Countdown to the Oscars: With nominations tomorrow, a couple things we would like to see

A lot becomes clear on Oscar nominations morning. As I type this, we are about 12 hours away from learning what films, filmmakers, craftspeople, and performers remain in the running for the 2021 Academy Awards. No more guessing whether the Academy enjoyed this movie or that. No more guessing how strong or weak certain contenders truly are. We get answers – answers that lead to the next round of guessing.

Before we get there, the world is full of possibilities. For now, we can imagine that anything will happen. We can dream wildly, wonder imaginatively, and hope with our full hearts that movies we love will be loved by the industry insiders who vote on the Academy Awards. With that in mind, let’s have a little fun and put out into the universe the kind of energy we hope to see tomorrow morning.

Here are a couple things I am hoping to see from the nominations announcement:

The continued dismantling of the barriers between international features and English-language films

Two years ago, Parasite broke through the glass ceiling, becoming the first film not in the English language to win Best Picture. It was an amazing moment and a thrilling suggestion of what is possible for the future of these awards. That said, just 13 times in 93 years has a foreign-language film competed for Best Picture, let alone in the 20+ other categories.

The directors and writers branches have always been open to endorsing films from other countries, which is why European legends such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini have so many nominations. Just last year, we had Thomas Vinterberg nominated for Best Director for his sublime Another Round. Bong Joon-ho won two years ago and Alfonso Cuaron three years ago for films not in English. 

For the Academy to remain relevant as an arbiter of the best in film, these are the nominations that must happen. World cinema is cinema. This year, brilliant options across all categories exist in the foreign language landscape. Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi could land nominations for writing and directing the ecstatically reviewed Drive My Car. Meanwhile, Joachim Trier could represent Norway with the well loved The Worst Person in the World.

Speaking of The Worst Person in the World, that film’s star, Renate Reinsve, gives one of the best regarded performances of the year and could land in Best Actress. There with her could be previous acting winner and three-time nominee Penelope Cruz for her stellar work in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers. 

This is all not to mention great films like A Hero and Compartment No. 6, which should compete in categories up and down the ballot. The point being, the Academy needs to embrace the international community and accept that the future of the Oscars is as a global platform for the movie industry, not just classic Hollywood fare.

Let’s end the slavish devotion to rewarding serviceable work in less-than-successful biopics

Speaking of classic Hollywood fare, who doesn’t love a good biopic? Good being the operative word there. Cards on the table here, my favorite film of the year was a biopic – tune in to the Last Cinema Standing Year in Review next week to find out which one! But we, and the Academy, should demand more from an artform starved for originality. The biopic has been done to death, but that has not stopped voters from rewarding every one they can get their hands on.

Case in point, the almost shocking ease with which Renee Zelwegger cruised to a Best Actress win two years ago for the dull, uninspiring Judy. Zelwegger is fine as Judy Garland, but it is an imitation at best in a movie that has little interest in exploring Garland as anything more than a tragic figure with little depth or nuance. Over in Best Actor, from 2010-2019, we saw King George VI, Abraham Lincoln, Ron Woodroof, Stephen Hawking, Hugh Glass, Winston Churchill, and Freddie Mercury walk away with awards – or at least, the actors who played them.

I am not saying all or any of these performances are bad, but in a cinematic world where anything is possible, must we continue rewarding imitations of life, rather than unique renderings of people we have never seen? I love Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, but are there not five better performances than those they gave in Being the Ricardos? Same goes for Jessica Chastain, another superb performer, in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Here’s hoping the Academy can think outside this particular box.