ASC surprises with nominations for "Wicked" and "Maria"

by Cláudio Alves

WICKED's Alice Brooks may become the fourth woman ever nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar.

This past week, among the bigger guild announcements, like those of the WGA and PGA, the American Society of Cinematographers also shared their nominees for the season. And what a collection of curious choices they make. For starters, the ASC has decided to expand its main film category to seven nominees instead of the traditional five. But then you have the honored works themselves, including Wicked, which has been lambasted to hell and back for its blinding light choices, poor blocking, and murky color grade. The presence of some of the guild's favorite artists – Papamichael and Lachman come to mind – also surprised, somewhat. It seems A Complete Unknown has a shot at a Best Cinematography nomination, and Maria hasn't been so utterly forgotten after all…

Theatrical Feature Film

• Jarin Blaschke, NOSFERATU
• Alice Brooks, WICKED
• Lol Crawley, THE BRUTALIST
• Stéphane Fontaine, CONCLAVE
• Greig Fraser, DUNE: PART TWO
• Edward Lachman, MARIA
• Phedon Papamichael, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Spotlight Award 

• Michal Dymek, THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
• Jomo Fray, NICKEL BOYS
• Klaus Kneist & Renata Mwende, NAWI

Documentary Award 

• Michael Crommett, PHOTOGRAPHER: DAN WINTERS LIFE IS ONCE. FOREVER
• Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw, GAUCHO GAUCHO
• Andrey Stefanov, PORCELAIN WAR

So, let's do some digging into the relationship between the ASC awards and the Oscars. Since 2013, when the guild introduced its Spotlight category, meant to honor smaller pictures, those independent productions that mostly screen at festivals and get very limited releases.

2013 – 5/5 
2014 – 5/5*
2015 – 4/5 The Hateful Eight was nominated by AMPAS but not ASC.
2016 – 5/5 
2017 – 5/5 
2018 – 4/5 Never Look Away was nominated by AMPAS but not ASC.
2019 – 5/5*
2020 – 4/5 Judas and the Black Messiah was nominated by AMPAS but not ASC.
2021 – 4/5 West Side Story was nominated by AMPAS but not ASC.
2022 – 3/5 All Quiet on the Western Front and Bardo were nominated by AMPAS but not ASC.
2023 – 5/5

In 2014 and 2019, the perfect match was only possible by replacing one of the ASC's nominees for Theatrical Feature Film with one of their Spotlight Award picks. That means there's still hope for Nickel Boys and The Girl with the Needle, especially the latter. After all, in both cases, the Spotlight transfer was an arthouse black-and-white critical hit, first Ida and then The Lighthouse. And we all know how the cinematographers' branch loves itself some silvery grayscale dipped in china ink.

And yet, it's possible for the Academy to pick another film altogether, going beyond the guild's taste which, while more adventurous than the average precursor, is still fairly focused on mainstream Hollywood productions. Some of the movies that gave way to those Oscar "surprises" include Bridge of Spies, Cherry, The Batman, and Top Gun: Maverick. That could spell trouble for Wicked. Then again, am I giving the Academy too much credit?

It's easy to imagine AMPAS' lineup matching five of the ASC's theatrical septet. If Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Nosferatu, and The Brutalist are near locks, I hope the fifth slot falls to Maria. Say what you want about the movie – by far the weakest of Larraín's diva tryptic – but Lachman's lensing is impeccable, mixing gold-kissed color 16mm with gorgeous black-and-white. It often looks like a midcentury Vogue editorial come to life, breaching into more oneiric theatricality when La Callas' psyche crumbles and fantasy takes the place of truth.

On another note, for the first time in heaven knows how long, I won't be too outraged over a Phedon Papamichael nomination. A Complete Unknown is much better shot than Trial of the Chicago 7, at the very least. With its current surge of popularity in industry awards, it may be our fifth Best Cinematography Oscar nominee.

And now, for the television and music video categories, we have…

Episode of a Half-Hour Series 

• Adam Bricker, HACKS "Just for Laughs"
• Carl Herse, THE FRANCHISE "Sc 31A: Tecto Meets Eye"
• Richard Rutkowski, SUGAR, "Starry-Eyed"
• Seamus Tierney, EMILY IN PARIS "Masquerade"
• Kyle Wullschleger, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Episode of a One-Hour Regular Series

• Adriano Goldman, THE CROWN "Sleep, Dearie Sleep"
• Catherine Goldschmidt, HOUSE OF THE DRAGON "The Queen Who Ever Was"
• Baz Irvine, SILO "The Engineer"
• Alejandro Martinez, HOUSE OF THE DRAGON" "Rhaenyra the Cruel"
• Sam Mccurdy, SHOGUN "Crimson Sky"
• Christopher Ross, SHOGUN, "Anjin"

Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

• Adam Arkapaw, MASTERS OF THE AIR "Part Three"
• Michael Berlucchi, INTERIOR CHINATOWN "Generic Asian man"
• Robert Elswit, RIPLEY "Lucio"
• Jonathan Freeman, THE PENGUIN "Homecoming"
• Emmanuel Lubezki & Bruno Delbonnel, DISCLAIMER "Episode I"
• Zoë White, HOLD YOUR BREATH 

ASC Music Video Award

• Pepe Avila del Pino, RESIDENTE - 313
• Scott Cunningham, JENNIFER LOPEZ – REBOUND
• Rodrigo Prieto, TAYLOR SWIFT - FORTNIGHT

How on earth was The Bear snubbed in the half-hour category? Sure, the third season wasn't as dazzling as that knockout of a sophomore year, but it's still one of the best-looking shows on TV. And it's not as if the ASC has the dilemma of voting for it in comedy categories, even though that genre categorization is dubious at best and outrageous at worst.

Anyway, many of these nominees feel eminently deserving. Though, since I had to watch a lot of TV for the Golden Globes, let me just say that Sugar's lensing is all over the place. Some of the show's aesthetic incongruities result from occasionally wild editing patterns, but the cinematography is often more distracting and muddying than functional or even pleasant to look at. In other news, I would love for a show that escaped the trend of anamorphic lenses and diminutive focal lengths to win here, but Shogun seems bound for another victory. Those TV cinematographers really love themselves some bokeh.

Are you incensed by the Wicked nomination, or do you defend Alice Brooks' work like the ASC voters and the movie’s online fandom?