If you had told me all the way back in March of last year that a crazy movie about parallel universes, martial arts, mother-daughter bonding, and laundry would dominate the nominations for the 2023 Academy Awards, I – well, I would have smiled in happy disbelief. Is there a chance “Everything Everywhere All at Once” could win the big one? Absolutely. Is it the best movie of the year or even the best of the ten nominees for Best Picture? There are others I might choose, but the question itself reveals the baseline absurdity of competitive art.
The 95th (!) annual Academy Awards will take place Sunday March 12, so we have a month and a half of wearying cultural commentary to get through before the big night. I pledge to remain relatively silent on the subject until then, aside from today’s musings and requests for your thoughts on the matter (with the understanding that plenty of people simply don’t care about awards horse races, and sometimes I wish I had the leisure to do the same).
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” leads the field with 11 nominations, including Picture, Director(s), Actress (Michelle Yeoh, above), Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), two Supporting Actresses (Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), Original Screenplay, and four craft categories. “All Quiet on the Western Front” – a German production picked up by Netflix that was a dark-horse surprise – was nominated for nine Oscars, as was Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin.” If there’s a major rival for major awards, it would be Todd Fields’ “Tár,” which got six nominations, including Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Actress, with (in my opinion) Cate Blanchett representing the most serious competition to Yeoh in the last category.
Speaking of Best Actress, where’s Viola Davis for “The Woman King”? Where’s Danielle Deadwyler for “Till”? Both were touted as serious contenders and both are richly deserving; expect some incendiary social media conversations on that front – conversations that, as always, are well worth having. In their presumed place are Ana de Armas for “Blonde” – a fine performance in a vile film – and Andrea Riseborough for “To Leslie,” a case of a brilliant actress finally getting Academy notice for a movie few people have seen (and will now be rushing to see).
I am happy to see Brian Tyree Henry up for Best Supporting Actor in “Causeway,” even if Ke Huy Quan is a lock for the prize. Henry has been working hard and well the past few years (he’s the best thing about “Bullet Train”) and hopefully this will lead to higher profile roles, including leads. I’m happy to see Hong Chau in the Best Supporting Actress category, even though she probably won’t win (Angela Bassett or Kerry Condon will), and she’s just as good in a better movie, “The Menu.” I’m experiencing mild schadenfreude over James Cameron’s omission from the Best Director category, if only because it’s funny to imagine him knocking over all his “Titanic” Oscars in a snit. And I mourn Paul Dano’s non-presence in Supporting Actor – he was skunked by co-star Judd Hirsch, who commanded his two scenes in “The Fabelmans” and thus is up for the Beatrice Straight prize for most awards for least amount of screen time.
What else? Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”), Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”), and Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) are all deserving of a Best Director nomination, but they and other women filmmakers were shut out of the category this year. Elsewhere on the representation front, four actors of Asian descent were nominated this year, easily a record, but Yeoh is only the second Asian ever nominated in the Best Actress category. (As Kyle Buchanan at the Times points out, the first was 1935 nominee Merle Oberon – who hid her South Asian ancestry and claimed to be Tasmanian for the entirety of her life.)
Other quibbles? I would have liked to have seen “Descendant” make it into the documentary line-up, and the omission of Park Chan-wook’s “Decision To Leave” from the International Feature Film category is puzzling. But I am cheered by two Best Actor nominations, both first-timers (as is the entire category): Paul Mescal of “Aftersun” and Bill Nighy of “Living.” Both men give phenomenal (and very interior) performances, and neither is likely to win, but that’s okay. For Mescal, the nomination serves as recognition of an important young talent, one who will be collecting awards in the future. For Nighy, it’s a long-overdue honor for a beloved actor who, at 73, may be just now hitting the top of his game.
Here are the nominations for the 2023 Academy Awards (for films released in 2022).
Best Picture
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Fabelmans”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Triangle of Sadness”
“Women Talking”
Best Director
Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”
Todd Field, “Tár”
Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness”
Best Actor
Austin Butler, “Elvis”
Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”
Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”
Bill Nighy, “Living”
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, “Tár”
Ana de Armas, “Blonde”
Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”
Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”
Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”
Judd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”
Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Hong Chau, “The Whale”
Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Rian Johnson, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
Kazuo Ishiguro, “Living”
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, “Top Gun: Maverick”
Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, “The Fabelmans”
Todd Field, “Tár”
Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness”
Best Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio”
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”
“Puss In Boots: The Last Wish”
“The Sea Beast”
“Turning Red”
Best International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Argentina, 1985”
“Close”
“Eo”
“The Quiet Girl”
Best Documentary Feature
“All That Breathes”
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
“Fire of Love”
“A House Made of Splinters”
“Navalny”
Best Film Editing
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, “Elvis”
Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Monika Willi, “Tár”
Eddie Hamilton, “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Cinematography
James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Darius Khondji, Bardo, “False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
Mandy Walker, “Elvis”
Roger Deakins, “Empire of Light”
Florian Hoffmeister, “Tár”
Best Costume Design
Mary Zophres, “Babylon”
Ruth E. Carter, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Catherine Martin, “Elvis”
Shirley Kurata, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Jenny Beavan, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine, “The Batman”
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti, “Elvis”
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley, “The Whale”
Best Production Design
Christian M. Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole, “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino, “Babylon”
Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, and Bev Dunn, “Elvis”
Rick Carter and Karen O'Hara, “The Fabelmans”
Best Music (Original Song)
“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” music and lyrics by Dianne Warren
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” music and lyrics by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” music by M.M. Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose
“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski, lyrics by Ryan Lott
Best Music (Original Score)
Volker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Justin Hurwitz, “Babylon”
Carter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Son Lux, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
John Williams, “The Fabelmans”
Best Sound
Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges, “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson, “The Batman”
David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller, “Elvis”
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor, “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Visual Effects
Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett, “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy, “The Batman”
Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher, “Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse”
“The Flying Sailor”
“Ice Merchants”
“My Year of Dicks”
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake, and I Think I Believe It”
Best Live Action Short Film
“An Irish Goodbye”
“Ivalu”
“Le Pupille”
“Night Ride”
“The Red Suitcase”
Best Documentary Short
“The Elephant Whisperers”
“Haulout”
“How Do You Measure a Year?”
“The Martha Mitchell Effect”
“Stranger at the Gate”
Thoughts? Don’t hesitate to weigh in.
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