Photo Courtesy of Reader’s Digest
The nominations for the 95th Oscars were officially announced Tuesday, Jan. 24, with a more diverse lineup than in recent years of the Academy’s history. First on the list for Best Picture is “All Quiet on the Western Front,” the first time in Oscar history a German language film has been nominated for an award outside of the Best Foreign Film category. This nomination is followed by the long-awaited sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which has recently passed over $2 billion at the box office and is currently listed as the sixth highest grossing film of all time.
Rounding out the list is “The Banshees of Inisherin,” the biopic “Elvis,” the widely acclaimed “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the semi-autobiographical “The Fablemans” by renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg, “Tár,” which also earned Cate Blanchett her fifth nomination for Best Actress, the surprisingly nominated “Top Gun: Maverick” and the overlooked “Triangle of Sadness” and “Women Talking.”
The list presents a diverse mix of pieces, including genres such as drama, coming of age, absurdist, anti-war epic, action and science fiction, in comparison to past years which has tended to focus solely on drama.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” collected the most nominations this year, with a total of 11. Other pending awards fall in the Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Original Song and Score, Best Costume Design and Editing categories.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” followed closely behind, with a total of nine nominations, ranging from Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature for Germany, Best Original Score, Sound, Production Design and Visual Effects, in addition to its Best Picture nomination. Surprisingly, the film did not receive a nomination for best directing despite being highly praised for such by various outlets and reviewers since its release.
Lady Gaga received a nomination for her song in “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Hold My Hand,” her third in the Best Original Song category. Other songs nominated in this category included “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman” – music and lyrics by Diane Warren, “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” – music by M. M. Keeravani and “This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski.
Interestingly enough, the hit singer songwriter Taylor Swift, riding off the success of her newest album “Midnights” and set to debut on her “Eras” tour in the coming weeks, received no nomination for her song “Carolina” despite its popularity and the accolades she received from other major associations this award season, most recently at the Golden Globes. The song was from the polarizing film “Where the Crawdads Sing,” with many critics claiming her song was one of the only redeeming qualities of the film itself.
Despite the unique mix of genres, the Academy has continued to be scrutinized for its lack of diversity toward the actual nominees themselves, with the majority being white – a growing trend that has led many to boycott the Oscars in the past few years. Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the Oscars for a third time, following the controversial decision for no one to host the past two years, resulting in the lowest recorded viewership in the Academy’s history. We will just have to see how the Oscars play out on March 25, and wait to see if the Academy will change its nomination practices and presentation in years to come. For a full list of nominees, visit the Academy’s website.
