The Snubs and Surprises of this Year's Oscar Nominations
Behold ! It’s that time of the year again to deliberate on the Oscar nominations: The moment in awards season when film stans go back and forth about who should and shouldn’t have a nomination. Tracee Ellis Ross and Kumail Nanjiani announced this year’s Academy Awards nominations , and although much of the approval seemed like a predictable outcome — like the groundbreaking Roma, the charm of the ladies of The Favourite, and the fated song nomination for A Star Is Born’s “Shallow” ( by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice) — other nominations came as a complete astonishment . Still, other deserving films didn’t get the chance to make the cut. Below, I will break down some of the Oscars snubs and surprises that can win or missed the opportunity this year!
Snub: Barry Jenkins directing If Beale Street Could Talk
via New Yorker
Barry Jenkins received a Best Adapted Screenplay stamp of approval for his harrowing adaption of the iconic James Baldwin’s novel (with the same name) about a couple in 1970’s Harlem who deal with the struggles and heartache of having a loved one ( the boyfriend) incarcerated. (Regina King also got a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, whereas Nicholas Britell earned an original film score nomination.) Jenkins and Beale Street regrettably were left out of the other main categories, including Best Director and Picture.
Snub: Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy
via Gold Derby
Timothée Chalamet ( who is the essence of a laid-back heartthrob) received a supporting nomination at the Golden Globes for his role as a teenage boy in the face of addiction in Beautiful Boy, but that didn’t transition into an Oscar nomination unfortunately.
Snub: Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born
via Twitter
In Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, he recreated the classic celebrity story, garnering eight ( yes, eight) nominations. The nominations included acting nominations for Gaga, Sam Elliot, and Cooper, but also Best Picture. However, the biggest surprise was that Cooper was omitted from the directors’ category.
Surprise: Roma’s Yalitza Aparicio and Marina De Tavira
Director Alfonso Cuarón’s stunning black-and-white drama Roma (it’s like taking a trip in time to witness historic film) has for the longest been highly anticipated to earn awards this season, but most of the attention has focused on Cuarón (who got praise for best director, cinematography, and best original screenplay, best director, as well as best picture and best foreign language film ( film takes place in Mexico City, Mexico). In addition, actresses Yalitza Aparicio who was nominated for Best Actress ( her first acting role at that !) and Marina De Tavira ( Best Supporting Actress) got some rightfully earned awards love as well.
Snub and Surprise: Black Panther
via Vox
One of the positive aspects of Black Panther was that it became the first Marvel superhero comic film to earn a nomination for Best Picture, the icing on the cake for cultural influence ( it’s touching to see today’s children to have films of superheroes Even though the film dominated the film landscape ( in influence and the box office) it), many award predictors questioned whether the Academy would choose to recognize the film as such, since the Oscars have notoriously turned a blind eye to blockbuster fare. On the other hand, King T’Challa prevailed, and the film attained a lucky seven nominations - costume design, original score, original song, production design, sound editing, and sound mixing.
At the same time, Black Panther missed out on a nomination in any of the acting categories ( we need justice for Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman ), and Coogler didn’t even make it in the directors’ category.
Snub: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
via wttw
Film producer Morgan Neville’s touching representation of the gentle-spirited Mister Rogers was one of the most popular documentaries of last year. (Need some evidence? It brought in over $20 million at the box office.) But to a lot of people’s dismay, it wasn’t one of the films nominated for Best Documentary.
What made your list of snubs and surprises? I’m all ears!
