Joey Magidson
Can you remember an awards season like this one? Truly, it feels open ended in a way that we rarely get. Most years, the Oscar races largely lock in early and just stay this way. This year? The closer we get to the Academy Awards, the closer several of these races get. So, with just over a week remaining until the Oscars, we’re tailoring an Awards Radar Community Question to this, right after my updated predictions piece here. Simply put, which of the Oscar races this season has been your favorite to follow along with?
For many, it obviously will be Best Picture, with One Battle After Another going down to the wire trying to hold off Sinners. We haven’t had this close a race in the biggest Oscar category in some time, so this is certainly a fun one. It’s not the only option, to be sure, but it’s clearly the sexiest one. Whether One Battle After Another holds on with its dominant precursor run or Sinners wins with the late breaking surge of momentum, it’s been exciting to follow!
Others could go with any of the Acting categories, save for Best Actress. Best Actor has suddenly become almost a pick-em, while Best Supporting Actor has a seemingly new frontrunner, but a surprise winner could be emerging at the last minute. Then, we have Best Supporting Actress, which has gone back and forth all season long. You could certainly be partial to a below the line field too, like Best Cinematography, but these big Acting ones seem like the more obvious picks.
The choice is now yours. Which Oscar race has been the one you’ve enjoyed following most this season? Perhaps there’s multiple ones? Either way, we’d love to hear about it. So, don’t be shy and let us know…
Which of the Oscar races this year has been your favorite to follow? Let us know!
I know my least-favorite is Best Animated Feature Film, because I just don’t feel that strongly about any of the nominees. Virtually every other category has at least one nominee that I find inspired, interesting, or worthy of recognition. But that one? Nothing.
I wish Best Lead Actress was a little more competitive, but I can’t really complain about Jessie Buckley attaining the title “Academy Award Winner” next week as she’s pretty much guaranteed to. The Best Lead Actor race has been bogged down in unfortunate celebrity gossip tabloid nonsense, but I really wouldn’t have a problem with the ten-years-overdue Michael B. Jordan pulling off an upset. Stellan Skarsgård‘s arguable borderline category fraud is kind of a bummer, but it’s not Kieran Culkin-levels of egregious, and he’s exactly the kind of performer Best Supporting Actor was created to honor. I think the Academy was a little bit lazy in the nominees they chose for both of the screenplay nominees, but they also ensure that both Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson won’t go home empty-handed after the ceremony, no matter how much their films over- or under-perform that night.
Best Cinematography has a mix of not-great nominees (Sinners and Frankenstein) but also stellar nominees (Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another), ditto for Best Original Score (Hamnet meh, Sinners hell yes). There’s an inspiring diversity of settings, genres, and visual palettes for the Costume Design and Production Design categories. Most of these races have been really cool and fun to follow.
But I think my actual favorite has to be Best Supporting Actress. Yes, it’s disappointing that Kirsten Dunst and Nina Hoss got no traction. No, I don’t quite understand Wunmi Mosaku‘s nomination besides getting in on “coattails.” But the two likeliest winners are either Amy Madigan or Teyana Taylor, who are, to my mind, the two women who have the strongest claim to legitimately delivering the best supporting performances delivered by any contender of any gender identity, both within and outside of the AMPAS paradigm. No matter who wins, I’ll be thrilled.
Fascinating choices!