Oscars 2023: The many surprises and oversights that the nominations leave us

It never rains for all tastes and every year the Oscars have the task of reminding us of this with their nominations. The Hollywood Film Academy has announced the nominations for its 95th edition and, although many of the forecasts expected by analysts and spectators have come true, as usually happens, there’s always room for surprises in the form of unexpected nominations and unforgivable oversights. And this year there have been quite a few.

Allison Williams (‘M3GAN’) and Riz Ahmed (‘Sound of Metal’) were tasked with announcing the nominations, in which “All at once everywhere” led the race with no more and no fewer than 11 nominations total. Daniels’ film was expected to get a lot of love this year from the Academy, but it exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. By the way, the main cast has done well, with nominations for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Stephanie Hsu, who gets justice after being leapfrogged at other awards. An absolute triumph for the film A24, an eccentric and original proposal that has prevailed over much more academic options in a year that promises to be quite exciting.

Most of this year’s surprise nominations are concentrated in the acting categories. And they are not few. First, Ana de Armas nominated for Best Actress for ‘Blonde’, the only mention for the most nominated film of the next Razzies, with which the Academy separates its excellent work from the rest of the film. On the other hand, Paul Mescal seemed like a last-minute Best Actor nominee for ‘Aftersun’, so his inclusion wasn’t a complete surprise, but it was a pleasant last-minute prediction that has come true and will no doubt continue. boosting the career of the ‘Normal People’ co-star. However, Charlotte Wells’ film seemed to fill the usual quota for independent cinema, and in the end it had to settle for just that nomination.

This year, the Academy did not allow itself to be dazzled by the big stars and told Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt “total step for you”, regarded as the best of the divisive ‘Babylon’, which lost much steam due to its mixed reviews and box office success; or Viola Davis, who was left without her fifth nomination, for her lead role in ‘The King Woman’. Nor did they mention Tom Cruise, who was in the running for the massive impact of “Top Gun: Maverick” (and because it’s already at that point in his career that demands recognition of his star career). Naturally, Cruise is nominated this year, though not as an actor, but as a producer on the hit sequel, which is nominated for Best Picture and gave him his fourth nomination overall.

Rather than, the lesser-known names, who prevailed in the list, were favoured. The biggest surprise is undoubtedly the presence of Andrea Riseborough, who appears out of nowhere and wins a nomination for the so far unnoticed film ‘To Leslie’. But also Judd Hirsch, who receives his second nomination for ‘The Fabelmans’ (more than 40 years after the first, for ‘Ordinary People’), Brian Tyree Henry for the modest ‘Causeway’, who seemed like a possible candidate, but was was not obvious, and the aforementioned Hsu. Finally, the one who continues to resist the nomination is Paul Dano, who was in the pool for ‘Los Fabelman’ this year, but did not enter and must continue to wait.

In the directing category, It is once again striking that the five nominees are men, after the award went to women in the last two editions, Chloé Zhao for ‘Nomadland’ and Jane Campion for ‘The Power of the Dog’. Sarah Polley (‘They Speak’), Maria Schrader (‘Uncovered’), Gina Prince-Bythewood (‘The Woman King’) and Charlotte Wells (‘Aftersun’), all acclaimed for their respective films, were left out. But he also points out that the Academy did not recognize in this category the titanic (ahem) work of James Cameron on ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’ or Joseph Kosinski for his commendable work on ‘Top: Gun Maverick’, both of which were nominated for the best Image ; category in which the presence of ‘Ellas hablan’ is missing, with only one more nomination (Best Adapted Screenplay).

It is also worth pointing out the sheer disdain for two acclaimed films like ‘NOP’, by Jordan Peele (who won the Oscar for best original screenplay for ‘Let me out’), or ‘Decision to Leave’, by Park Chan-Wook, which was almost certain at least in Best International Film. And also the case of ‘RRR’, which has to settle for a nomination for Best Original Song, when analysts predicted more appearances. Speaking of songs, Taylor Swift was left without her first Oscar nomination for her theme from “The Wild Girl,” in a category other pop divas entered: Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

The year of “All at once everywhere”

In the overall calculation, Netflix’s ‘All Quiet Front’ rings the bell, becoming the second most nominated film of the year, with 9 nominationsincluding Best Picture and Best International Film, while “Elvis” shines brighter than expected with 8 and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continues to be the joy of the Marvel awards season with 5, one of them for Angela Bassett, the first actress nominated in a Marvel performance category (unexpected, less noteworthy.) Although without a doubt, and going back to the beginning, the big surprise continues to be ‘All at the same time everywhere’, an already cult film that we knew would be been featured in this edition (it has much credit for enduring a favorite since its premiere in March in the US), but we didn’t expect the Academy to stake so much on it.

The 2023 Oscars gala, presented for the third time by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held as usual at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and can be followed in Spain via Movistar Plus+ at dawn from Sunday 12 to Monday 13 March.