“Emilia Pérez,” co-starring Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofia Gascón, is an Oscar front-runner.
This year’s leading contenders for Academy Awards include a foreign-language opera about a cartel kingpin turned trans woman (and philanthropist), a glitzy friend-of-Dorothy musical about seeing through stereotypes, and a downbeat drama about a desperate refugee brutalized by rapacious American capitalism.
Oh, and also “The Apprentice,” the coruscating biopic of a certain vulgar real estate developer from Queens, which won nominations for the actors playing its smug hero and his Mephistophelian advisor.
You can almost hear the ketchup bottle hitting the White House wall.
Yet if the 97th Oscar nominations, announced the morning of Jan. 23, seem certain to enrage Donald Trump, they also provide a snapshot of where the motion picture industry stands now: As glamorous (and self-congratulatory) as ever, but with an increasing emphasis on international productions, independent studios, diverse casts and challenging stories.
Emerging in a starring role during this year’s announcements was “Emilia Pérez” with 13 nominations, the most ever for a film not in English. Among its many honors were nods for director Jacques Audiard, supporting actress Zoe Saldaña and, for Best Actress, Karla Sofia Gascón, a breakthrough honor for a trans woman. (Jaye Davidson played a trans woman in “The Crying Game,” but identifies as a gay man.)
Another musical, the big-budget adaptation of Broadway’s “Wicked,” was also a huge winner, notching nominations for Best Picture, and its two stars, lead Cynthia Erivo and supporting actress Ariana Grande.
Alessandro Nivola, left, and Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist.”
Also in the top tier of contenders? “The Brutalist,” director Brady Corbet’s 3 ½-hour epic drama, which won kudos for Corbet and three of its performers — star Adrien Brody, supporting actor Guy Pearce and supporting actress Felicity Jones.
There were also a few surprises.
“Flow,” a lovely nonverbal, low-budget cartoon feature from Latvia, gained attention in both the Best Animated Feature category and the competition for Best International Feature. Another unexpected nod was the Best Original Screenplay nomination for “September 5,” a film about the Munich Olympics massacre that hadn’t been mentioned much in this year’s awards race.
Yet while the Oscars seemed determined to spread the wealth around, several people who had multiple shots at recognition came up empty.
Director Luca Guadagnino, for example — who directed the stylish “Challengers” and the daring “Queer” — went unacknowledged. So, too, did the brilliant actress Saoirse Ronan, who turned in fine lead performances in “Blitz” and “The Outrun.” And definitely an outlier — but a clear supporting-actress MVP — was Aubrey Plaza, who brought bittersweet wit to “My Old Ass” and a jolt of rude, grounding energy to the mind-bending “Megalopolis.”
There also seemed to be little affection this year for the sort of go-for-broke performances that used to reliably reward a big star (or a fading one) with a Best Actress nomination. Among those shut out: Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl,” Angelina Jolie in “Maria,” Amy Adams in “Nightbitch” and Pamela Anderson in “The Last Showgirl.” (The big exception: Demi Moore in “The Substance.”)
Here is the rundown on who was nominated — along with a look at who, perhaps unfairly, wasn’t.
Mikey Madison with Mark Eydelshteyn in “Anora.”
Best Picture: “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Pérez,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys,” “The Substance,” “Wicked.”
Should Have Been Here: Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” an adrenaline-fueled look at a criminal subculture of violence and loyalty.
Best Director: Sean Baker, “Anora”; Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”; James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”; Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”; Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance.”
Should Have Been Here: Clint Eastwood for “Juror #2,” the sort of assured courtroom drama that Hollywood hasn’t made in years.
Best Actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”; Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”; Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”; Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”; Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice.”
Should Have Been Here: Daniel Craig, shedding his Bond-age forever as the druggy, dissipated protagonist of “Queer.”
Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”; Mikey Madison, “Anora”; Karla Sofia Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”; Demi Moore, “The Substance”; Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here.”
Should Have Been Here: The astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who gave a performance for the ages in “Hard Truths.”
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, with Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, in “A Complete Unknown.”
Best Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov, “Anora”; Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”; Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”; Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”; Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice.”
Should Have Been Here: Denzel Washington, the only spark of joyful life in “Gladiator II.”
Best Supporting Actress: Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown,”; Ariana Grande, “Wicked”; Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”; Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”; Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez.”
Should Have Been Here: Lily-Rose Depp, for her from-a-whisper-to-a-scream performance in “Nosferatu.”
Who will win? Who knows. But there is definitely going to be some feverish campaigning, including more than a few studio-engineered puff pieces (and dirty rumors).
Also up in the air is what exactly this year’s Oscar show will look like. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has already said it is jettisoning live performances of the nominated songs in favor of pieces on the songwriters (which, frankly, sounds like a snooze).
It also has promised that the March 2 show, which will be hosted by Conan O’Brien, will find room in between the usual idiotic patter to acknowledge the devastation wrought by the Southern California wildfires, and pay tribute to first responders.
Oh, and my own guarantee about this year’s ceremony?
Donald Trump is going to hate it.
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