The final round of Oscars voting will run 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 11 through 5 p.m. PT on Feb. 18. A lot can still happen.
My Oscar Book:
I’m Still Here
There was also strong showings for Sony Classics’ Portuguese-language I’m Still Here (nominated for best picture, best actress for Fernanda Torres and best international feature for Brazil).
Also for Sideshow/Janus’ dialogue-free Flow (nominated for best animated feature and best international feature).
In the best documentary feature category, four of the five nominees are entirely in a language other than English and the fifth is partially.
(It’s certainly possible that this year’s nominations were impacted, to a degree, by the wildfire crisis that has been plaguing the Los Angeles area for weeks. Sixty percent of Academy members are based in SoCal, and many of them have had more pressing concerns on their mind than Oscar voting.)
Beyond best picture, there are plenty of other competitive categories this year. Best director, for the first time in 27 years, pits against each other 5 artists who have never previously been nominated for that award, including vetd Audiard, Baker and Mangold, as well as relative newbies Brady Corbet and Coralie Fargeat. (It’s the same lineup as the DGA Award’s, apart from Fargeat bouncing Berge.
Corbet, who won some critics awards, has the most compelling chances for winning. The director, who’s only 36, has made his epic film for less than $10 million, but it has become controversial due to recent AI charges.
Best Actress
No category has been more competitive this year than best actress.
Place could not be found for even Marianne Jean-Baptiste, a past Oscar nominee who swept the major critics awards for her searing turn in Hard Truths, or Angelina Jolie, a past Oscar winner and the A-lister of A-listers, who seemed an early front-runner for the biopic Maria.
The supporting acting categories look more settled and more easily redictable.
There is A Complete Unknown’s Edward Norton or Anora’s Yura Borisov, but A Real Pain’s Kieran Culkin, already a critics winner and a master at endearing acceptance speeches, is still the supporting actor to beat, even if his film came up short for a best picture nom.
Though Wicked’s Ariana Grande makes an impression in her first major film role and veteran Isabella Rossellini is Hollywood royalty with limited screen time in Conclave, Emilia Pérez’s Zoe Saldaña is the supporting actress front-runner.
Best international feature
For the first time ever, this category includes multiple films that were also nominated for best picture, Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here, and one of them will surely prevail.
Best documentary feature
This category is populated with 5 films that most Oscar voters outside of the Academy’s docu branch haven’t seen and won’t be especially enthused to check out.
The winner may be one of the fine films that also makes a social statement about the conflict in the Middle East (No Other Land) or in Ukraine (Porcelain War).
Best Animation
This category includes two films that also received nominatins outside of the category, Flow and The Wild Robot, which is certainly encouraging for their prospects, but they’re also up against 2024’s highest-grossing film, Disney’s Inside Out 2, which cannot be counted out.
