 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have revealed their annual shortlists in 10 categories for the 2022 Oscars. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! Boy, it has been a crazy time in the movie world recently. Spider-Man: No Way Home shattered both pandemic and pre-pandemic box office records to become the #2 highest-grossing opening weekend earner of all time at the domestic box office, with a whopping total of $260 million (you can read our review here). No matter how one feels about the film itself, that is a staggering achievement, unlikely to be surpassed by anyone any time soon. But Spidey’s web-bound success wasn’t the only news that dropped in the movie world over the past few days; as you may have guessed by the title, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also revealed their shortlists for the 2022 Oscar nominations in 10 categories. The reveal of these shortlists is an annual tradition that film critics and Oscar fans the world over anticipate highly at the start of every awards season, and now the 2022 version has arrived. All three Short Film categories are given shortlists as part of the announcement, but most of the time, people are really looking for the more obvious categories. This year, those categories are “International Feature Film,” “Documentary Feature Film,” “Makeup & Hairstyling,” “Original Score,” “Original Song,” “Sound,” and “Visual Effects.” These shortlists provide a guide to where the Oscar nominations might be heading by revealing not just what made the cut, but what didn’t. The most egregious absence amongst all shortlists is the absence of Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane, not only one of the best movies of the year but one of the boldest in its narrative and its direction. This could mean, giving the risk it was to submit the film, that France sees the lack of a nomination as an excuse to only submit the safer films they have available as future entries for the International Feature race. And although it was always an up-in-the-air question as to whether Titane could actually pull off a nomination in this field, its absence from the shortlist entirely feels like a gross misstep on the part of AMPAS. There are a few absences from other lists that are also notable, however (though none as boneheaded as that one). The Harder They Fall, despite being a sleeper hit in the predictions surrounding the Sound category, has missed that category entirely, although the Netflix western did nab two other shortlist spots in Original Score and Original Song. Edgar Wright’s Sparks Brothers documentary, as well as Morgan Neville’s Anthony Bourdain film, Roadrunner, both missed the cut in Documentary Feature, The Green Knight missed the Makeup & Hairstyling category, and as tough as it is to sit with, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad did not make it to the shortlist for Visual Effects. Apart from that, there were also a few pleasant surprises. Scores for Candyman, Encanto, The Green Knight, and The Harder They Fall all cracked the list, and not just one or two but all four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films released this year made the cut for Visual Effects (Spider-Man even made it into Sound as well). Other than those, the rest of these shortlists are filled with most of the expected material, and at the unexpected material in some categories does make sense given how those competitions look. For a full rundown of all the 2022 Oscars shortlists, see below. Best International Feature Film:
Best Documentary Feature:
Best Makeup & Hairstyling:
Best Original Score:
Best Original Song:
Best Visual Effects:
Best Sound:
Best Live-Action Short:
Best Animated Short:
Best Documentary Short:
So, what do you think of these new 2022 Oscars shortlists? Do you see anything that surprised you? Frustrated you? Do any of these change what your predictions are now going to look like? Let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
- The Friendly Film Fan
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 “Nomadland” takes home 3 awards, including Best Picture, and a dramatic category order switch leads to an anti-climactic tailspin of a finish. Hello, all, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! Well, the Oscars have finally happened, and the winners have been announced in what I can only describe as the most baffling and anti-climactic finish to an Oscars show that I have ever seen in my lifetime, one that made me angry, upset, and flabbergasted in its production choices and deliberate messiness, the only reason for which did not end up happening at all. To get it right out of the way up front, Chadwick Boseman lost what would have been a posthumous win in the Best Actor category for his career-best work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to Anthony Hopkins for his equally brilliant performance in The Father. Hopkins gave a short speech this morning thanking the Academy, as well as paying tribute to the late Boseman, because Hopkins is a class act all the way around and a genuinely good human being. The win itself was not something with which I took issue; in fact, I somewhat hoped Hopkins could pull off the upset, as his was my favorite of all the performances given in 2020. But the way the moment was handled was nothing short of infuriating. For those who did not watch the ceremony live, the Oscars (of which Steven Soderbergh was a co-producer) decided to give out the award for Best Picture (which went to Nomadland) before giving out Best Actress, and then finally Best Actor, presumably so that when Boseman won, they would be able to honor him with the final award of the night. Except Boseman then lost, and Joaquin Phoenix – who announced the award and seemed very uncomfortable with it – peaced-out immediately, as Hopkins was not there to receive the statuette. I’m also learning after the fact that Olivia Colman, who was also nominated in Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Father, was meant to accept the award on Hopkins’ behalf, but was unable to because the ceremony was cut short so quickly after the announcement. Dragging Boseman’s widow into a live awards show during a pandemic, changing the awards order to chase some big dramatic finish with his posthumous win, playing soul music as Phoenix walked out to announce the category, only for Boseman to lose to someone who wasn’t there (through no fault of his own) will forever be remembered as not just one of the most dramatic endings the Oscars has ever had, but one of the worst endings it ever will. The production decisions made in the last 15 minutes of the ceremony were atrocious, and I desperately hope that the Oscars never tries to put Best Picture in any place but last ever again, especially because of how that switch of orders played out. All that being said, there were plenty of other pleasant surprises in store for this Oscars, some historic wins, and some close races that came down to the wire, where I think the right decision was made (even if it significantly messed up my ballot). Chloé Zhao’s brilliant, humanistic Nomadland ultimately took home 3 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao – who is the first-ever woman of color to receive the award and only the second woman ever – and a semi-surprise win for Best Actress Frances McDormand, cementing her in the elite club of people who now have 3 acting Oscars to their names (McDormand also won a Best Picture Oscar as a producer on the film). The only other actress to win as many Best Lead Actress Oscars or more is Kathrine Hepburn, whose count numbers 4. In other news, The Father also secured a win for Best Adapted Screenplay following a surge of momentum, and the wonderful Sound of Metal managed to best The Trial of the Chicago 7 in Best Editing (it also won Best Sound), rendering the latter film completely Oscar-less by the close of the ceremony. Erik Messerschmidt pulled off the upset to double Mank’s Oscar take by giving it Best Cinematography in addition to the expected Best Production Design, and “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah pulled off a dark horse triumph winning Best Original Song. The documentary short film, Collette, also managed to pull off an upset win, making this one of the most unpredictable Oscars in quite some time, with only one movie (Nomadland) winning more than 2 Oscars total. I won’t speak on every single winner, but it is also important to note that two thirds of the makeup team for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson), recognized for the first time in any category, are the first pair of Black stylists to win that award, which they shared with fellow nominee Sergio Lopez-Rivera. As well, Yuh-Jung Youn, who pulled off a win for Best Supporting Actress in the achingly beautiful Minari, is the first Asian actor to win a performance Oscar since The Killing Fields in 1984. In truth, every winner selection – even the upsets and unexpected ones – were great choices. It’s just unfortunate that the ceremony itself turned so sour so quickly, practically snuffing out in seconds any real excitement one could have felt at the prospect of any remaining upset wins. That being said, it is just one show, and I’m sure next year will seem a drastic improvement in the aftermath. Here is your full list of winners for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards!  Best Picture: Nomadland  Best Director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland  Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins, The Father  Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Nomadland  Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah  Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari  Best International Feature: Another Round  Best Animated Feature: Soul  Best Documentary Feature: My Octopus Teacher  Best Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt, Mank  Best Film Editing: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, Sound of Metal  Best Production Design: Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale, Mank  Best Costume Design: Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom  Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, and Jamika Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom  Best Original Score: Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross, Soul  Best Original Song: “Fight for You,” Judas and the Black Messiah  Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, The Father  Best Original Screenplay: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman  Best Visual Effects: Tenet  Best Sound: Sound of Metal  Best Live-Action Short: Two Distant Strangers  Best Animated Short: If Anything Happens I Love You  Best Documentary Short: Collette What did you think of the Academy Awards this year? Did you predict any of the upsets correctly? How well did you do down the ballot? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
- The Friendly Film Fan |
