By Mado Gianni,
A much-awaited moment for any enthusiastic audiences of movie-goers and the like. If you are one of them, you need to know your movies. Hence, you need to know their awards. This article will provide you with slight commentary and interesting facts about 2022’s Academy winners and nominees. It is long, but bear with me. Without further ado, let us see who, what, why, and how.
Best Picture: Received by the production company or individual producer(s)
Best Picture is the most distinguished of the Oscars and the only category where 10 — instead of 5 — nominees compete for the final title. A variety of different films were in the spotlight this year, and the prestigious American award went to CODA. Apple TV’s inspirational film tells the story of a coda girl breaking away from the bonds of her deaf family to follow her dreams of becoming a musician. The deaf characters are portrayed by deaf actors. It is also Sian Heder’s second feature film after Tallulah (2016) and the first film produced by a streaming service to win Best Picture.
Here is some information about the rest of the nominees and the reasons why they probably made it to this list.
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve finally brought Frank Herbert’s Dune on the big screen in the most faithful adaptation we have seen so far. As word has it, this is only an introduction to Herbert’s interstellar universe. Steven Spielberg’s much-awaited but not-gorgeous enough remake of West Side Story was released commemorating 60 years since the original West Side Story (1961) by Jerome Robbins came out.
King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is based on a true story about famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. A sports film yet a controversial one in its depiction of Richard Williams. Drive My Car is a slow but extraordinary tale based on Haruki Murakami’s short story Drive My Car from his collection Men Without Women (2014). The film, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi was also a nominee in the International Best Feature category.
Paul Thomas Anderson, writer and director, released his 9th feature film Licorice Pizza, an aesthetically pleasing love story set in the early 1970s San Fernando Valley. Similar period, but under very different circumstances, Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is one of the director’s most personal films to date.
Jane Campion’s comeback to film after almost 12 years came with her powerful period film adaptation of The Power of the Dog. Fantasy-oriented director, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, also set in the past, is reminiscent of del Toro’s magic realist approach to filmmaking, only this time the genre he chose is that of a thriller.
Finally, Adam McKay’s provocative Don’t Look Up made the list too as one of the most timely and relatable satires of our times. Not to mention American as well.
Best Director
This award is given to the director who was most successful in bringing their respective story to life. The award went to Jane Campion, her first Academy Award in this category. After making history with The Piano (1993) for being the first woman to be nominated as a director, she is now the third woman to hold this title after Kathryn Bigelow (2010) and Chloe Zhao (2021).
Other nominees were Steven Spielberg (2 wins), Paul Thomas Anderson (3 nominations), Kenneth Branagh (2 nominations), and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Best Original Screenplay
Branagh’s personal memoirs of being a young boy in Belfast were the inspiration for Belfast (winner), poetically narrated, but with the harsh implications of a terrible conflict at its core. To leave one’s country in search of a better future or to stay back and embrace what is to come.
Worst Person in the World (nominee), written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt and directed by Joachim Trier, did seem for a bit as if it would take that one home, while Anderson’s Licorice Pizza’s (nominee) non-plot is definitely worthy of mentioning for its Oscar nod in this category.
Zach Baylin’s King Richard and Adam McKay’s and David Sirota’s Don’t Look Up were also nominated.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Some serious arguing must have taken place for the determination of this award. The contestants were certainly all hard to compete with. Three women and two men. You know the tables are turning when people stop screaming out loud the gender of the winner, especially when it is a woman. Sian Heder won this one for her adaptation of Éric Lartigau’s La Famille Bélier (2014) in the film CODA.
Dune (nominee) was written by Eric Roth, Denis Villeneuve, and Jon Spaihts. The Lost Daughter (nominee) was written and directed by famous actress turned filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, based on Elena Ferrante’s book of the same title. The Power of The Dog (nominee) was written by Jane Campion and, lastly, Drive My Car (nominee) was written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe.
Best Actress
Olivia Colman’s unparalleled talent in The Lost Daughter. Kristen Stewart’s faithful portrayal of Princess Diana in Spencer. Jessica Chastain’s worthy nomination in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Penelope Cruz’s mesmerizing star quality in Pedro Almodóvar’s Madres Paralelas. Nicole Kidman’s raw performance as the amazing and much-loved Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s enticing Being the Ricardos. Here, it is worthy to mention that Lucile Ball was arguably one of the greatest female comedians of the 20th century and Sorkin’s film does a great job of shedding light on her life and career.
The Oscar went to… Jessica Chastain, the actress’s first Academy Award.
And just as a note, Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci was, in my opinion, overlooked, even though she delivered a superb performance.
Best Actor
Will Smith in King Richard won his first Academy Award as Richard Williams, committed dad and coach of Venus and Serena Williams.
Other nominees included: Benedict Cumberbatch in a role that fluctuates so seamlessly from insanity to tenderness in The Power of The Dog; Javier Bardem as one of the loveliest husbands Hollywood has ever seen in Being the Ricardos; Denzel Washington as Shakespeare’s tragic character of Macbeth in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth; and Andrew Garfield slash theatre kid as Jonathan Larson in tick, tick… BOOM!, a film that owes its name to one of Larson’s very own stage plays.
Best Supporting Actress
Rita Moreno or the character of Anita in the 1961 version of West Side Story had already set the bar too high for this role, while Ariana DeBose herself called Moreno “her divine inspiration”. So, it comes with great pleasure that DeBose was awarded the Best Supporting Actress Award in a competition that was no less tough against some equally talented actresses, amongst whom was Jessie Buckley with her astounding performance in The Lost Daughter.
Judi Dench in Belfast, Kirsten Dunst in The Power of The Dog, and Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard were also nominated for their eclectic performances.
Best Supporting Actor
Deaf actor Troy Kotsur won the Academy Award for his supporting performance in Sian Heder’s film CODA. This competition was amongst some great actors as well, including co-stars Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons in The Power of the Dog.
J. K. Simmons in Being the Ricardos and Ciarán Hinds in Belfast were worthy of their respective nominations as well.
Best Original Song
Billie Eilish is the youngest singer-songwriter ever to have been nominated and to win in this category, at only 20 years of age. The James Bond “No Time To Die” single hit has traveled across continents in the past year, deservedly earning her and her brother, Finneas, this award while also marking the third time a Bond score wins in this category after Skyfall (2012, Adele) and Spectre (2016, Jimmy Napes, Sam Smith).
Other contestants were Beyonce’s “Be Alive” from King Richard, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Dos Oruguitas” from the animated feature Encanto, Van Morrison’s “Down to Joy” from Belfast, and Diane Warren’s “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days.
Best Animated Feature
Disney’s Encanto was the winner in this category, set in the mountains of Colombia in the lost paradise of Encanto. The film competed against Disney’s Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon. Three out of five chances would have to do it for Disney.
Other nominees included Netflix’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines, as well as Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, a Danish animated documentary film.
International Feature Film: Received by the producer(s)
Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car won, in a very tight competition, the Award for Best International Feature this year. This is an equally prestigious award compared to the Best Picture Award.
Other contestants included the Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World, which has already received global applause by critics and viewers alike, and the Italian film The Hand of God produced by Netflix and released to equally aggregated reviews.
Bhutan’s first Oscar nomination was that of Lunana: A yak in the Classroom released in 2019, submitted in the 2021 Academy Award competition, and resubmitted this year, making the top five. The Danish animated film Flee was also a nominee in this category.
Best Documentary Feature
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson was the winner in this category. The documentary is about the Harlem Cultural Festival back in 1969.
Other nominated documentaries included: Ascension by Jessica Kingdon about the pursuit of the Chinese Dream in the contemporary world; Writing with Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh about an Indian oppressed-caste female journalist trying to make it in a landscape dominated by men; Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen recounts the story of a child Afghan refugee; and Attica by Stanley Nelson Jr. and Traci Curry about one of the largest prison riots in American history in 1971.
More Awards
Dune was probably the most popular film in this round of awards, having received 10 nominations and winning 6 of them. Greig Fraser won the award for Best Cinematography, while Joe Walker took home the award for Best Editing. Best Sound went to Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Mac Ruth, Doug Hemphill, and Ron Bartlett. Patrice Vermette and Zsuzsanna Sipos won the award for Best Production Design for their work in the same film, and Paul Lambert as the visual effects supervisor took home the Best Visual Effects award.
Finally, Hans Zimmer won his second Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work in Dune. The first one was his score for The Lion King back in 1995.
Other nominees in this category included Radiohead’s lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, for his score for The Power of The Dog, his second nomination in total, with the first one being his score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread (2018).
The award for Best Makeup and Styling went to Linda Dowds, Justin Raleigh, and Stephanie Ingram for their work in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, while the award for Best Costume Design was awarded to Jenny Beavan for her work in Cruella.
Oscars’ omissions
As in movies, so in articles, here is the writer’s cut for this publication, including the omissions from this years’ awards, which are definitely worth checking out:
Wes Anderson’s magnificent French Dispatch is emotionally unappealing to some of its harshest critics, but written, developed, shot, and performed with incredible attention to detail, accounting for an extraordinary movie experience as are all of Anderson’s movies. Did not fail to entertain.
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci and The Last Duel were both largely excluded from the ceremony, with the exception of the category for Best Costume Design, for which the team behind House of Gucci was nominated. Unfortunately, for the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck screenwriting duo, their 1997 Good Will Hunting success was not to be repeated this year.
Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth also did not perform well in the award competition, even though it is arguably one of the greatest Shakespearian adaptations that the medium of film has ever seen.
References
- Oscars 2022: Ariana DeBose Tells Rita Moreno She ‘Paved the Way’ in Touching Acceptance Speech, cheatsheet.com, Available here
- Oscar winners 2022: Who won at the Academy Awards? See the complete list, eu.usatoday.com, Available here
