2024 felt like a breath of fresh air when it came to film. It seemed like every single weekend we got another banger in theatres or on streaming platforms. From “Challengers” to “Wicked” to “Nickel Boys,” cinema has never felt more back than it did this last movie season.
However, when it came time for awards season, all of that optimism and hope went straight out the window. For one of the most fun and inventive years in film in a long time, it felt like awards season was a never-ending cycle of stress and disappointment. Although, the highs were there.
Now that the Oscars have finished and this awards season has finally reached its conclusion, I think it’s time to take a look back on this polarizing past few months. Post mortem style.
Heroes, Villains and everything else in between.
I think it’s fair to say that this film award season has been nothing short of cinematic, ironic I know. With every story comes the protagonists,antagonists and whatever else might appear along the way. It was pretty easy to figure out who the protagonists would be this awards season because a ton of great films came out.
There was quite a variety to choose from and I certainly had my favorites. “Nickel Boys” was a breath of fresh air with its stunning cinematography and powerful story. “Anora” was a wild ride with a lot of heart and a great performance from Mikey Madison, who played Anora in “Anora”. “The Substance” was nothing short of high camp with an interesting story at the center of it. “Wicked” truly rocked my world and brought back the grandiose joy of the movie musical.
When the nominations started rolling in and the core films to receive acclaim this season were made apparent, I was excited to see these films in the conversation along with a few I still need to check out like “Conclave” and “Sing Sing.”
Still, amongst these films that defined an entire year and wowed everyone, there were certainly some outliers, well specifically one in particular…”Emilia Perez.”
Why is “Emilia Perez?”
Every story needs its villain and although everyone seemed to believe “Wicked” might fill that slot – since it was a blockbuster and film communities tend to not be as kind to those films despite their merit – it turned out that Elphaba, Galinda and the rapture of Ariana Grande stans were the least of our concerns.
It’s hard to tell what made “Emilia Perez” so appealing to Academy voters because despite the many things that film attempts to do, it’s not very good at doing any of them. It’s a musical without any memorable songs. Although there is one particular song, La Vaginoplasty, that went viral for all the wrong reasons.
It wants to tell the story of a trans woman without any respect for the subject at hand, as pointed out by various trans people online. It’s attempting to tell the story of Mexico and the drug cartels without any respect for that story. The storytelling and dialogue choices are laughable at best and it’s a bit infuriating to see the lack of care or respect Jaques Audiard has for the identities he’s attempting to showcase on screen. Not to mention the film looks terrible.
I’ll take the annoying “Wicked” lens flares over the dull color grading and orange filters of “Emilia Perez” any day of the week. It seems like nobody liked this movie, except for maybe Selena Gomez fans. It also didn’t help that it seemed like every single week either the director orthe cast found themselves in some sort of controversy. Apparently, this was not as obvious to voting academies as it swept the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, BAFTAs and eventually to everyone’s dismay, the Oscars. Watching “Emilia Perez” exist in the same category as films that will go down as classics was a bit painful to watch.
Although it was apparent that Zoe Saldaña was going to dominate the best supporting actress category across the board, that didn’t make it any easier to watch. Her tone deafness towards criticism of the film also didn’t help either to be completely honest. I understand she’s been in a lot of great films over the years, but I don’t know if being one of the better actors in a terrible movie is worthy of some of the biggest awards in film especially when there were so many other great ones to choose from.
I know I’m quite biased and I’ll admit that, but Ariana Grande really gave the role of Galinda her all. She truly lit up the screen. It was truly career defining for her, on par with her musical body of work. Monica Barbaro’s take on Joan Baez was a huge standout for me as well. Although I’ve yet to see “The Brutalist” and “Conclave,” I’ve heard great things about Felicity Jones and Isabella Rossellni’s performance.
In a perfect world, Saldaña’s spot should have either gone to Margaret Qualley in “The Substance” or Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in “Nickel Boys” and it sucks that with the exception of a few awards, these two never really got what they deserved from this award season. Goodbye “Emilia Perez,” I’ll be glad when I never have to hear about you ever again.
Respecting the Balance (or maybe not?)
I think the biggest discourse to really affect awards season was the battle of the generations when it came to the acting nominees.
For the longest time, it really looked like Demi Moore was going to sweep every award show for her performance as Elizabeth Sparkle in “The Substance,” a win that would’ve been huge for not only Moore’s long career but also for the horror genre, a genre that has often been neglected.
Although these awards honor the best in acting and in all aspects of film, a good narrative doesn’t hurt and Moore had both of these things going for her. After her beautiful speech at the Golden Globes, she was definitely everyone’s pick for best actress, but there was a bit of a catch – that catch was Madison.
“Anora” is one of those films that wouldn’t work without some sort of personality to really help the story shine because the plot is a bit basic compared to other films from last year. Madison is the person who made this film work for me. She straight up steals the show and frankly, she is the whole movie for me. “Anora” would be nothing without her performance. I don’t think it would be as memorable. When she won the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) Award, I was surprised but not shocked. To me, that’s when the best actress race became a toss up and frankly it was one of the more interesting narratives to play out this awards season, especially at the Oscars, where Madison ultimately took home the award in a major upset. Although there was an outlier every once in a while, I think the core nominees were extremely strong.
Between Madison, Moore, Cynthia Erivo and Fernanda Torres – as well as a few outliers like Nicole Kidman and Pamela Anderson. I found this category to be quite satisfying compared to years past. The best actress category in general was extremely strong this year. It felt like the passing of the baton from one generation of film icons to the next, while giving living legends their flowers while they’re still in their prime. I loved the variety in this category.
Knock Knock Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (for that trophy)
The Best Actor category left even less to be desired in comparison to the best actress because at least with that one they were all pretty great options. I think this category is where the idea of an award’s season narrative comes into play.
In my opinion, this award belonged to either Timothee Chalamet or Coleman Domingo. They both have such an interesting filmography and creative process and bring something new and fresh into acting. I think it’s become a bit of a joke now how far Chalamet was willing to go for that Oscar but I do think there was a lot of heart in his various stunts.
Between his SNL double header to his college football game appearance to all of the red carpet looks, I think this was a career defining era for him. Not all of it really made sense, but he was committed to it and I think the marketing method worked especially when you’re playing someone as unconventional as Bob Dylan. “A Complete Unknown” was really one of the best films of the year for me, but I think Chalamet’s dedication to it really elevated everyone’s perception of his performance in particular.
By the time nominations rolled around it was pretty much determined that it was going to be between Chalamet and Adrian Brody in “The Brutalist”. Although he’s been in some films I’ve enjoyed, I’ve never truly been sold on Brody.
I think it’s his behavior off screen that rubbed me the wrong way. Obviously, there’s his racist SNL monologue that allegedly was too far even for Lorne Micheals, his association with numerous controversial Hollywood figures and that weird moment with Halle Berry when he won his first Oscar. Somehow he still has supporters and seemed poised to do well this season. This season in particular, he found himself in yet another controversy, as halfway through awards season it was revealed that his Hungarian accent in “The Brutalist” was perfected using an AI software, which launched a massive conversation on the ethics of AI in film and whether or not this should cost him the award.
AI is something I’m not the biggest fan of, especially when it comes to creative fields like film,but I was curious to see if this would affect Brody’s Campaign since it seemed like nothing else could. Ultimately, it didn’t but there was a small glimmer of hope for Chalamet and that came in the form of his first win and speech at the SAG awards. He spoke with honesty and sincerity about wanting to be one of the greats of his generation and referenced his inspirations. It was a vast departure to the nonchalance of Gen Z’s attitudes.
Unfortunately, this was the only speech he would get to do and ultimately Brody took home the Oscar, but I think if anything Chalamet might be even more respected than before. Compare this to Brody’s Oscars Speech, which was the polar opposite of the sincerity and humility of Chalamet’s speech. He came across as quite arrogant as he took up valuable time from other winners and acted pretty cocky. To me, this was the narrative of the best actor race. It was the old guard vs the next generation, but unlike the best actress race, I think they made a huge mistake. By siding with the traditions of the past in someone like Brody, they dismissed the future of actors. I believe the future is looking pretty bright for Chalamet and Domingo, but I’m not too sure about Brody.
The Forgotten Children of Awards Season
Although it was great to see so many amazing films get their flowers, there were also so many neglected gems that I would’ve loved to see get some more love. The most obvious snub is “Challengers,” something that I haven’t stopped talking about since the final sets of nominations came out. Zendaya and Josh O’Connor should’ve been in contention for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor and it’s a shame the score and cinematography were overlooked too despite how inventive and memorable they were. It’ll be one of those snubs that’ll go down in film history and I’ll probably never shut up about it either.
Speaking of Luca Guadningo, it was a pretty rough awards season for him too, as “Queer” was also pretty much forgotten this season, despite pretty major awards buzz following its premiere.
“Sing Sing” was another film that I saw get a ton of nominations but not a lot wins despite its major critical and audience praise, although similar to “Queer,” I think a lot this had to do with the lack of campaigning done by their distributor A24 as they seemed to be preoccupied with “The Brutalist.”
“Nickel Boys” was another film that should’ve had more of a presence especially within the cinematography category and overall I wish it had gotten so much more love this awards season.
“Dune: Part 2” probably should’ve gotten some more nominations and I partially blame that on recency bias since it premiered in early March, but I’m glad it still got a few technical awards. In terms of films that gain a ton of nominations, I hoped “The Substance” would get some more love, but given that many award circles tend to have a bias against horror films, I’m glad it got what it did and here’s hoping this opens the door for more horror films to win major awards.
Although a bit controversial, I was kind of hoping “Wicked” would win more this season. Here’s hoping that they get a bit more love for “Wicked: For Good.” In terms of some other films that I thought didn’t get what they deserved this season I would have to go with “Saturday Night,” “Blink Twice” and “I Saw The TV Glow.”
Now that this chaotic awards season has finally come to an end, I think it’s time for everyone to get a bit more offline when it comes to film discourse because at the end of the day, many of these awards tend to be about industry politics and less about films themselves. It’s no wonder that a lot of problematic behavior is rewarded by the award shows. This is something I tend to forget too.
What can I say? I get really into this stuff.
For every “Parasite,” or “Everything Everywhere All At Once” or “Anora” sweep, there’s numerous “Green Books” or “Bohemian Rapsodys,” films that we’re bound to forget about the next year.
I adore film and I love to see the boundaries of it be defied each year. There are so many amazing things out there to check out and so many amazing voices who are changing the industry and the medium as a whole and I think that’s what people tend to forget. Although I wasn’t necessarily satisfied with this awards season, that doesn’t take away from these films.
The online film space was a mess this time around and I think that has a lot to do with how much importance we put into these awards and the different narratives surrounding them. If anything, I think we’re headed into the next chapter in film history. People are ready for a change. They’re ready for new creative minds with something fresh and exciting to bring to the table.
Film is a genre like no other because there are so many creative visions at work, in front of and behind the camera. Although the state of the world feels more and more hopeless each day, I know that this medium is headed in a new and exciting direction and I don’t think a golden statue will be the end all be all.
Goodbye Awards Season 2024, we’re better off without you.