
On the other hand, I was not a fan of Sorkin’s script and Javier Bardem’s turn as Desi Arnaz. Both have received mostly positive reviews from critics but I have to diverge from the pack here. Sorkin’s script is clunky and cluttered. A more streamlined script could have catapulted Kidman all the way to the stage to accept her second Oscar. Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz is not believable at all. I knew I was watching Javier Bardem the whole time. It’s a delicate balance when you’re playing a real-life figure to not veer into caricature, and with Bardem that’s what I felt like I was watching. Not so with Kidman. Because they’re in so many scenes together, naturally, his lackluster performance distracts from hers. I honestly don’t see her winning, but I hope she is at least nominated.
Considering the race for Best Director this year, it is possible (and only right) that there are two women on the ballot: Jane Campion and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Maggie Gyllenhaal displayed an incredible amount of directorial talent with The Lost Daughter, and it’s safe to say that this won’t be the last film where she’s in the director’s chair. But I’m going to have to say that if there is any justice in the world, Jane Campion will take home the Oscar for Best Director for The Power of the Dog. Campion was previously recognized for her 1993 period drama The Piano, for which she was nominated for Best Director and won for Best Original Screenplay.
No matter what happens, I think this is going to be one of the most interesting Oscars we’ve had in a long time. Without further ado, here are my personal picks for the following eight races: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Best Picture
- Belfast
- CODA
- Drive My Car
- Dune
- King Richard
- Licorice Pizza
- The Lost Daughter
- The Power of the Dog
- The Tragedy of Macbeth
- West Side Story
Best Director
- Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
- Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
- Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
- Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Best Actor
- Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
- Peter Dinklage, Cyrano
- Andrew Garfield, tick, tick… Boom!
- Will Smith, King Richard
- Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Supporting Actor
- Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
- Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
- Troy Kotsur, CODA
- Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
- Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best Actress
- Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
- Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
- Frances McDormand, The Tragedy of Macbeth
- Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Best Supporting Actress
- Caitríona Balfe, Belfast
- Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
- Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
- Ann Dowd, Mass
- Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Original Screenplay
- Belfast
- Don’t Look Up
- The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
- King Richard
- Licorice Pizza
Best Adapted Screenplay
- CODA
- Dune
- The Lost Daughter
- The Power of the Dog
- The Tragedy of Macbeth
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