2023 Oscars Preview

With the Oscars upon us, it’s time to preview some of the most important awards.

This preview will include “Who Will Win”, “Who Should Win”, and “Who/What Deserved a Nomination”
for each of the “above the line categories”.

Another year, another Oscars. While this one (hopefully) will not contain any on-stage assaults, I’m cautiously optimistic that cinema’s “return to form” will draw back audiences for the right reasons. This year has a beautiful balance of the old guard (we see you, Spielberg) combined with new and innovative filmmakers (most notably, “The Daniels”). Will Everything Everywhere All at Once be able to continue its unprecedented rise or will more established filmmakers like Cameron, Spielberg, or McDonagh have the last word?

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

• 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

As it currently stands, it seems like Jamie Lee Curtis has the best shot at taking home the Oscar this year, although out of any acting race, this one has the most candidates with a shot of winning. All five actresses here can reasonably come home with a gold statue once the evening is over. Perhaps Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu will split the “Everywhere” vote, leading to Angela Bassett, Hong Chau, or Kerry Condon taking the win? Realistically, this is the only race of the night in which all nominees will be sitting and thinking that they could hear their names called.

Admittedly, this is a strong field, but the fact that no actresses from “Women Talking” received a nomination is a travesty. There are several women here who deserve the spot, but Jessie Buckley takes my vote by a hair.

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees:

• 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

Ke Huy Quan. Ke Huy Quan. Ke Huy Quan. Emerging after a 20-year slumber, Quan is now the world’s sweetheart. This one is all but wrapped up – as it should be. He is the backbone of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and his “laundry and taxes” scene has to be one of the most emotionally impactful of the year. I can’t wait for the acceptance speech.

On another note, Judd Hirsch, while entertaining in his brief appearance in “The Fabelmans”, should never have received a nom over Dano, who was, in my opinion, the strongest performance in the entire film. Shame. 

Best Actress

Nominees:

• Ana de Armas
  Blonde
• Cate Blanchett
  TAR
• Andrea Riseborough
  To Leslie
• Michelle Yeoh
  Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Michelle Williams
  The Fabelmans

Who Will Win:
Michelle Yeoh

Who Should Win:
Michelle Yeoh

Who Deserved a Nomination:
Mia Goth for Pearl

A two-horse race has emerged here between Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh. Blanchett would undoubtedly be the favourite in almost every other year, but “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has flipped the world on its head. Yeoh was able to come away with the Screen Actors Guild award last month, which was the final check off her list before the Oscars. This momentum should be just enough to give her the edge over Blanchett’s brilliant performance as Lydia Tar.

I can’t move on, though, without taking a minute to chat about Mia Goth. Amazing(ly creepy) in both “X” and “Pearl”, her ending monologue in the latter film should have been enough in itself to land her a nomination. Unfortunately, indie horror still isn’t at the forefront of most Academy voters’ consciousness’.

Best Actor

Nominees:

• Austin Butler
  Elvis
• Colin Farrell
  The Banshees of Inisherin
• Brendan Fraser
  The Whale
• Paul Mescal
  Aftersun
• Bill Nighy
  Living

Who Will Win:

Austin Butler

Who Should Win:

Colin Farrell

Who Deserved a Nomination:

Eden Dambrine for Close

From a two-horse race to a three-horse race. This one is down to the wire, with Butler, Farrell, and Fraser having a strong chance to win. The Academy absolutely loves dramatic biopic performances of famous musicians (see – Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody”), and while no one is doubting Butler’s commitment to playing “The King”, both Fraser and Farrell would be more deserving here. The “Brennassiance” has seen Brendan Fraser revive his career in about as emotional a role as possible, and it would be great to see the award come back to Canada for the first time. The most deserving actor this year, though, is Colin Farrell. Giving a softer and more nuanced performance than his rivals, he still may have a tough time winning enough votes without the same “flash” that is present with the others.

Not only does the Academy seem to shy away from awarding softer, more nuanced performances, but they also seem to run away entirely from recognizing youth performances. Eden Dambrine carries “Close” (nominated for Best International Feature) on his back and does so with an emotional maturity that I’ve never seen from such a young actor on screen before.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees:

• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
• Living
• Top Gun: Maverick
• Women Talking

“All Quiet on the Western Front” has caught absolute fire this awards season. It started off being just “another Netflix film” and has come around to be a real awards contender. I can’t quite figure out why this acclaim has come so rapidly, as my viewing left me with an impression that differed very little from other prominent war films of late. Yes, it deserves some praise from a technical perspective, but the screenplay itself did not seem to break the mould of its predecessors, nor does it adequately honour its source material. “Women Talking” on the other hand, does a brilliant job of taking the novel of the same name from Miriam Toews and transforming it into an immersive on-screen experience, which is no easy task considering that the novel takes place almost entirely in one room.

That being said, there is no movie this year that deserves more eyes on it than “After Yang”. Earnest, poignant, and thoughtful, Kogonado somehow manages to take a ten-page short story and turn it into an hour and a half of the most impactful filmmaking of the year. 

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees:

• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Fabelmans
• TAR
• Triangle of Sadness

What Will Win:

The Banshees of Inisherin

What Should Win:

Everything Everywhere All at Once

What Deserved a Nomination:

Cha Cha Real Smooth

This is a tough one. Both “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” are deserving of this award. The Academy is unlikely to award “Everything” a sweep, and this is the category that will most likely swing to another film. Martin McDonagh is well-established and appreciated by the Academy, as evidenced by his 2018 nomination for “Three Billboards”. At the end of the day, McDonagh manages to thread the finest of lines between humour and solemnity in this script and is deserving of this honour as a result.

Cooper Raiff was never going to get an Oscar nomination for his second feature film, but his script moves with enormous sensitivity, which is made only more impressive by the fact that it was filmed when he was only 24 years old. Don’t be surprised if you hear his name called at the Academy Awards somewhere down the line.

Best Director

Nominees:

• Todd Field
  TAR
• Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
  Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Martin McDonagh
  The Banshees of Inisherin
• Ruben Ostlund
  Triangle of Sadness
• Steven Spielberg
  The Fabelmans

“The Daniels” have been going on a run of award wins that no one would have predicted upon its release in April of last year. They have won the BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globe, and Director’s Guild, just to name a few. It is fair to say that there are no other directors on this planet that could have pulled off the feat that they managed to do. Even Spielberg has gone as far as calling them “genius”. Speaking of Spielberg, you can never count him out, especially considering that “The Fabelmans” explores his own childhood and film journey, something that the Academy will certainly eat up. 

Another film that has seemingly dropped off the face of the planet, Robert Eggers deserves infinitely more praise and recognition for “The Northman” than it has received. Perhaps his remake of “Nosferatu” featuring Bill Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Willem Dafoe will be the one to push him over the edge.

Best Picture

Nominees:

• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Avatar
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Fabelmans
• TAR
• Top Gun: Maverick
• Triangle of Sadness
• Women Talking

What Will Win:

Everything Everywhere All at Once

What Should Win:

Everything Everywhere All at Once

What Deserved a Nomination:

Aftersun