2022 has been an eventful year for the film industry, a roller coaster of crushing disappointments and blockbusters, with highly anticipated releases failing to impress against surprise revelations that won over audiences.
The race to the 2023 Oscars is just as heterogeneous, with the big blockbusters playing against outlandish comedies, tender tear-jerkers, and unbearably tense thrillers, some directed by award-winning names like Martin McDonagh, Steven Spielberg or Damien Chazelle, and others by less established voices like Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan or Chinonye Chukwu.
If you want to arrive with your homework done for the award ceremony on March 12, we leave you with this list of the 10 statuette-worthy films that you should follow closely this award season.
This incredible story about a broken friendship could earn Martin McDonagh his first Oscar for a feature film (something he already won for the short Six Shooter in 2006).
Highlights include the film’s direction and raucous screenplay, as well as the restrained performances of supporting actors Brendan Gleeson and Kerry Condon, not to mention Colin Farrell’s touching role.
This film has all the makings of a classic winner: a deeply personal and moving tale that won the Toronto Film Festival Audience Award, a crucial precursor in the Oscar race.
It could also mark a return to the podium for the three-time Oscar-winning director, joined perhaps by John Williams for his delicate, meditative score, but also Michelle Williams, Paul Dano and Judd Hirsch for their superb performances.
Will Sarah Polley be the third woman in three years to win Best Director? It is a story of a Mennonite colony whose women were brutally abused.
The film is also notable for Rooney Mara as best actress and Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley in the supporting actress category.
Todd Field’s analysis on the abuses of power in the rarefied world of classical music, Cate Blanchett’s brilliant performance as the charismatic, manipulative, and genius composer Lydia Tár puts her well ahead of the year’s other Oscar contenders for Best Actress of the Year.
Enriched by the captivating performances of Nina Hoss and Noémie Merlant, her almost surgical precision may prove cold enough for Academy members to award her the Best Picture prize.
Brendan Fraser goes on a binge following the death of his lover in this disturbing family drama from Darren Aronofsky.
Also not to be missed is Hong Chau, who stands out for the humanity she brings to the role of her only friend, a nurse who reluctantly lets him do it, even as she fights to save his life.
Despite opening in March, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s lush, hallucinogenic action epic about a troubled laundromat owner who ends up hopping between multiverses (Best Actress contender Michelle Yeoh) has managed to maintain its momentum thanks to its originality and audacity. In addition, the exquisite supporting performances of Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis are also eligible to take home the statuette.
It would be unwise to write off Damien Chazelle, whose La La Land (2016) about the wonders and heartaches of Hollywood managed to win six Oscars.
His fast-paced new adventure takes us back to the hedonistic 1920s, at the height of the transition from silent to talkies. It features elaborate set design, a lively soundtrack by Justin Hurwitz, stunning costumes by Mary Zophres and performances by Brad Pitt, Diego Calva and Margot Robbie as three lost souls determined to succeed.
It grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. With numbers like that, the sweeping sequel to the ’80s classic directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise served to defibrillate a film industry still reeling from the impact of the pandemic.
For that alone, the Hollywood Academy could reward it. There is also no denying the power of its flying sequences and that its agile editing, thunderous sound and breathtaking visual effects could bring it some technical recognition and even pave its way to the Oscar for Best Picture.
Could Danielle Deadwyler be the first black woman to take home the Best Actress Oscar in more than two decades? We say: Yes!
It’s certainly possible, given the buzz surrounding her role in Chinonye Chukwu’s thrilling biopic of Mamie Till, a civil rights pioneer who fought for justice after the murder of her 14-year-old son in 1950s Mississippi.
Baz Luhrmann’s overwhelming biopic of the troubled king of rock n’ roll is controversial to say the least, but there’s one thing critics and audiences agree on: Austin Butler’s brooding performance in the singer’s skin is its greatest virtue.
Expect to see him among the nominees for best actor along with nominations for makeup and hair, production design and costume design (the latter two courtesy of Luhrmann’s partner and frequent collaborator, four-time Oscar winner Catherine Martin).
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