BAFTA Nominations

by Nathaniel R

Apologies for not posting the BAFTA nominations sooner but they lulled us to sleep. BAFTA was not always a precursor to the Oscars,sometimes taking place afterwards and with less eligibility crossover. But as BAFTA moved to earlier dates and  "Hollywood" went more global, things have long since changed. We did have some forced dissimilarities for a short while when BAFTA starting making the rules quite complex (for equity purposes) but as you'll see things have settled back down to just being very similar to the Oscars even if the multiple ballot procedure (with longlists for each category) suggests at first that they won't be all that similar. One Battle After Another led the nominations with 14...

Film

Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

We've long suspected these were "The Five"... younger Oscar fans probably don't get this but those of us who grew up with only five allowed, you can usually feel how it would have gone regardless of all the changes, if there were still only five. That doesn't however line up with how it used to go with Best Director vs Best Picture since this is also Oscar's exact Best Director list (which in ye olden times was usually a 4/5 situation)... But we'll never know for sure. Perhaps it was Frankenstein as fifth without the companion Best Director nomination.

British Film

28 Years Later
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Die My Love
H Is For Hawk
Hamnet
I Swear
Mr. Burton
Pillion
Steve

Nice to see Pillion here! The gay S&M romantic dramedy is fantastic but sadly it got the "qualifying only" treatment in the US so it never had proper time to build a fanbase. When it is more widely seen iit will become one of those... "why didn't more people vote for it?" peculiarities in retrospect.  And that'll be blamed on the subject matter but the truth is more dull and it's that if films have any barriers to mainstream awards reception (such as subject matter or genre or lack of prestige elements or unknown actors or whatnot) they need a lot of eyeballs on them and a lot of discussion for people to realize how good they are. But you actually have to come out in theaters or on streaming for that to happen. 

Film Not in the English Language

It Was Just An Accident
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirat
The Voice of Hind Rajab

I don't know about you but I find it disturbing that this is the exact same list that Oscar came up with. There are so many great films each year once you include all countries. Does the British Academy truly have the exact same tastebuds as the American Academy in their subtitled pictures? That seems unlikely but here we are. Justice for No Other Choice!!!

Leading Actress

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

With six spots here you'll see that it's Oscars five plus Chase Infiniti who was surely running sixth in Hollywood (given the precursors and overall nomination tallies). 

Leading Actor

Robert Aramayo, I Swear
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Jesse Plemmons, Bugonia

Here the only slight variation is someone who wasn't eligible at the Oscars (because otherwise, identical list): Robert Aramayo. It makes you wish that BAFTA would just have five so we could actually see who they preferred. I Swear, which is the lone addition,  is a 1980s / 1990s set biopic about a man with Tourettes Syndrome, before people properly understood the condition. It has no official release date yet in the US but Sony Pictures Classics have distribution rights. 

Supporting Actress

Odessa A'Zion, Marty Supreme
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Carey Mulligan, The Ballad of Wallis Island
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Emily Watson, Hamnet

A little variety now from Oscar's list, though they dumped the great Amy Madigan so be careful what you wish for. But in place of Madigan and Fanning we have A'Zion (who was probably close to a nod given the SAG recognition and Marty Supreme's popularity) and Emily Watson from Hamnet. Oh and Mulligan, too, due to the extra slot. 

Supporting Actor

Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Paul Mescal, Hamnet
Peter Mullan, I Swear
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Again we have mostly the Oscar nominees though they ditched Delroy Lindo for Paul Mescal (who was nominated for everything EXCEPT the Oscar for his leading role in Hamnet). BAFTA also included enduring character actor Peter Mullan as the protagonist's boss in I Swear. Here's a question for UK-based readers: Whatever became of Mullan's moonlighting as a director? He was BAFTA nominated for The Magdalene Sisters (2002) but only one directorial effort since. Anyone know? 

Director

Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

The Oscar nominees plus... Yorgos Lanthimos. I wasn't quiet expecting that to be their addition, were you? 

Original Screenplay

I Swear
Marty Supreme
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Slightly more variation here from the Oscar list since we're back to five-wide races for the non-marquee categories. They chose I Swear and The Secret Agent instead of Oscar's preference for Blue Moon and It Was Just An Accident.

Adapted Screenplay

The Ballad of Wallis Island
Bugonia
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Pillion

 Slightly more variation here too to include The Ballad of Wallis Island and Pillion (across the ocean the Academy had Frankenstein and Train Dreams in those slots). Pillion is a phenomenal choice in terms of Screenplay but I have to admit I am still baffled by the very kind reception for The Ballad of Wallis Island which felt quite undercooked and overextended to this viewer. That it was expanded from a short was painfully obvious. It feels like in each case where BAFTA chose two different achievements, it was hit and miss with one stronger choice and one weaker choice than Oscar's lineup. It goes like it goes!

Debut by British, Writer, Director or Producer

The Ceremony
My Father's Shadow
Pillion
A Want In Her
Wasteman

Yay, a category that is regional specific (so it can't be a repeat!). Pillion is a great choice and My Father's Shadow won strong reviews -- we thought it would make the International Feature finalist list (but it missed). The other films did not come to the US so we had to look them up. The Ceremony is about migrant workers in Yorkshire, A Want in Her is a documentary with the director as the main character searching for her mother who went missing in Ireland. Wasteman is a prison drama starring rising actors David Jonsson (Alien Romulus) and Tom Blyth (Plainclothes). 

Documentary

2000 Meters to Andriivka
Apocalypse in the Tropics
Cover-Up
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

DIFFERENT than Oscar's list with only two similarities so that's exciting! 

Animated Film

Elio
Little Amélie
Zootopia 2 

Childrens & Family Film

Arco
Boong
Lilo & Stitch
Zootopia 2

Apparently Zootopia is called Zootropolis in the UK. 

Casting

I Swear
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

3/5 similiarities to Oscar's inaugural Casting list. They chose I Swear and Sentimental Value while Oscar votes went for Hamnet and The Secret Agent

Cinematography

Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

Exactly the same as Oscar's list. Sigh. These things really do get set in stone. 

Editing

F1
A House of Dynamite
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Surprise nomination, given its awards season fast fade, for House of Dynamite here. 

Costume Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

Wicked was spared from the complete shut-out it received from the Oscars.

Makeup & Hair

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

Oscar voters prevailed in terms of quality over BAFTA voters here. Oscar voters gave THREE lone nominations to films that didnt score elsewhere: Ugly Stepsister, Smashing Machine, and Kokuho. No matter what you think about any of those three pictures, Makeup was a very strong element. Love it when craft branches actually look at the craft!

Original Score

Bugonia
Frankestein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Production Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Sound

F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Warfare

Visual Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Frankenstein
How to Train Your Dragon
The Lost Bus

British Animated Short

Cardboard
Solstice
Two Black Boys in Paradise

Cardboard made the Oscar finals in the parallel category but wasn't nominated.

British Short

Magid/Zafar
Nostalgie
Terence
This Is Endometriosis
Welcome Home Freckles

EE Rising Star Award

Robert Aramayo. - he stars in I Swear
Miles Caton - from Sinners of course
Chase Infiniti - who debuted in  One Battle After Another
Archie Madekwe - He had a big year in 2023 with multiple film projects and he starred in Lurker this year
Posy Sterling - she starred in a film called Lollipop which has no US distribution yet

Comments

[Mr Ripley79]

Boooooooorrrrrrrrrriiinnnnnggggg!

Same old copy and paste nominations,don't they venture outside what they are told to watch like a Sovereign or a Twinless or anything foreign language with a great performance in it.

No Amy Madigan probably means Taylor wins the Oscar,the only bright spot is Plemons who was much better than 2 of the actual Best Actor nominees.I knew Watson would show up here.

[Flowers By Irene]

They announced after the Oscars just to nominate the same stuff.
They made a lot of good surprises past years. As Ducournau and Audrey Diwan in directing. And in their very far past some high quality choices as the presence and the awards for Paris, Texas.

Cinematography is really the weakest category this year.

[whunk (he/him)]

I knew Aramayo would get the nom, he was fire in that movie. Wonder if he could snag an Oscar nom next year.