Oscars 2024: Barbenheimer dominated the year, and Oppenheimer has a clear path to victory, but it was a great year for films in general – with three foreign language films, an exploration of Native American exploitation and a biting satire of the modern African American experience, and much more. Also read: Complete Oscars 2024 nominations list
Oscars 2024: Margot Robbie in Barbie (left) and Cillian Murphy in a still by Oppenheimer.American fiction
Cord Jefferson's stunning directorial debut earned five nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Jeffrey Wright stars in the role of a lifetime as Thelonius “Monk” Ellison, an author who writes a “black” novel as a joke, only to find it becomes a bestseller. The resulting success turns his life upside down as he struggles with an ailing mother and a wayward brother, played by first-time nominee Sterling K. Brown.
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“Anatomy of a Fall” is nominated for five Oscars, including best picture.
Anatomy of a fall
The French-language hit is at once a thrilling courtroom drama and a sharp look at the complexities of marriage. Justine Triet's script is structured like a puzzle, but asks viewers to put the final piece together as they see fit. Was it a suicide, a murder or simply an accident? Five nominations, including Best Director and Best Actress, are well-deserved recognition for one of the best films of the year.
Barbie
What can be said about Barbie that hasn't already been said? Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig brought this plastic toy to life and earned a combined $1.5 billion, but it still wasn't enough to earn a nomination for Best Actress or Best Director. It's a damn shame for this truly great and subversive film to be dismissed as a doomed vanity project just 12 months ago.
Alexander Payne's dramedy “The Holdovers” is also in the running for the top prize.
The leftovers
There's a Best Picture nominee every year – a quintessentially American story with modest ambitions and great achievements. This time it’s “The Holdovers” by Alexander Payne. Set in a New England boarding school at Christmastime in 1970, the bittersweet story revolves around a student who has nowhere to go on Christmas, the teacher who has to stay behind to supervise him, and the cafeteria manager.
Flower Moon Killer
Martin Scorsese's three-hour epic about a series of Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma is a harrowing experience. Lily Gladstone is compelling and would be a deserving winner in the Best Actress category (the only likely win for the film despite 10 nominations). But ultimately the film isn't all that powerful – in a world where a show like “Reservation Dogs” exists, “Flower Moon” seems like white guilt.
Bradley Cooper stars as composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.
maestro
Every great biopic finds a unique insight into understanding its subject. For Bradley Cooper, his relationship with his wife, actress Felicia Montealegre, was the key to discovering Leonard Bernstein. Yes, Cooper famously learned to conduct for the virtuoso scene at Ely Cathedral, but the film's real superpower is Carey Mulligan's performance as the only person who truly understands who Lenny is.
Oppenheimer
Nolan has delivered several blockbusters for Hollywood and has been hailed as the savior of the cinematic experience on more than one occasion, but he has never truly gained the respect of his peers. This time he made an R-rated epic about the atomic bomb that grossed nearly a billion at the box office, and it should win him the elusive Best Picture statuette.
“Past Lives” is a classic for this and future lives.
Past lives
For my money, Past Lives is the best film of the year, a quiet and introspective look at growing up, accepting the past and learning to move on. Featuring a stunning central performance from Greta Lee, robbed of a nomination, “Past Lives” heralds the arrival of a major creative force in writer-director Celine Song. Look out for Song's next project with Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson.
Poor things
Poor Things marks Yorgos Lanthimos' second collaboration with Emma Stone, and they've already announced a third, signaling the beginning of a creative partnership in the vein of Scorsese and De Niro. “Poor Things” will make you think and question everything you know (believe) about women, anchored by a stunning and daring performance from Stone.
“Zone of Interest” is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture.
The zone of interest
The third foreign language film to make it into the Best Film category, “The Zone of Interest” is a timely window into the world today, refracted through the lens of Nazi Germany. It's a harrowing and thought-provoking look at how people can switch off and carry on with their everyday lives while unspeakable atrocities occur literally next door. It will never win, but it should definitely be viewed as a cautionary tale more broadly.
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