Oscar Needs A New Home. Here’s The Four Films Most Likely To Snatch Him This Year
We’re once again in the thick of film awards season and the biggest prize on the board, the much coveted Oscars, is back up for grabs. That’s right, it’s time once again to get passionately worked up about the award show that often confounds us with its questionable taste, yet has us crawling back and worked up year after year in the hope that “our” film leaves with the gold. This year, the slate looks very different to years past for mostly very obvious reasons, mainly that many high profile big-budget releases scheduled to be released in 2020 have been withheld from us in the hope that cinemas worldwide are able to open their doors to the masses shortly. This has opened the door for smaller filmmakers, independent studios and, maybe most of all, major streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, to dominate the Oscars discussion for this year.
The golden child of the awards season to this point has been the understated drama, Nomadland, directed by indie darling filmmaker Chloe Zhao. The quiet, tender story of a woman’s journey through the American West following the Great Recession has taken home both a Golden Globe for Best Drama and a Critic’s Choice award for Best Picture. Zhao herself has also cleaned up much of the early season silverware, winning Best Director at both of the aforementioned ceremonies. As it stands, the film is sitting as a small favourite to take home Best Picture and received five additional nominations in other categories, but undoubtedly faces some stiff competition for the big prize. Nomadland is currently screening in cinemas nationwide.
It’s main rival might be the Netflix produced The Trial of the Chicago 7, the latest effort from acclaimed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin also sits in the director’s chair for this one, a legal drama based on the true events of the 1968 Democratic Convention which erupted into chaos following protests led by activists Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Abbie Hoffman (Best Supporting Actor contender Sacha Baron Cohen) and the titular trial that followed. The film showcases Sorkin’s signature sharp dialogue and interplay between its leads and while Sorkin’s decision to alter the trial’s ending has proved divisive among its audience, Netflix will have to be pleased with its six total Oscars nominations. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is available to stream on Netflix for New Zealand viewers.
The success of Parasite in 2019 appears to have been just the beginning South Korean cinema’s foray into mainstream Western consciousness, and for the second year running, they have a major player at the Academy Awards. This time is Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, the story of a Korean immigrant family attempting to build a new life in rural Arkansas in the 1980’s. Not unlike Nomadland, Minari is a bit light on plot, but instead succeeds on delivering an honest portrait of people struggling to get by in hard times (sound familiar in 2021?). The film is a bit of a dark horse but the sits at third in the Best Picture race right now with most oddsmakers and much of the same was said about Parasite last year (and we know how that turned out), so keep an eye on this one. Minari is currently playing in cinemas nationwide.
The most difficult to place film on the Best Picture list would have to be David Fincher’s black-and-white tribute to Hollywood’s golden age, Mank. The film, which documents the creation of the iconic film Citizen Kane, at one point was viewed as Netflix big play to finally reel in the big fish that is Best Picture. While the film topped the nominations ladder with a whopping 10 nominations (four more that its closest rival), it appears to be somewhat of an afterthought in almost all of the key categories and currently sits at fifth in Best Picture odds. With over a month to go, there is still time for the tide to change in the way of Fincher’s passion project, but right now looks likely to take the role of this years’ The Irishman; highly respected but ultimately leaving empty handed. Mank is available to stream on Netflix for New Zealand viewers.
The full list of nominations is available on the Academy’s official website.
Top image credit: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.
