Topic: Oscars 2021

[SteveDave]

I am confusion...

Actor in a supporting role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr – One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah

How are they "supporting" if either one of their characters are in every scene AND in the title of the film?

Best picture
The Father – producers: David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne
Judas and the Black Messiah – producers: Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler
Mank – producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski
Minari – producer: Christina Oh
Nomadland – producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman – producers: Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey Mcnamara
Sound of Metal – producers: Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – producers: Marc Platt and Stuart Besser

Directing
Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
Mank – David Fincher
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell

Actress in a leading role
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day – The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Actress in a supporting role
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari

Actor in a leading role
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Steven Yeun – Minari

Actor in a supporting role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr – One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah

Writing (adapted screenplay)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern; story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer and Nina Pedrad
The Father – screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
Nomadland – written for the screen by Chloé Zhao
One Night in Miami… – screenplay by Kemp Powers
The White Tiger – written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani

Writing (original screenplay)
Judas and the Black Messiah – screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; Ssory by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas
Minari – written by Lee Isaac Chung
Promising Young Woman – written by Emerald Fennell
Sound of Metal – screenplay by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; story by Darius Marder and Derek Cianfrance
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – written by Aaron Sorkin

International feature film
Another Round – Denmark
Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Animated feature film
Onward – Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
Over the Moon – Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
Soul – Pete Docter and Dana Murray
Wolfwalkers – Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

Documentary (feature)
Collective – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
Crip Camp – Nicole Newnham, Jim Lebrecht and Sara Bolder
The Mole Agent – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
My Octopus Teacher – Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
Time – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Documentary (short subject)
Colette – Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
A Concerto Is a Conversation – Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Do Not Split – Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
Hunger Ward – Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
A Love Song for Latasha – Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah – Sean Bobbitt
Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
News of the World – Dariusz Wolski
Nomadland – Joshua James Richards
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Phedon Papamichael

Costume design
Emma – Alexandra Byrne
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth
Mank – Trish Summerville
Mulan – Bina Daigeler
Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini

Film editing
The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman – Frédéric Thoraval
Sound of Metal – Mikkel E. G. Nielsen
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Makeup and hairstyling
Emma – Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
Hillbilly Elegy – Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
Mank – Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen Labaff
Pinocchio – Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti

Music (original score)
Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard
Mank – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Minari – Emile Mosseri
News of the World – James Newton Howard
Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Music (original song)
‘Fight for You’ from Judas and the Black Messiah – music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
‘Hear My Voice’ from The Trial of the Chicago 7 – music by Daniel Pemberton; lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
‘Husavik’ from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – music and lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
‘Io Sì (seen)’ from the Life Ahead (La vita davanti a se) – music by Diane Warren; lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
‘Speak Now’ from One Night in Miami… – music and lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth

Production design
The Father – production design: Peter Francis; set decoration: Cathy Featherstone
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – production design: Mark Ricker; set decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
Mank – production design: Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Jan Pascale
News of the World – production design: David Crank; set decoration: Elizabeth Keenan
Tenet – production design: Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Kathy Lucas

Short film (animated)
Burrow – Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
If Anything Happens I Love You – Will McCormack and Michael Govier
Opera – Erick Oh
Yes-People – Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Short film (live action)
Feeling Through – Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
The Letter Room – Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
The Present – Farah Nabulsi
Two Distant Strangers – Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
White Eye – Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Sound
Greyhound – Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
Mank – Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
News of the World – Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
Soul – Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker
Sound of Metal – Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Visual effects
Love and Monsters – Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox
The Midnight Sky – Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins
Mulan – Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram
The One and Only Ivan – Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez
Tenet – Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

[Bad Ambassador]

Nice to see Love and Monsters getting the recognition it deserves.

[Mister Six]

Lovely to see Riz Ahmed getting such recognition. Long overdue. Not seen the film yet, mind.

Maybe the Stanfield/Kaluuya thing was a contractual agreement/Screen Actors' Guild thing? Something about there only being one starring actor and actress in a film, and so neither of them being the official "star" because the end result is a 50/50 split? Clearly I have no idea.

[Mister Six]

Nice to see Love and Monsters getting the recognition it deserves.

Where's Peter Kay's Oscar?

[Billy]

Certainly in the past there's been cases of people being put in the "wrong" category because it gives them more of a chance of winning if there's an obvious front-runner for the other, and in this case many think Chadwick Boseman will get a Heath Ledger style posthumous win for Best Actor so the Supporting category is more open.

It's an odd one this year as no one's going to see half of these films until well after the awards are over as no cinemas will be open - Chicago 7 had a limited UK release in October as I saw it at Everyman (and is on Netflix) but The Father's already been delayed from January, to March, to now mid-June which will be well after the Oscars even with this year's delayed late April ceremony. There's always a couple that don't get a UK release until afterwards - I remember in 2015 how irritatingly long I had to wait for Still Alice to come out here after Julianne Moore's Best Actress win - but it's been odd not to have the usual January-February rush to see all the hyped contenders this year. I used to work at a cinema in Chelsea and the third Saturday in January was always fucking insane as that was peak Oscar season and everything was selling out left right and centre, the queues we got for La La Land stretching out of the building were nuts. Similarly it was probably one of the only areas in London where in 2018 far more people showed up for Darkest Hour than they did for Black Panther a month later.

Parasite was the first Best Picture win for years that I genuinely liked, rather than the usual "Ehh, well I suppose it's ok-ish..." reaction I usually have for the box-ticking stuff that generally storms it like Green Book.

[Ja'moke]

Lovely to see Riz Ahmed getting such recognition. Long overdue. Not seen the film yet, mind.

It's the only film in the Best Picture category I've seen, and Riz Ahmed is indeed fantastic in it.

[Bad Ambassador]

Only three of the Best Picture nominees have been released in the UK, and one of them was only last week. Nomadland's not out until the week after the event.

[Dusty Substance]

So happy for Mank.

The best film I've seen from 2020. Loved it so much, I watched it three times in a week. Something I've not done since I was a kid.

It'll probably only win the technical prizes - Crazy that the late Jack Fincher didn't nominated for Mank, unless there's a specific reason why.

Chadwick Boseman bound to win Best Actor, right?

[BlodwynPig]

Never even heard of these films - weren't cinemas closed. Cancel this shit. No-one needs it. Keep On Cinema Oscar Special though

[chveik]

Keep On Cinema Oscar Special though

yep. thought Mank was Wank. i have no desire to watch any other film on that list, apart from Another Round, maybe.

[Dusty Substance]

I am confusion...

Actor in a supporting role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr – One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah

How are they "supporting" if either one of their characters are in every scene AND in the title of the film?

See also Brad Pitt getting nominated and winning for for "supporting" in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood even though he's in as many scenes as DiCaprio.

[zomgmouse]

Confused about Sound of Metal being eligible when it was released in 2019... or do festivals not count in this instance?

[mothman]

Just get this feeling that however inclusive the nominations may be, the actual awards will revert to type and it’ll be white people all the way. Though something will have to go really wrong for Chadwick Boseman not to get the posthumous Best Actor.

[Dusty Substance]

Just get this feeling that however inclusive the nominations may be, the actual awards will revert to type and it’ll be white people all the way. Though something will have to go really wrong for Chadwick Boseman not to get the posthumous Best Actor.

Actor in a leading role
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Steven Yeun – Minari

Also, Oldman and Hopkins have previously won for Best Actor.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

I actually liked the movie, but Borat 2 getting a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination is one of the most baffling selections in recent memory.

[Bob-Kate]

Saw Nomadland last night and was blown away by it. It’s just beautiful, can’t see how it can’t win best film and Zhao can’t get best director. It’s impossible to imagine anyone else in McDomand’s role, so she might sneak a win too, in an interesting field for best actress.

Overall not a bad year, less Oscar-baity ware than in recent years.

[BlodwynPig]

Being invested in the Oscars is like voting for the current Labour Party.

[phantom_power]

No it's not

[Magnum Valentino]

Reznor and Ross nominated twice in the same category - has that ever happened before?

[BlodwynPig]

No it's not

I think it is.

[Bad Ambassador]

Reznor and Ross nominated twice in the same category - has that ever happened before?

Steven Soderbergh was nominated against himself for Best Director in 2001 for both Erin Brockovich and Traffic. It's happened quite a few times in different categories.

[phantom_power]

No it's not

Agree to disagree

Seriously though, I don't think anyone here is seriously invested in the Oscars. It is just a convenient focal point to discuss the year's best films and what a bunch of rodney plonkers the academy is

[Bad Ambassador]

Looking at past Oscarses for multiple nominations in the same category:

William Cameron Menzies won Best Art Direction for both The Dove and Tempest at the first Oscars. The same year, George Barnes had three of the four nominations for Best Cinematography for The Devil Dancer, The Magic Flame and Sadie Thompson. He lost to Charles Rosher and Karl Struss for Sunrise. The following year, three of the seven Best Director nominations were for Frank Lloyd for The Divine Lady (which won), Drag and Weary River.

Last year, Mark Ulano was nominated for Best Sound Mixing for both Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Ad Astra. Alexandre Desplat was nominated for Best Original Score for both The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game in 2015, winning for the former.

[dissolute ocelot]

Confused about Sound of Metal being eligible when it was released in 2019... or do festivals not count in this instance?

Festivals don't count, it's commercial release in Los Angeles. (Rules!)

I feel Elizabeth Moss should have been nominated for something (Shirley or Invisible Man), but it's not an awful selection, not that I've seen enough to really comment.

It will be interesting to see if the diversity in nominees translates into awards, or if they give them to the solidly mediocre The Trial of the Chicago 7. Do people still love Aaron Sorkin and liberal fairy tales?

[BlodwynPig]

Agree to disagree

Seriously though, I don't think anyone here is seriously invested in the Oscars. It is just a convenient focal point to discuss the year's best films and what a bunch of rodney plonkers the academy is

Fair enough.

[zomgmouse]

Festivals don't count, it's commercial release in Los Angeles. (Rules!)

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the clarification! Bit odd but I get it.

[Bob-Kate]

My twopennorth.

Loved Promising Young Women. Best I’ve seen Carey Mulligan (more energy than usual). Have seen people comparing it to Killing Eve, it’s much better than that. Witty and dark.

Surprised by my reaction to Nomadland. It’s an experience, very immersive. It has stuck with me, big time and in normal years I’d expect all the awards to be thrown at it. The only mark against it is that it’s mostly about the white, boomer experience. Not that I think that’s a problem, some might be concerned about the “optics” if it wins big (which means it probably will) - and McDormand is 100% better than she was in 3 Billboards. One of those performances of a lifetime that should be rewarded.

Judas/Messiah is a solid enough film, but one of those stories that would have been served much better as 10 part series. Kaluuya very good though and I think/hope he will win.

Ma Rainey is a bit of a curio. Very self consciously stagey. I liked it once I’d got into it. Viola Davis is great, playing it big as a pretty horrible character. Boseman, well, I don’t think it would entirely be an RIP reward. He gave a very charismatic and generally unsettling performance.

Haven’t seen the Billie Holiday film yet, looking forward to it.

In general, some decent films up for contention. No Crash or Green Books as far as I’ve seen!

[Mister Six]

Mrs Six and I are belatedly going through the movies now:

Nomadland
Beautiful and very moving - if the other Best Pic noms are even slightly as good then it'll be an incredible year for cinema. McDormand is incredible as expected, and Zhao gets good performances out of the rest of the cast, who are mostly amateurs. Love the sense of sombre mourning rather than the sort of overwrought, teary shite that is often on display in Best Pic nominations. My only complaint is that it was drained of almost all political content - especially surprising given that it began as an article on how people in the US now have to work until they die. Pretty much all of the travellers were motivated by their own personal demons/desire to keep moving, rather than because they simply couldn't afford to settle down in a house and retire. The chipper depiction of Amazon warehouse was sus too, but I suppose on that budget they didn't have much choice if they wanted to include was is obviously a pretty major part of that world.

Soul
Pixar has raised the bar for itself so high that even something as well-crafted, funny and charming as this film feels unsurprising. Still thought it was a great film that explores issues rarely covered in kids' films (or most other films, to be honest), but I don't think I was as mesmerised or delightedly surprised as I was with Coco, the last Pixar film to really blow my socks off.

Onward
Pretty much exactly what I said about Soul, to be honest. This one is obviously a bit more lightweight and adventurey, but the ending was very tender and there were some neat little twists and turns along the way.

Borat 2
'S all right. Completely unnecessary and the Giuliani thing felt quite overplayed by the media. The daughter deserves her nom, but I don't know whether this should have been nominated for adapted screenplay - even if swathes of it were very obviously scripted/staged.

Christ! Is that all I've seen? This is what happens when you decide to read more books...

[greenman]

Part of me does suspect this year might be a bit of a one off in terms of being rather more inclusive then back to same next season in a less covid effected year.