THE 2025 OSCAR NOMINATIONS

January 23, 2025

Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced (in a very funny telecast by Rachel Sennot and Bowen Yang) the list of nominations for the 97th annual Oscars. After various awards announcement delays due to the LA fires, it was uncertain whether the Academy would proceed with the nominations and the awards date itself. In the spirit of “the show must go on,” here are some hopes, nods and sighs for most of the list of awards nominations announced today. (The order below follows the Academy’s.)

In the meantime, please continue to check in on family and friends in Southern California. (The LA County site is a good place to start to learn how to help.)

For readability (and laziness on my part), Letterboxd and IMDB links have been omitted. 

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Hope: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

I know. It’s The Pianist: Part Two. But it actually is. Brody is half Polish and half Hungarian, and what he did with this personal performance is pretty amazing. Lászlo Tóth, in addition to being a Holocaust survivor, is not exactly a likable guy. And yet we can’t look away, and we yearn for him to succeed. Like Mikey Madison, Brody leaves it all out there.

Nod: Coleman Domingo (Sing Sing) or Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)

Domingo should have won for Ruskin, and Stan should have been nominated for A Different Man. Both are hustling, subtle and complex pros, and any win would be earned. 

Sigh: Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

The only complete unknown I have is why we needed another biopic on a historical but faded musician, whose voice, though my US citizenship may be revoked for saying, makes my ears bleed and skin crawl like ragged claws scuttling across the floor of silent seas. Also, Hollywood – there are many talented young folk out there to star in your films. Tim needn’t be in every one.  

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hope: Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)

To go toe-to-toe with Bro(dy), who already crested to the top of the genre with The Pianist, after transforming into many roles (making the desert hotter in Priscilla, or leading the unforgettable Memento), this is yet another beautiful feather in a well worn cap. The moustache alone should win.   

Nod: Yura Borisov (Anora)

Every performance in Anora was fabulous, and the film earned every accolade it receives. Borisov does more with silence than most performers with sound in this curious, jarringly realistic tale of rags to riches and back. 

Sigh: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Kieran – you can be more than just play the snide slacker. (Can’t you?)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Hope: Karla Sofía Gascon (Emilia Pérez)

Discerning viewers have sifted through the media noise and politics of this bizarre entry (and its truly insufferable songs) to find the diamonds in this rough story, at the height of which are two incredible performances: Saldaña’s (who does the most heavy lifting, keeping the heart of the story beating) and Gascon’s – a trans Mexican actress who is not only strikingly beautiful but fully inhabitant of this rich role with a killer premise. I recall a phrase from Michelle Obama on her book tour for Becoming, in investigating bias and persising stereotypes:  “Who do you know?” Whether people who are trans, or undocumented, or of another race or religion, or political party – I pose the same question to us here. Because if we don’t actdually know people in those categories, it may be time to renegotiate our private views we hold with unearned certainty. 

Nod: Mikey Madison

A leave-it-all-on-the-table performance of a character who can come across as grating and simple is no easy feat. 

Sigh: Cynthia Erivo

Erivo’s voice is incredible, and carried the picture along with Grande’s comedy. But she was in a different film than the rest of the cast, and should win for something else in the future. 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hope: Zoe Saldaňa (Emilia Pérez) 

It’s not all about effort, but Saldaña worked the hardest, dancing on tables and and cowering behind pickups in what truly is an epic (if you can make it all the way through). A trained dancer, her hotel ballroom gala number is the best of the picture, and it is such a pleasure to see her actual, dynamic face (versus Avatar azure or Guardians green.) 

Nod: Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)

This is Jones’ biggest and best role to date, playing a difficult and tiring part as the wife of The Brutalist. We have much to look forward to in her career which has really just begun. 

Sigh: Anyone else

Grande is funny, Barbaro is great and Rossellini is fine (in the 8 minutes of screen time in Conclave that wowed people for some reason), but there are likely higher achievements in each’s future.  

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Hope: Flow or The Wild Robot

Both films are colossal achievements, for all the right reasons: both use innovative animation techniques, to different effect. Robot uses what director Chris Sanders calls "a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest,” and Flow follows a different style, a mix of 2D and hand drawn animation. Robot is packed with banter and quips, and Flow is (human) dialogue-free. Both are masterpieces in their own right, both wrench heart felt tears, and both warn of a world to come. Both should be rushed to immediately. And bring the family. 

Nod: Flow or The Wild Robot

See above.

Sigh: TBD

I still need to see Memoir of a Snail (I’ve been slow on animation) and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (points for puns).

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

TBD. I still need to see these. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Hope: Dune: Part Two

The Academy needs to fully open its doors to sci-fi, one of film’s biggest and most experimental genres, and one that has been recently re-perfected. In 1979, Ridley Scott set a new standard with Alien. Last year, with Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve did it again. It is sci-fi perfected, polished and elevated to new and thrilling heights. And it is as gorgeous as it is enthralling. DP Greig Frasier is a titan, and deserves the little gold man. Cough it up.  

Nod: The Brutalist

It’s been a while since we saw anything in VistaVision (six decades to be exact), and the shooting technique makes this era-specific piece far more authentic than its period peers. At once novel and classic, its cinematography is as vital to the story as the story itself. 

Sigh: Nosferatu

Where was the scope? The scale? Why are we in tiny rooms? Why did we completely obfuscate  Bill Skaarsgard beyond recognition?? Who let Lily Rose Depp whine for two hours? And where can I find that sweet fur coat? 

COSTUME DESIGN

Hope: Nosferatu

Any designer who can survive Robert Eggers obsession for period authenticity (the severity of which would makes ol’ Orlock’s proclivities pale) deserves a medal. Or a statue. The look truly is beautiful, and although this precision can become a distraction, and Linda Muir (costume designer for the film) did the work. 

Nod: The Brutalist

As I rambled on about earlier this month, The Brutalist achieves a higher period authenticity than other films set in the 50s, which can look too polish. This brown and gray palette works, helping tell the story and layer the mood. 

Sigh: Conclave

The main reason I don’t believe this film should earn any awards? Easy. The Catholic Church. Instead: see Sugarcane. That’ll change your perspective on the Church, regardless of what it was before. 

DIRECTING

Damn. Tough one. Honestly, any of them. They all achieved greatness, uniquely so. 

Hope: Sean Baker (Anora) or Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Just incredible work. Absolutely new storytelling. Fresh, different, bizarre. Quirky. Memorable. Haunting. 

Nod: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Gotta hand it to – he had a bold vision and executed it. 

Sigh: Coralie Fargeat (The Subtance)

It’s a shock piece, not a story. 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

TBD. Still need to see four out of five. However, my current “Hope” is Sugarcane.

Ever read about the “residential schools” in Canada? I had, but only a little. I was devastated and bone cold at the end of this simple but powerful documentary. It is estimated that there were over million indigenous people in North America before around 1600. Today there are less than 12 million. Native children were wrested from their families in the 1800s and early 1900s and taken to “schools” to be indoctrinated. Many never made it out of them. There were over 500 of these “schools.” Filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie basically go back in time, excavating unbearable histories from survivors. 

The statistics say we are watching Baby Reindeer and Love Island and The Bear. We don’t want difficult topics to help us take a break from the global polycrisis we are in. But please see this film. Give life to this story, to this history. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

TBD. I still need to see these. 

FILM EDITING

Hope: The Brutalist

Corbet and his team approach the elements of filmmaking like architects: careful consideration, innovative approach, surprising touches. This includes editor Dávid Jancsó’s work as well (he also edited Monkey Man, which was a riot, and another tall editing order). How the story is told, how it unfolds, how it tracks and tells, is inextricable from the power of the film. 

Nod: Emilie Pérez

Imagine editor Juliette Welfling’s reaction at going through this footage. I think this was a very, very tough job, and she did a very, very good job with difficult and contreversial material. 

Sigh: Conclave

The film is beautiful and visualluy impressive – but didn’t we just make 4-5 man dressses and duplicate them a hundred times? 

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

This category should be discontinued. All films can be international. 

But it must be Flow. Or, if Flow wins Best Animated Feature, then we can give this to Emilia Pérez or I’m Still Here.

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Hope: The Substance

I don’t think The Substance is the film it thinks it is (it’s about as subtle as a jackhammer – see The Last Showgirl for a more thoughtful rumination on age and beauty), but the prosthetics – are something to behold. (And never forget. Unfortunately.)

Nod: Nosferatu

The makeup was so good, we couldn’t find Bill Skarsgard! 

Sigh: Wicked

It’s great! It’s fine.  Oz ‘n stuff.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Hope: The Brutalist

Experimental musician Daniel Blumberg takes four notes (can’t miss ‘em – they’re right at the beginning) and then expands them into an evolutionary score that truly carries the film’s running time. See also: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, The Phantom Thread, Inception… it is an achievement in itself. Especially fun is the intermission, where you can actually hear is experimenting. 

Nod: The Wild Robot

Composer Kris Bowers makes an absolutely legitimate entry into the classical tradition of big, orchestral scores that would make John Williams proud. Update: he has still not responded to my praise via Instagram messaging. 

Sigh: Wicked

Ears. Bleeding. (Except for you, Cynthia.)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

This award should be discontinued. There is no way that teenagers spending half an hour in their bedroom (see: Billie Eilish for No Time to Die) should earn the same size statuette as lifelong industry professionals toiling for many years on single films. Also most entries are horrendous. And have omitted from this year’s show! There is hope yet for civilization. (Ha, just kidding.) 

BEST PICTURE

Damn, again. Most of them. This is often a surprise category for the Academy (sometimes, even to them – Moonlight, anyone?), so who knows going to happen. 

I would be totally happy with:

Anora

The Brutalist

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

I’m Still Here

Nickel Boys

I would be disappointed by:

Wicked

Conclave

A Complete Unknown

The Substance

If the Academy votes social politics, it would be Anora or Emilia Pérez.

If it votes craft, it would be The Brutalist. 

My favorite films of the year? Anora and The Brutalist.

But the “best” film? The one that hits every mark, fires on all cylinders, and is so rewatchable, many of us have seen it upwards of 5-10 times? The one that engaged one of the biggest audiences? The one after which you say, “Now that’s the movies” is: Dune: Part Two. 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

This piece has become way too long. Sorry. Speeding things up. 

Any of them. All amazing. 

I’d vote The Brutalist for its realism. I would not vote Nosferatu just to piss Rob off. Too much, dude. You choked the bunny. 

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

TBD. I still need to see these. 

SOUND

Again, any of them. Great achievements. But none more magnificent and innovative than Dune: Part Two. 

VISUAL EFFECTS

Dune: Part Two. No contest. Yes, the floating acid blood in Alien: Romulus was clever, but the whole thing was fan service, nothing more. 

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

A lot of great entries. I have yet to see Nickel Boys, but I bet that’s it. 

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Bro! Anora. 

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The 97th Annual Academy Awards take place live in Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m. EST.