Mank leads the nominees but oddly doesn’t seem like much of a frontrunner for anything
The 2021 Oscar nominations are finally here! After all this delay, there really wasn’t as many surprises or freak snubs as I was hoping for. The Academy pulled a couple little substitutions in here, like Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round knocking out Aaron Sorkin in Best Director, and both leads of Judas and the Black Messiah being nominated in supporting (don’t ask me why they did that), but otherwise, the eight Best Picture nominees were more or less expected. The snubs in that category were Ma Rainey, News of the World and One Night in Miami being left off (boo!), while Sound of Metal turned out to be much stronger than I thought after all. But the story of the nominations today was all the diversity. For the first time in history, two women are nominated in Best Director (Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell) and both of their films (Nomadland and Promising Young Woman) are the only two that hit all the most important categories (Picture, Director, Screenplay and Editing). Also for the first time in history, there are two Asian men nominated for Lead Actor, with Steven Yeun for Minari becoming the first Asian-American man ever nominated in the category. And for only the second time since 1972, two black women are nominated in Lead Actress, with Viola Davis becoming the most nominated African-American woman ever. Those are things to celebrate, as the Oscars will be held on April 25th at both Union Station in Los Angeles and the Dolby Theater somehow (don’t know how they’re going to pull that off- if you ask me the obvious decision here was to hold the whole thing outside at the Hollywood Bowl).
2021 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE
"The Father"
"Judas and the Black Messiah"
"Mank"
"Minari"
"Nomadland"
"Promising Young Woman"
"Sound of Metal"
"The Trial of the Chicago 7″
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Riz Ahmed, "Sound of Metal"
Chadwick Boseman, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
Anthony Hopkins, "The Father"
Gary Oldman, "Mank"
Steven Yeun, "Minari"
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Viola Davis, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
Andra Day, "The United States vs. Billie Holiday"
Vanessa Kirby, "Pieces of a Woman"
Frances McDormand, "Nomadland"
Carey Mulligan, "Promising Young Woman"
DIRECTOR
Thomas Vinterberg, "Another Round"
David Fincher, "Mank"
Lee Isaac Chung, "Minari"
Chloe Zhao, "Nomadland"
Emerald Fennell, "Promising Young Woman"
My disdain for this movie has me rooting for Andra Day in Best Actress, but the strength of the film would seem to make Mulligan the frontrunner
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Maria Bakalova, "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"
Glenn Close, "Hillbilly Elegy"
Olivia Colman, "The Father"
Amanda Seyfried, "Mank"
Youn Yuh-jung, "Minari"
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sacha Baron Cohen, "The Trial of the Chicago 7"
Daniel Kaluuya, "Judas and the Black Messiah"
Leslie Odom Jr., "One Night in Miami"
Paul Raci, "Sound of Metal"
Lakeith Stanfield, "Judas and the Black Messiah"
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Borat Subsequent MovieFilm"
"The Father"
"Nomadland"
"One Night in Miami"
"The White Tiger"
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Judas and the Black Messiah"
"Minari"
"Promising Young Woman"
"Sound of Metal"
"The Trial of the Chicago 7"
Someone needs to explain to me who the lead of Judas and the Black Messiah is if it’s not either Kaluuya or Stanfield
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
"Another Round" - Denmark
"Better Days" - Hong Kong
"Collective" - Romania
"The Man Who Sold His Skin" - Tunisia
“Qu Vadis, Aida?” - Bosnia and Herzegovina
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Collective"
"Crip Camp"
"The Mole Agent"
"My Octopus Teacher"
"Time"
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Onward"
"Over the Moon"
"A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon"
"Soul"
"Wolfwalkers"
FILM EDITING
"The Father"
"Nomadland"
"Promising Young Woman"
"Sound of Metal"
"The Trial of the Chicago 7"
Minari landed two acting nominations from its great ensemble and I think Youn Yuh-jung is now the frontrunner for Supporting Actress
ORIGINAL SCORE
"Da 5 Bloods"
"Mank"
"Minari"
"News of the World"
"Soul"
ORIGINAL SONG
"Fight For You" from "Judas and the Black Messiah"
"Hear My Voice" from "The Trial of the Chicago 7"
"Husavik" from "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga"
"lo Sì (Seen)" from "The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)"
"Speak Now" from "One Night in Miami..."
PRODUCTION DESIGN
"The Father"
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
"Mank"
"News of the World"
"Tenet"
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, "Judas and the Black Messiah"
Erik Messerschmidt, "Mank"
Dariusz Wolski, "News of the World"
Joshua James Richards, "Nomadland"
Phedon Papamichael , "The Trial of the Chicago 7"
Despite Mank’s gorgeous black and white, I’m thinking Nomadland is the winner in cinematography
COSTUME DESIGN
"Emma"
"Ma Rainey's Blackbottom"
"Mank"
"Mulan"
"Pinocchio"
SOUND
"Greyhound"
"Mank"
"News of the World"
"Soul"
"Sound of Metal"
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
"Emma"
"Hillbilly Elegy"
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
"Mank"
"Pinocchio"
VISUAL EFFECTS
"Love and Monsters"
"The Midnight Sky"
"Mulan"
"The One and Only Ivan"
"Tenet"
Another Round’s BAFTA strength was a harbinger, as Thomas Vinterberg made it into Best Director, but alas, no Actor nom for Mads Mikkelsen
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Burrow"
"Genius Loci"
"If Anything Happens I Love You"
"Opera"
"Yes-People"
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
"Colette"
"A Concerto Is a Conversation"
"Do Not Split"
"Hunger Ward"
"A Love Song For Latasha"
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"Feeling Through"
"The Letter Room"
"The Present"
"Two Distant Strangers"
"White Eye"
