Silly Awards Ceremony Post

This was a good year for movies, and the nominations reflect that

The Oscar nominees have been officially announced, and I think this is the first year in a long time that, at the time of their nomination, I had already seen all the Best Picture nominees and most of the other nominees for major awards. That’s probably because it’s the first year in a long time that I wanted to see most of the likely nominees in major categories; even if they ultimately disappointed me, as some of them did, I was genuinely motivated to see them. And, even more surprising, I think most of them are actually good movies or even better than good. Oppenheimer, The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, and American Fiction were all excellent or even important films. Barbie, Poor Things, The Holdovers and Past Lives were all films that I appreciated and would recommend, even though I have criticisms of all of them. Of the nominees, only Killers of the Flower Moon and Maestro were real disappointments, and even those had worthwhile things about them.

The same holds for most of the other major nominations. I am exceedingly glad that Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet were nominated for Best Director for The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall respectively; those nominations were amply deserved and they could easily have been overlooked. I’m sure Alexander Payne (The Holdovers) and Greta Gerwig (Barbie) were disappointed to be passed over, but put them head to head with Glazer and Triet for their respective films and I think the Academy recognized the right directors. I’m also very pleased to see Cord Jefferson get nominated in the Adapted Screenplay category for American Fiction and Samy Burch get nominated in the Original Screenplay category (along with Alex Mechanik, who shared story credit) for May December.

There weren’t a lot of surprises in the acting categories, and I haven’t seen Rustin, Nyad or The Color Purple yet, so I have no opinion about the nominations that went to Colman Domingo, Annette Bening, Jody Foster and Danielle Brooks, other than to say that they are all wonderful actors. But I will say that I am encouraged that the Academy declined to nominate Leonardo DiCaprio this year for Killers of the Flower Moon (I thought he was a big part of the problem with that film), and that they also passed over Margot Robbie for Barbie (she was wonderful in it, but I think there were more impressive performances in more complex roles this year).

What the above all demonstrates to me is: this was a good year for movies. Looking just at the Best Picture nominees, the last year that is roughly comparable in terms of my feelings about the overall quality of and personal interest in the films was 2019, when Parasite won. But I think this year edges it out. Barbie is much more fun (and also better) than Joker (that year’s commercial phenomenon). American Fiction is more sophisticated (and also better), than Little Women (that year’s metafictional film for bibliophiles). (For what it’s worth, I also preferred Barbie to Little Women.) The Zone of Interest is a far more important (and also better) film than Jojo Rabbit (that year’s Holocaust film). Anatomy of a Fall is a much more interesting (and also better) film than Marriage Story (that year’s fighting couple film). And while I found Killers of the Flower Moon to be extremely disappointing, I found The Irishman (that year’s Scorsese film) quite dull and disappointing as well.

I don’t mean to slight 2019’s slate in any way. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was pretty flawless, as well as being a lot of fun (and a much better vehicle for DiCaprio than Killers of the Flower Moon). Parasite was not only historic but beautifully executed, with a wonderful ensemble of actors, a gorgeous production design and cinematography, and an absolutely sure directorial hand. I even forgive it for kicking off the baleful “eat the rich” trend of mostly-terrible films since then because it was so good. But on the other hand, this year had Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s greatest achievement to date and a film that I expect to endure longer than any film from 2019, certainly longer than 1917, that year’s serious historical film with a big directorial “concept” (in 1917’s case, making much of the film seem like a single shot playing out in real time). And, to be clear, I liked 1917 quite a bit. About the only thing this year’s slate is missing that 2019 had is a pure dad-oriented entertainment like Ford v Ferrari.

That caveat does point to one thing that should still worry people about the state of film. A lot of what I said in this post a little over a year ago, and that Ross Douthat said in this piece which followed up on it, is still true. The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall are truly excellent films, for example, and they aren’t out to alienate or confuse their audience. I found them both riveting. But they are the opposite of populist, and not just because they aren’t (entirely) in English. Of the ten films nominated for Best Picture this year, only two—Barbie and The Holdovers—set out unabashedly to entertain, and even those have asterisks, Gerwig’s film because it is so peculiar and chaotic (to be fair, a big part of its charm), and Payne’s because, well, it’s directed by Alexander Payne, whom one wouldn’t expect to direct a feel-good Christmas movie. This was a good year for movies, but Hollywood may still be struggling to remember how to make populist entertainment for grownups.

Nonetheless, the arrows are finally pointed in the right direction. And the numbers are pointed the right way as well. 2023 was, famously, the year of the “flopbuster” as a number of big-budget and high-profile tentpole films performed disastrously at the box office. Indeed, only one film made for over $200 million turned a profit in 2023. But films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Marvels (none of which I saw or wanted to see) are precisely the kinds of films that need to fail if the film industry is ever to get its groove back: cynical, IP-based retreads, sequels and “universe” entries. But despite those flops, and despite major releases like Dune: Part Two being delayed to 2024 because of the SAG strike, box office revenue was up significantly from 2022 (though still down from pre-pandemic numbers), driven substantially by the massive successes of Barbie and Oppenheimer (along with, to be fair, The Super Mario Bro. Movie, Taylor Swift’s concert film and outside-the-system hit Sound of Freedom).

It’s too soon to know whether late releases like The Holdovers or American Fiction make money—though Poor Things is already in the black—but executives looking at 2023 wouldn’t be crazy to conclude that what the public wants is well-told stories that they haven’t already seen, and that if these films are made by confident and capable directors for a non-astronomical price, they can make money, with some chance that they make a lot of money. That’s a business model, and a better one for art than the one Hollywood has been following for the past decade. So I hope that’s exactly the conclusion they come to.

I’ve written about some of the nominees already. My next piece in Modern Age will discuss both Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon in some depth, along with briefer treatment of Maestro, Napoleon (nominated for Production Design, Costume Design and Visual Effects), Ferrari and Priscilla (neither nominated for anything). My last piece, about Barbie and Poor Things, is now available on line; you can read it here. I wrote about American Fiction for this Substack here. I wrote a brief capsule piece about The Zone of Interest here; in the same piece are capsule write-ups of Poor Things and Perfect Days (nominated for Best International Feature).

I haven’t written yet about Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers or Past Lives, but I’ll endeavor to do so before the awards ceremony in March. I also hope to write about May December (nominated for Best Original Screenplay), which impressed me very much, as well as The Boy and the Heron (nominated for Best Animated Film), which is at least high-middle-tier Miyazaki (which is to say: exceptionally good), and I may well return to The Zone of Interest and writing something more substantial about that powerful and important film.

But don’t wait for me to say any more. This was a good year for movies. Go see some—in the theater if at all possible.