As predicted, Jacques Audiard's controversial musical Emilia Pérez got the most Oscar nominations this year with thirteen. In fact, it passed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma to become the most nominated foreign-language film in Oscars history. But the film has had a curious journey since it premiered at Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize and Best Actress (shared among its cast). The film has gotten mixed reviews from critics and been overshadowed on Netflix by, shall we say, less sophisticated movies such as Hot Frosty and Carry-On. But it's triumphed at most major awards bodies, and today it got nominated for five of the eight top prizes. It's also the favorite to win International Feature. But while Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña earned nominations in Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively, their costar Selena Gomez did not make the cut. (The former Disney Channel star had picked up nods at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.)
With 10 nominations each, The Brutalist and Wicked will provide the Oscars race with a solid David vs. Goliath counter-narrative. The former, directed by Brady Corbet and independently financed, tells the story of a Hungarian immigrant (Adrien Brody) who struggles to rebuild his life as an architect in the U.S. while encountering antisemitism and living under the thumb of his wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce). The latter is one of the year's biggest movies, based on the smash Broadway musical. Both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are nominated as the future wicked and good witches of Oz, respectively. It also picked up many below-the-line nominations, though notably not its infamous cinematography. That category featured some expected nominees, though it surprisingly excluded the innovative work seen in Nickel Boys and Challengers.
In fact, Luca Guadagnino's wildly entertaining sports drama wasn't nominated for Original Screenplay either. And voters didn't find room for it in Film Editing or Score, even though both were exhilarating. The Italian director's other film, a polarizing adaptation of Queer, also found itself with zero nods. Daniel Craig had been seen as its best hope, but the former James Bond didn't quite make it this year. Other contenders that got zilch: Babygirl, Hard Truths, Heretic, The Last Showgirl, The Piano Lesson, and The Room Next Door.
But there were plenty of reasons to be pleased with this year's nominees, even if many of them were expected. I don't think anyone predicted I'm Still Here to be one of the nominees for Best Picture, but the Brazilian film got that and a nod for Fernanda Torres in Actress. Sebastian Stan turned his bad luck into good, receiving a nomination for The Apprentice. He had previously bemoaned that many in Hollywood refused to do promotional events with him, for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. That must have earned him a lot of good will – in addition to being a great actor – and he heard his name called today, even though the film had gotten so-so reviews and disappeared from the box office. And most importantly No Other Land earned a nomination for Documentary Feature. The film documents Palestinians as they lost their homes and family members to Israeli expansion efforts, long before the war that recently halted.
And there are still plenty more exciting and disheartening nominations to explore. The winners will be announced at the ceremony on Sunday, March 2. Comedian Conan O'Brien will host for the first time.
