2022 seems to be a banner year for movies that highlight the great cinematic contributions of POC artists and female directors. From the actual Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All at Once to a rich lineup of international films getting major award recognition this awards season, it seems to me the AMPAS has plenty of options to give visibility to auteurs that were once hidden in the shadows and to give voice to messages that were once keep silent. But 2022 is also the year of huge popcorn and white-led-or-directed big budget productions with plenty of money to campaign themselves... in the end, it all comes up to choices. I know the Academy voters can be "pretty basic" when it comes to its nominees selection, but they can also have quite inspiring choices - do you remember last year, when both Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World got screenplay nods?; The Power of the Dog was the most nominated movie last year, with Jane Campion taking Best Director home?; or when Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) and Judi Dench (Belfast) get nominated for Best Supporting Actress out of nowhere?; or Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer) getting a place in the Best Actress nominees shortlist when their chances seemed to be lingering? But the AMPAS is also the same institution that did not granted Denis Villeneuve a Best Director nom for Dune or that picked Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos) over Mahershala Ali (Swan Song) or Nicholas Cage (Pig).
So, let's have a look at some of the most groundbreaking options the AMPAS has in the hope the "new generation" of Academy members have them under serious consideration coming voting period. All of them would make for inspiring choices wherever they pop.
- EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
The A24's box-office hit and critical acclaimed piece of cinema is one of the best and most successful examples of POC representation at the awards season. Initially conceived as a male led comedy-action movie, EEAAO's unique charm relies mostly in its leading lady Michelle Yeoh (in a gender-switch on paper that only benefited the movie). It is a proof that female leads can sell, POC actors can sell and independent and non-franchise filmmaking can sell. A critics prizes favorite, it already scores 121 wins and 190 awards nominations (according to IMDb) and it is considered the early frontrunner for a Best Picture win (at this poit of the race). Considering it also stars Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, it makes for a starring vehicle for other POC actors besides Michelle Yeoh, and it also features the also veteran Jamie Lee Curtis in such hilarious turn. Mark my words: Everything Everywhere All At Once is poised to become a cult classic, so don't overlook this one, Academy.
- WOMEN TALKING
The source material is amazing (I've read it myself) and its message feels more relevant than ever - in fact, it feels like a timely message, unfortunately. Sarah Polley writes and directs a female all-star cast in a movie about women, about women trying to break free from patriarchy and women too afraid to break free. It's an empowering story: it deals with violence in its many forms, it deals with the historical/religious background of uneducated women and it blossoms in the sisterhood love. Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, Frances McDormand and Ben Whishaw bring the characters to life and since their names not strange to the awards circuit... it elevates the movie above many other women tales that fell off the radar in the last years. Still, despite the audiences love for the movie, critics and the HFPA weren't as enthusiastic about it like I predicted before... but critics and HFPA members aren't Academy members, so...!
- VIOLA DAVIS & THE WOMAN KING
She's a star. The Woman King elevates Viola Davis from queen of Oscar-baity dramas to moviestar. Not only she has a physically demanding role as Genral Nanisca, but it is also one of the most subtle yet most beautifully layered performances of her career. The whole POC female ensemble is able to match her, like Lashana Lynch (a huge star on the rise), Thuso Mbedu (a star-making breakthrough performance on film) and the "fresh" Sheila Atim. John Boyega also has a relevant role here, but this movie belongs to women... powerful black women to be precise. Gina Prince-Bythewood crafts a beautifully made action epic here, with some eye-popping fight scene, magnetic visuals and a mesmerizing score by Terence Blanchard. I expect and I hope The Woman King appeals to the Black/POC members of the Academy and it gets enough #1 votes in order to crack the Best Picture lineup. With strong box-office and enthusiast audience reactions, I think it is a movie easy to love and worthy to honor too.
- DECISION TO LEAVE, RRR & ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - THREE FOREIGN-LANGUAGE CONTENDERS FOR BEST PICTURE?
It is not easy for an independent movie to break in the mainstream awards season, but sometimes things are even harder for international AKA subtitled films... but it seems things are changing these days. Audiences and award voters seem to be more conscious about the quality of international cinema. Great auteurs have been granted major prize recognition in the last years and we can really state a more open AMPAS since it has been embracing more international films outside the Best International Film category, more foreign language performances and big international auteurs (specially in Best Director category). Some months ago I championed All Quiet On the Western Front as Netflix's biggest Oscar player of the season considering the critical acclaim it received back at TIFF and the fact AMPAS members are suckers for war movies - and I wasn't entirely wrong, since the 2022's German-speaking adaptation of the classic novel has made the final cut of the technical shortlists which means the movie has been watched by the Academy members AND they are liking it. Another case can be made for Park Chan-wook and Decision To Leave - it is the director's first movie to be selected as South Korea's official submission for Best International Film and it has been subject of many rave reviews and some major awards love. And while I am not predicting it to have a 2021's Drive My Car trajectory (unfortunately), I still can see it getting Best International Film and Best Director - Chan-wook has already won the Best Director prize at Cannes and he has meen mentioned in multiple Best Director nominees shortlist from the critics associations. Plus, the movie is really easy to watch and it truly is spellbinding. Finally the Indian biggest cinematic success in decades, RRR started the critics awards season really strong with some major award wins for its director S.S. Rajamouli and there was a huge hype regarding this one as a major Oscar contender across the board, but the enthusiasm went down when it missed most of the final shortlist in some technical categories - it still is a contender, but maybe it isn't being widely seen by Academy members or maybe its extravaganza style doesn't bound with the Academy members.
- WOMEN LEAD BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Overall, Wakanda Forever can't quite match the magic of its predecessor, but it is a good statement about women power, specially African women. Angela Bassett commands the screen, but the other actresses also have quite a blast in this one: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira also make this movie one of their own. Still, it also features some great craft work from African-American artists like director/screenwriter Ryan Coogler, Hannah Beachler (production design), Ruth E. Carter (costume design), Tems and Rihanna (Best Original Song for "Lift Me Up"). Still... no matter what, the huge box-office numbers and the popularity of the movie are already a spotlight for POC talent, so...cheers to that!
- SHE SAID
- NOPE
Jordan Peele is no stranger to the AMPAS, but I confess I am still surprised about the strong awards run Nope has been having these past months. Better than Us (2019), but much less brilliant than Get Out (2017), it still is a quite inspired horror/thriller/comedy on its own right. I should say it is the most spectacular Peele movie: better and bigger visual effects, great sound work (absent from the Oscar first shortlist for Best Sound), fine script, beautiful cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema and a magnetic acting turn from Keke Palmer. Could Nope impress? Well, Visual Effects feels an "anyone's game" besides Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick, the screenplay categories always surprise me every year with one inspired yet unpredicted nominee in both Original or Adapted fields and Best Supporting Actress race is a mess and I could well see Keke Palmer sneak in - but genre bias is real and Nope could well end Oscar nomineeless. Still, Nope consecrates Jordan Peele as one of best auteurs working these days in the horror/thriller genre.
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