Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin lead the field, with surprise nods for Andrea Riseborough, Paul Mescal and Top Gun: Maverick, too
From left: Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin, Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Cate Blanchett in Tár, Felix Kammerer in All Quiet on the Western Front
It’s scrappy upstarts versus establishment boys’ club. The season’s premier film awards has increasingly prided itself on its inclusivity, but the Academy has had a volte-face with an all-male best director list, an all-white best actor category and a ten-title best film field consisting of one movie directed by a woman — Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. Elsewhere, the big news was an 11th-hour shock in the best actress category, with the Newcastle-born Andrea Riseborough landing a nomination for her little-seen Texas-set melodrama To Leslie, and Paul Mescal validated the whispers of industry watchers who have been suggesting that the Irish actor’s universally adored performance in the low-budget Aftersun would land him in the best actor category, denying a way for seasoned performers such as Ralph Fiennes (for The Menu).
Riseborough’s Oscars journey has been especially atypical. Her movie screened in a handful of US cinemas last year and is available here on Amazon, after an equally nugatory release. And yet industry friends such as Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet deemed Riseborough’s performance so extraordinary that they began championing it publicly. Winslet described it as “the greatest female performance on screen I have ever seen in my life”. Only a week ago a well-placed industry source told me that the groundswell among voters for Riseborough was so huge that she seemed inevitable to make it onto the best actress list. And, hey presto . . .
In other news, it’s business as usual for The Banshees of Inisherin, a film that continues its implacable march through awards season with all the inevitability of a rainy day on the west coast of Ireland. Martin McDonagh’s black comedy has nine nominations, including best picture, director, actor and original screenplay (a best actress nod would have nabbed it the “golden five”). It faces stiff yet unlikely competition on the night from the multiverse action flick Everything Everywhere All at Once (11 nominations) and the German war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (nine). Both have made a big impact in nominations lists this season but, bar Michelle Yeoh, the Everything Everywhere . . . lead actress, have yet to stamp their authority on the actual prize-giving ceremonies.
The absence of women overall, however, remains the biggest takeaway from the list. It’s not as if, unlike other years, there was a paucity of women-directed movies from which some suitable titles could be selected. This was the year of The Woman King (I know — ironic title?) directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who was duly recognised by the Baftas last week. There was Emily by Frances O’Connor, Fire of Love by Sara Dosa (recognised here with a best documentary nod), Corsage by Marie Kreutzer or Lady Chatterley’s Lover by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. And so on.
Instead the Academy has turned back towards its big Hollywood beasts, giving Steven Spielberg a not entirely due best director slot for The Fabelmans, and allocating Avatar: the Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick places in the best film category. I loved Top Gun: Maverick as much as the next popcorn muncher, but anointing it with a best film nomination declares it, as the Academy claims, one of the best films of the past 12 months. Come on, Hollywood. In the words of Iceman in the film’s most meaningful scene, “It’s time to let go!”
The full list of nominations
Paul Dano, Mateo Zoryan and Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans. ALAMY.
Best picture
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
Best director
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Todd Field, Tár
Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness
Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in Aftersun
Best actor
Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Best actress
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Ana De Armas, Blonde
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best supporting actor
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best supporting actress
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best adapted screenplay
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
Best original screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Triangle of Sadness
Best film editing
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Best cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár
Avatar: The Way of Water. ALAMY
Best visual effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick
Best international feature
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Close
Eo
The Quiet Girl
Best documentary feature
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny
Best documentary short
The Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
Best animated feature
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
Best animated short
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Best live-action short
An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase
Best production design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Best costume design
Babylon, Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ruth Carter
Elvis, Catherine Martin
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Shirley Kurata
Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, Jenny Beavan
Best make-up and hairstyling
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale
Austin Butler in Elvis. SPLASH NEWS
Best sound
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick
Best original song
Applause, from Tell It Like a Woman
Hold My Hand, from Top Gun: Maverick
Lift Me Up, from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Naatu Naatu, from RRR
This Is a Life, from Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best original score
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans