On January 23rd, 2024, the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were announced. Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors the best films of the year through the Academy Awards, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 10, 2024. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the fourth time, the ceremony is a congregation for the entire industry to celebrate the hard work and achievements of the people who contributed to the year’s films.
2023 has been an especially memorable year for movies, with the cultural phenomenon “Barbenheimer” being as critically successful as it was financially successful. In part, 2023 has helped revitalize interest in going to the movie theater, even when giants like Marvel fail to meet their expectations. The year brought with it many critically acclaimed films from around the world, as many parts of the western film-watching world finally realized the rich world of foreign cinema that could be explored. Some of the films nominated for multiple awards are especially culturally diverse, exemplifying the movement for the representation of all types of people in the movie industry.
To go into specifics, the nominations are led by Oppenheimer with 13 nominations. Poor Things, and Killers of the Flower Moon follow it with 11 and 10 nominations, respectively. The most prestigious award, Best Picture, is also the most populated award, with 10 nominations. Each film nominated for Best Picture is also nominated for other awards in different categories, so a description of each film is needed to understand the films that will be highlighted for most of the show.
To start, American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson, is a satirical comedy about an african american novelist who writes an outlandishly stereotypical “black” book, and the book becomes his most successful and critically lauded by far. It is also nominated for Best Actor (Jeffery Wright), Supporting Actor (Sterling K. Brown), Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score. Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet, is a French legal drama about a woman accused of murdering her husband and the complex aspects of the attention and comeuppance that brings. It is also nominated for Best Director, Actress (Sandra Hüller), Original Screenplay, and Film Editing. Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, is a fantasy comedy that delves into the world and minds of the famous Barbie dolls, where the dolls face self-discovery and existentialism in their journey to the real world. It is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Supporting Actress (America Ferrara), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, and 2 nominations for Best Original Song. The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne, is a Christmas coming-of-Age film surrounding a student who makes a connection with his strict teacher because he has nowhere to go on Christmas break at a boarding school. It is also nominated for Best Actor (Paul Giamatti), Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy), Original Screenplay, and Film Editing. Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese. is a western period drama that tells the story of a local political boss attempting to steal the wealth of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma through deceit, infiltration, and murder. It is also nominated for Best Director, Actress (Lily Gladstone), Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Film Editing. Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper, is a biographical romance film that shows the relationship between composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. It is also nominated for Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Sound, Cinematography, and Makeup and Hairstyling. Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, is a biopic political drama centering on the infamous creation of the nuclear bomb and the politics that surrounded the man who managed the program, J. Robert Oppenheimer. It is also nominated for Best Director, Actor (Cilian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Sound, Production Design, Cinematography, Makeup and Hairstyling. Costume Design, and Film Editing. Past Lives, directed by Celine Song, is a romance film that follows two childhood friends who, over the course of 24 years, contemplate their relationship with each other as they form bonds with other people and grow apart. It is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a black comedy steampunk film that surrounds a young woman who is resurrected with the mind of a child and discovers a vast array about the world of Victorian London. It is also nominated for Best Director, Actress (Emma Stone), Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Production Design, Cinematography, Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume Design and Film Editing. Finally, The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathon Glazer, is a historical drama about a German Nazi Commandant who builds his idyllic new home next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. It is also nominated for Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Sound.
Other notable films nominated for multiple awards are Napoleon with 3, and The Creator, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Nyad, and Society of the Snow with 2.
As the Oscars approach, the thrill of predicting winners amplifies the excitement and anticipation. In my opinion, technical awards such as production design and costume design will be mostly won by Poor Thing’s surreal Victorian landscape and character designs. Original Song will most certainly go to one of the Barbie Songs, but most likely “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. Original Score, on the other hand, will probably be given to the suspenseful composition of Ludwig Göransson on the Oppenheimer soundtrack. As well, Oppenheimer will probably continue the trend of the loudest film being the one that wins the Best Sound category. The Best Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay awards will most likely go to Anatomy of a Fall and Oppenheimer, respectively. Supporting Actors has tough competition but I think Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer will win it simply because he hasn’t won an Oscar before. On the other hand, Supporting Actress is an easy prediction, because Da’Vine Joy’s performance in The Holdovers was easily the most memorable and moving of the bunch. For the main Actor and Actress awards, I believe Cillian Murphy from Oppenhimer and Lily Gladstone, the first ever Native-American women to be nominated for an Oscar, from The Killers of the Flower Moon are the best predictions, respectively. Animated Feature Film is a competition between The Boy and the Heron and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but I think The Boy and the Heron will come out on top. International Feature Film will most certainly go to The Zone of Interest, the only one which is nominated for Best Picture, and Documentary Feature Film will go to the Ukrainian War documentary, 20 Days in Mariupol. Film Editing and Cinematography will most likely go to Oppenheimer, simply because it is the flashiest and most noticeable in those aspects. Best Visual Effects will probably go to Godzilla Minus One, because of the extraordinary effects they were able to do with a relatively low budget. The short film awards, documentary, live action, and animated, will probably go to The Last Repair Shop, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, and Letter to a Pig, respectively. Finally, the hotly contested award for Best Picture and Best Director will, in my estimations, be given to Oppenheimer for both.
2023 has been a year with a lot of great films, but in my personal opinion, some are more deserving of acclaim than others. If I were controlling the awards given out, I would choose films that are very different from my predictions. For one, I would love to see Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, the Holdovers, The Zone of Interest, and Anatomy of a Fall win several awards during the show. Additionally, films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Godzilla Minus One, May December, and Perfect Days should have been nominated for more awards. There were also many snubs (films that should’ve been nominated but didn’t) this year. These include All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh, Monster, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, and The Iron Claw, directed by Sean Durkin. Additionally, there has been criticism put on the Oscars for not nominating Barbie for more categories, especially Best Director and Best Actress (Margot Robbie). That being said, many are appreciative of the diversity of the films being nominated, with many being led by casts and artists filled with people of color.
Overall, the Academy Awards is a good representation of the best films of the year, and is an important showcasing of talent in the industry. This year has many good nominees and a wide array of new and old faces in Hollywood. The Oscars are also good for bringing attention to obscure but great films that many wouldn’t have seen otherwise. If you haven’t already, I would recommend seeing some of the films nominated for multiple awards in the show, because they can be great experiences that can broaden your view of cinema. The world of films is always evolving, innovating, and spreading new ideas, and the Oscars are an important indicator of the shifting of culture through film.