Oscar Nominations Analysis: Blockbusters, Acclaimed Indies, A Couple Of Surprises, Elvis & Marilyn Liven Up Mostly Predictable List - Deadline

Are any of them not the names we have heard pundits (and yes, I admit to being one of them), critics groups, awards consultants, studio trade ads and so on pounding into our heads since the season began in earnest at the end of summer?

Although France missed out with its International Film entry, Saint Omer, this is another feather in the cap for Cannes, after Bong Joon Ho’s South Korea phenomenon, Parasite, went all the way from Palme d’Or to sweeping the Oscars in 2020.

No one was surprised at the considerable love for movies from studio specialty divisions Focus Features with Tár, and Searchlight with The Banshees of Inisherin or with Best Picture attention for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans(seven noms) and MGM/UA’s Women Talking, which all were prominent on the fall festival circuit, with the latter two coming in No.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago in my Notes on the Season column, I was contacted by a producer friend, Steve Jaffe, unaffiliated with the film, who along with his wife Susan Blakely was so impressed after seeing it at a small screening for Academy members that they joined an activist campaign to get her performance attention.

Maybe either SAG nominees Deadwyler, astounding as Mamie Till-Mobley, and Davis with the blood, sweat and tears of her performance in Woman King perhaps were knocked out by Riseborough’s late-inning rise in an uber-competitive Lead Actress race.

Blanchett, Ke Huy Quan and Angela Bassett will be heavily favored in their individual acting races, at least until the all-telling SAG weighs in on February 26, while Best Actor will be a nail-biter.