BAFTA makes a split-decision on "Barbenheimer"
Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 9:07PM
NATHANIEL R in All of Us Strangers, BAFTA, Oppenheimer, Punditry, Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest, precursor awards

by Nathaniel R

Sandra Hüller scored double nominations with BAFTA. Can she repeat that trick at the Oscars?

While "Barbenheimer" has largely led the American precursor system's many many many many many awards bodies / nomination tallies, the British felt differently. They'll take only the latter half of that summertime phenom; Oppenheimer nabbed 13 nods but Barbie only received 5. The runner up to Oppenheimer's British dominance was Poor Things with 11 citations (though none of those went to either of its two supporting actors who've had a curious precursor season despite being in such a popular film.) Killers of the Flower Moon and Anatomy of a Fall and Germany's Sandra Hüller (double-nominated) were also very popular with BAFTA voters. 

All the nominations and commentary are after the jump...

BEST FILM

The big surprise here -- though maybe we shouldn't be surprised? -- is the lack of Barbie and the inclusion of Anatomy of a Fall. Otherwise it's the DGA's list which is, as we've noted, usually the top five films in "Best Picture" over at the Oscars. Anatomy of a Fall is sure doing well for itself this season. 

BRITISH FILM

 

 

Poor Things is the only crossover with the "Best Film" list. Curious list and curious that Oppenheimer doesn't count as British despite its star director / producer pair. Of these films The Old Oak and How to Have Sex haven't made it to US release yet. 

LEAD ACTRESS

A major surprise here with Fantasia Barrino honored but Lily Gladstone left on the cutting room floor. Not that this means anything in Oscar voting. BAFTA has a very complex process to arrive at their acting lineups and it isn't at all similar to Oscar's process.

LEAD ACTOR 

A major bummer that Andrew Scott couldn't score on his home turf for All of Us Strangers (despite the film receiving TWO acting nominations). We'll assume he was in 7th place. Colman Domingo is the lone nominee for Rustin, something that's increasingly hard to do at the Oscars in this new era wherein Academy voters only appear to watch the top 15 contenders for the Best Picture slots and Rustin isn't in that conversation. We wait with bated breath to see if he makes Oscar's lineup.

Nice get for Teo Yoo, here! 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

While The Color Purple was ignored in the craft categories  it scored two acting nods with BAFTA. The interesting curio here is Claire Foy appearing for her brilliant work in All of Us Strangers. The strangest nomination, according to me, belongs to Sandra Hüller. While she's a gifted actress in general and absolutely worthy in Anatomy of a Fall, it's difficult to see why people might consider her work in The Zone of Interest (a brilliant film) as worthy of "best" of an entire year  -- the director and the sound design are the undisputed 'stars' of that particular picture. So it must be a case of amazing timing since people are so excited about Anatomy...

SUPPORTING ACTOR

A surprising list. Both Poor Things actors are shoved aside to make young rising stars: Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers),  Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) and yet moustache-twirling Robert De Niro is nominated even though the much more effective Lily Gladstone wasn't for Killers of the Flower Moon. Make it make sense!!!

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH, WRITER, DIRECTOR, OR PRODUCER

Bobi Wine scores again. Will it be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars?

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

It's always tricky to name a category or attempt to be politically correct with category names. People objected to "Foreign" for obvious reasons and International couldn't cut with BAFTA since they tend to favor American pictures. But "Not in the English Language" doesn't truthfully describe Anatomy of a Fall or Past Lives which are both probably 50% English.

DOCUMENTARY

All but Wham! are in the finals for an Oscar nomination in the Documentary category. 

ANIMATED FILM 

Chicken Run 2 has been a no-show until now during awards season. Can Aardman loyalty save it from the lack of conversation around it and place it firmly in Oscar's Animated Feature nominee list? We were predicting it until last week but Suzume, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles, and Super Mario Bros the Movie have all had a stronger presence in awards season thus far. 

DIRECTOR 

In an interesting major twist on the DGA choices, they've dumped Greta Gerwig and Martin Scorsese and Yorgos Lanthimos (the latter two despite their films doing incredibly well with BAFTA) and replaced them with Andrew Haigh, Justine Triet, and Bradley Cooper! 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Barbie will be competing in Adapted with Oscar but the rest of these films should feel very secure about impending Screenplay nominations at the Oscars.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

One of these will have to go at the Oscars to make room for Barbie. 

CASTING 

Even though we're absolutely certain the Academy would have terrible nominations in a Casting category, it's silly that they don't have one. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

It's the ASC list with the exception of The Zone of Interest taking the 'art film' slot that went to El Conde in the Guild's parallel let. I could see BAFTA's list easily translating to Oscar but you never know and there are definitely several worthy candidates. 

EDITING

Another list that's easy to picture repeating at the Oscars though we suspect Barbie does better across the pond and boots The Zone of Interest. 

COSTUME DESIGN 

Oscar is very fond of Mark Bridges (Maestro) who doesn't show up here. Will he knock one of these players out in Oscar's list? 

MAKEUP AND HAIR 

All five of these pictures made the Oscar finals (10 films wide) in their parallel category. But for the list to repeat they'll have to stave off the frostbite of Society of the Snow, the horror prosthetics of The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and Helen Mirren as Golda (among others)

ORIGINAL SCORE 

All five of these films are the Oscar finalist list (15 wide) but this list does not include John Williams who is eligible for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and it will be quite historic if the Oscar voters pass him by since they can't live without him (53 nominations!) if he's eligible.

PRODUCTION DESIGN 

Barbie is surely the frontrunner to win in the parallel category. but will the others all make the Oscar list or will one of them fall to The Color Purple or Wonka or Napoleon or Maestro or or or...

SOUND

We've long predicted that Ferrari would land in this category at the Oscars (despite its lack of buzz). But we have trouble picturing MIssion Impossible making it to Oscar race. As impossible as it is to believe Oscar voters have never recognized that franchise in any category -- not even  Sound or Visual Effects! 

VISUAL EFFECTS

Napoleon had a better than expected showing at BAFTA. Will it also land Oscar noms? Does anyone actually love that movie? It would be a real shame if Oscar voters ignored Godzilla Minus One since it crossed the hurdle of actually making the Oscar finals. 

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

Wild Summon is also a possibility at the Oscars (in animated short)

BRITISH SHORT FILM

Yellow is also a possibility at the Oscars (in live action short) 

EE RISING STAR AWARD 

 

This one is voted on by the public. Tough to say who might win but it's quite a good list. 

What do you think of BAFTA's nominations this year? 

 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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