Ideal 2021 Academy Awards Nominees & Winners
As per always, this weekend’s Academy Awards are more fun as a thought experiment than an actual reality.
Since this is the case, I like to go through every year and highlight my personal picks for who should’ve been nominated and won in the major categories.
It’s obviously been a weird pandemic year for films, and I can’t claim to have seen everything (for reference, here’s a list of every 2020 movie I saw - note: Judas and the Black Messiah and The United States vs. Billie Holiday are 2021 films, technically).
With all that said, here’s my view of the award-worthy cinematic efforts of Oscar-qualifying 2020:
(*=Oscar nominated in said category | bold = my winner)
Best Picture
Another Round
Emma.
Judas and the Black Messiah*
Olympic Dreams
One Night in Miami…
News of the World
Nomadland*
Palm Springs
Sound of Metal*
The Vast of Night
For starters, the one’s the Oscars got right: The empathy powerhouse Sound of Metal would win in a just world, but has no shot in this one. Nomadland and Judas and the Black Messiah both hit all the Academy check marks in very different ways without being bogged down in them.
One Night in Miami… and News of the World both fit the Best Picture template while being significantly better than many of the actual nominees (namely Mank, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7). Trying to figure out why One Night’s acting showcase and News’s sweeping western beauty didn’t garner the same love as the others is typical Oscars mystery. Another Round seemed to draw the “it’s fine to snub it here since we nominate it for Best International Feature” short straw.
As for the non-Academy-type films that never had a shot at a nomination, but deserve recognition: Olympic Dreams is a pitch-perfect romantic comedy with the quasi-documentary aspect of being filmed at the Olympics with real Olympians; Palm Springs completely nails it’s “What if both people in Groundhog Day were in the time loop?” premise; and The Vast of Night crackles with small town retro Twilight Zone energy.
But my Best Picture pick — and this will be a running theme — is Emma.. It’s bizarre because such a luscious period piece would normally be Oscars catnip, but it’s pre-pandemic release — coupled with it coming from an unknown first-time director — seemed to doom its chances. But almost every frame of this film bursts with life and color that I found to be unmatched all year.
Best Director
Autumn de Wilde (Emma.)
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)*
Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)
Florian Zeller (The Father)
Jeremy Tiecher (Olympic Dreams)
This actual category is somewhat of a disaster this year, in my opinion. Another Round is great, but Thomas Vinterberg’s directing is the least remarkable aspect of the film (in terms of direction, it’s not even on the level of his prior films). Mank is far from David Fincher at his best. And Promising Young Woman is just not a sharply directed film. (No shots at Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung, I just prefer other directorial works this year.) Hopefully, the actual Oscars will go with Zhao (which, thankfully, seems likely) for her superb sense of humanity and restraint.
Again, I’m going to side with Emma., because Autumn de Wilde’s directorial debuted felt like pure immersive art, and I couldn’t get enough of being in the world she crafted. It’s a bit surprising to me that Marder and Zeller weren’t more strongly considered as nominees, as both directors transported the viewers into unfamiliar worlds of suffering for most — deafness and elderly mental deterioration — with jarring senses of empathy. I also would’ve give a nod to Jeremy Tiecher because Olympic Dreams sings despite him having to essentially be a one-man director and crew due to Olympic limitations (just a crazy degree of difficulty).
Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins (The Father)*
Chadwick Bozeman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)*
Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Mads Mikkleson (Another Round)
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)*
I do think Riz Ahmed (or perhaps Hopkins) would deservedly win this award if Chadwick Bozeman hadn’t tragically passed away, but with how the Oscars work, we know that probably won’t be the case. I’d drop Gary Oldman’s performance from Mank cause it never quite clicked (and he was 20 years too old for the role) and Steven Yun, who while very good in Minari, didn’t have to do as much to carry the film as his peers.
Saying that Lakeith Stanfield is a Supporting Actor in Judas and the Black Messiah is ridiculous, as his story is the entire through line. Mads Mikkleson absolutely carries Another Round with his drunken glee, and his snub makes about as much sense as Vinterberg’s nomination (which is to say, very little).
Best Actress
Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)*
Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma.)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)*
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)*
Margot Robbie (Birds of Prey)
Frances McDormand rightfully earns her flowers as the lonely wanderer in Nomadland, and another Oscar win would just make sense. While both their films are incredibly flawed, Day and Mulligan’s performances are both top-notch. As you might imagine, if I think Emma. is the year’s Best Picture, I probably think Taylor-Joy’s titular performance is pretty darn good. And while nobody was ever going to take Birds of Prey seriously as an awards movie, Robbie’s manic energy makes the movie a pure delight.
Best Supporting Actor
Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami…)
Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
Chadwick Bozeman (Da 5 Bloods)
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)*
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)*
It’s probably Kaluuya’s award to lose, and that seems correct. That said, if anything, this is the posthumous category Chadwick Bozeman should be winning for his ultra-compassionate turn in Da 5 Bloods. Raci brings the quiet heart to Sound of Metal. Aldis Hodge’s stoic Jim Brown in One Night in Miami… is more impressive to me than Leslie Odom Jr.’s Sam Cooke (but he didn’t get singing bonus points). On the Rocks felt like a movie that only exists to try and get Bill Murray an Oscar, and while it won’t (nor should it), he does his darnedest to carry the thing via pure charm.
Best Supporting Actress
Amanda Seyfried (Mank)*
Helena Zengel (News of the World)
Maria Bakalova (Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm)*
Mary Holland (Happiest Season)
Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)*
The Oscars did a better job at nominating this category than normal (it’s usually their furthest off award): Seyfried’s Marion Davies gives much needed pep to Mank; Bakalova is a comedic revelation capable of keeping up and occasionally passing Sacha Baron Cohen in the Borat sequel; and Minari would be a slog without Youn Yuh-jung’s fun grandma energy.
When it comes to supporting acting categories, I like to consider how much better a performer made a movie, and Mary Holland’s comedic timing vastly improved the otherwise run-of-the-mill holiday film, Happiest Season.
All that said, News of the World simply doesn’t work if Helena Zengel doesn’t absolutely nail her part as the barely speaking child who’s torn between worlds of trauma on the frontier.
Best Cinematography
Christopher Blauvelt (Emma.)
Hoyte van Hoytema (Tenet)
M.I. Littin-Menz (The Vast of Night)
Matthew Libatique (Birds of Prey)
Joshua James Richards (Nomadland)*
How on god’s green earth is Christopher Blauvelt not nominate for a movie where every shot is fine art painting beautiful? (Emma. not being nominated for Best Production Design when it should be a lock to win is the only bigger Oscars 2021 injustice.) The entire cinematography category is a mess this year. And once again, when that’s the case, default to Nomadland — this time Joshua James Richards and his sweeping and lingering shots of the modern West. To no one’s surprise there was apparently no space this year for thrilling action (Hoytema and Libatique) or innovative camera work in the year’s actual best looking black and white film, The Vast of Night (sorry, Mank).
Best Original Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)*
Derek Cianfrance, Darius Marder, & Abraham Marder (Sound of Metal)*
Isaac Lee Chung (Minari)*
Shaka King, Will Berson, Kenneth Lucas, & Keith Lucas (Judas and the Black Messiah)*
Thomas Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm (Another Round)
Even though The Trail of the Chicago 7 isn’t a particularly good movie, it’s not the script’s fault (that said, it will be very upsetting if it actually wins). The actual nominees make sense in this category for the most part except Promising Young Woman, which is painfully predictable and face-plants its finish. Another Round should take it’s place, as it’s arguably the best written film of the year, though I give the slight nod to Sound of Metal.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey)
Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father)*
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)*
Eleanor Catton (Emma.)
Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami…)*
Nomadland is wonderful, but it’s at it’s best when it’s saying it’s least. One Night in Miami… crackles, but it still feels like a one-set play at times. Emma. and Birds of Prey about as good as you can get with classics and comics adaptations, but they never stood a chance. In the end, it’s hard for me to even comprehend how Hampton and Zeller put together the jigsaw puzzle that is The Father in order to make viewers feel like they are losing their minds along with Anthony.
