There are three months left until the next gala of the Oscar Awards and Hollywood is already warming up. Since the beginning of the month, around twenty North American critics associations have been announcing, as they do every year, their own awards. Among them, some as prestigious as the National Board of Review, the New York Critics Circle or the Los Angeles Association.
‘Anora’, the film by Sean Baker that triumphed at the last edition of the Cannes Festival, has taken the lead with eight awards (in addition to the Palme d’Or), including the one in Los Angeles. The film, an effective hybrid between black comedy and thriller, is closely followed by ‘The Brutalist’the fascinating historical drama starring Adrien Brody, which has five wins, including that of the New York journalists.
Behind them, with three wins each, are the spectacular ‘body-horror’ of ‘The substance’starring a delightful Demi Moore, and the adaptation of the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’. The rest, for now, have been distributed between ‘Nickel Boys’, ‘Dune: Part 2’ and ‘A Different Man’.
Karla Sofía Gascón’s options suffer
The film that has started the awards season on the wrong foot is the eccentric French-Mexican musical ‘Emilia Pérez’, which despite being the most nominated at the Golden Globes (they will be awarded on January 6), has not managed win none of the 23 prizes that have been awarded so far.
‘Emilia Pérez’, directed by Jacques Audiardseemed to have great options in the main categories, and although there is still a long career ahead (and worse situations have been overcome, such as those of ‘Green Book’ or ‘Coda’ a few years ago), its first steps are being unfortunate.
Nor is its protagonist having much better luck, the Spanish Karla Sofía Gascón, who although she won an award at Cannes and at the European Academy, on the other side of the pond she is not doing the same and so far she has not won anything. Gascón has an almost guaranteed nomination for the Oscars, but his chances of winning the statuette are suffering too much.
At the head of the first cheers are the American Mikey Madisonwho at only 25 years old has scored many points thanks to her role as a stripper who falls in love with a very young Russian millionaire in ‘Anora’; and the British Marianne Jean-Baptiste for ‘My Only Family’, which however was left out of the Golden Globes, which, historically and statistically, greatly complicates its Oscar options.
Madison (with 14 victories) and Jean-Baptiste (9) have monopolized the category for the moment, with the exception of the prestigious National Board of Review (which has gone to Nicole Kidman for ‘Babygirl’), those of Indiana critics (Demi Moore for ‘The Substance’) and the Astra (Cynthia Erivo by ‘Wicked’). Gascón, like Angelina Jolie (‘Maria’) or Fernanda Torres (‘I’m Still Here’), has not yet achieved any victory in the United States.
To Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the protagonists of ‘The Room Next Door’, the latest of Pedro Almodovarthey are not doing much better either, beyond some nominations that have not translated into awards.
Adrien Brody aims for his second Oscar, 22 years later
At the March 2003 gala, Nicole Kidman and Adrien Brody won Best Actress and Best Actor thanks to their roles in two impeccable dramas: ‘The Hours’ and ‘The Pianist’, respectively. Now, more than two decades later, they could repeat the feat. Although her options for ‘Babygirl’ seem more complex, he is positioning himself as number one in his category thanks to his role as László Tóth, a fictional Hungarian and Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and makes a fortune in America.
In this nearly four-hour historical drama, Brody unleashes a amazing range of resourcescarrying the entire weight of the feature film on his back. It has already accumulated 10 awards, including the one from the New York critics, compared to the seven from Colman Domingo for the prison drama ‘The Lives of Sing Sing’ or the three of Timothee Chalametwho plays Bob Dylan in ‘A Complete Stranger’. Daniel Craig (‘Queer’) and Ralph Fiennes (‘Conclave’) have one each.
Kieran Culkinthe little brother of the protagonist of ‘Home Alone’, is the favorite in the Best Supporting Actor category, and has already won 13 awards. Behind them are Guy Pearce for ‘The Brutalist’ (4), Yura Borisov for ‘Anora’ (4), Clarence Maclin for ‘The Lives of Sing Sing’ (3), Edward Norton for ‘A Complete Stranger’ (1) and Denzel Washington for ‘Gladiator II’ (1).
As for secondary schools, things are much more distributed. Against all odds, the rookies Ariana Grande (‘Wicked’) and Margaret Qualley (‘The Substance’) are in the lead with eight and four awards. Then, a few candidates: Danielle Deadwyler for ‘The Piano Lesson’ (3), Zoe Saldaña for ‘Emilia Pérez’ (2), Natasha Lyonne for ‘The Three Daughters’ (2), Elle Fanning for ‘A Complete Stranger’ (1), Isabella Rossellini for ‘Conclave’ (1), Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for ‘Nickel Boys’ (1), Carol Kane for ‘Between the Temples’ (1) and Joan Chen for ‘Dìdi’ (1).
Another award that has not yet been chosen as a favorite is that of Best Address. Critics do not agree, although Brady Corbet (‘The Brutalist’), who emerged victorious from the Venice Festival In September, he takes the lead with 6 awards, compared to RaMell Ross’s five for his debut, ‘Nickel Boys’, or Sean Baker’s four for ‘Anora’. Other winners have been Coralie Fargeat for ‘The Substance’ (3), Denis Villeneuve for ‘Dune: Part 2’ (3), Jon M. Chu for ‘Wicked’ (2), Mohammad Rasoulof for ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree’ ‘ (1) and Edward Berger for ‘Conclave’ (1).
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