April Foolish Predictions: Setting the Table for "Best Picture"

by Nathaniel R

Is it anticlimactic to start our annual blindfold guessing with Best Picture? Of course! Does it make sense? That, too! You all know the drill. If a film has Best Picture heat they have a leg up in every single category, whether or not they deserve it in that particular category. Best Picture heat means that people end up aware of and actually screening your movie. If you think about it, that’s half the battle. So as we stumble foolishly into April prophecies in all categories, roughly ten months before Oscar nominations will even roll around (January 17 next year), we have to set the major playing field first. 

We call these April Foolish Predictions because who can possibly know a thing in April?!? Last year at this time nobody would have seen Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest emerging as major Oscar titles. They were already tipped for Cannes, of course, but Cannes and Oscars are very different contests, despite what ended up happening last season. The increasing globalization of the Oscar race makes predicting even harder (we love a challenge!) because who can possibly know which of the hundreds of non-English language titles vying for global attention at festivals will catch the English-language audience’s fancy in a big way? It stands to reason that a non-English language picture will factor into the race again but we’ll have to wait for festival buzz on that front to narrow it down from hundreds of options to a few.

Anyway here are 15 pictures we think could enter the awards conversation...

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Oscar Night Winners: "Oppenheimer" and "Poor Things" Reigned

by Nathaniel R

Emma Thomas (Oppenheimer producer) hugs Emily Blunt after winning Best Picture. Screenshot from ABC

Another Oscar season has come and gone and we'll dig into the ceremony in a bit which for the first time in known history came in under its alloted air time.  Moving it an hour earlier was a good move! But for now the winners list. Oppenheimer emerged as the night's champ as everyone on the planet predicted but it proved less than a giant sweeper. Sweeps just aren't popular at the 21st century where spreading the wealth is the semi-norm for wins, if not nomination tallies. Still, since the first year of the "Expanded Era" (2009) when we saw an expansion of the Best Picture field and new voting rules, its seven wins place it in a tie for most Oscars with 2013's Gravity (which did not win Best Picture) and 2022's Everything Everywhere All At Once. 

The only other films to win multiple Oscars last night were Poor Things with 4 statues includly a tough race in Best Actress and The Zone of Interest with 2 statues including a not totally surprising (on account of how often the work was discussed) but still highly unusual win in the Best Sound category. More to come!

COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS IN ALL 23 CATEGORIES

Picture Oppenheimer
Director Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Actress Emma Stone, Poor Things
Actor Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Supporting Actress, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer
Original Screenplay Anatomy of a Fall
Adapted Screenplay American Fiction
Cinematography Oppenheimer
Costume Design Poor Things
Production Design Poor Things
Film Editing Oppenheimer
Visual Effects Godzilla Minus One
Makeup and Hair Poor Things
Original Score Oppenheimer
Sound The Zone of Interest
Original Song "What Was I Made For?" Barbie
International Feature The Zone of Interest 
Live Action Short The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar
Animated Feature The Boy and the Heron
Animated Short War is Over!
Documentary Feature 20 Days in Mariupol
Documentary Short The Last Repair Shop

Best Picture in Black-and-White: 2023 Edition

by Cláudio Alves

Re-releasing films in black-and-white, whether in theaters or through physical media, has become something of a trend. This year, Godzilla Minus One prompted a new edit with color stripped away, revealing a new way to consider its post-war twist on the kaiju mythos. I understand why audiences and filmmakers get carried away by these experiments. After all, for the past few seasons, it's a The Film Experience tradition to re-think the year's Best Picture Oscar nominees in silvery monochrome, pondering what each flick would look like transformed.

This is an exercise that can reveal qualities in composition and lighting, as well as provide a reference for the role of color in visual storytelling. Sometimes, its absence makes no difference. In other cases, a movie can't work in grayscale… 

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Split Decision: "Barbie"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's the last discussion, between Mark Brinkerhoff and Nick Taylor on Barbie…

NICK: Hi Mark! We’re coming to you live and in color - but mainly in pink - from Barbieland for today’s split decision. This is the only one of these where I get to be on the side of positivity, so if the runoff of good vibes is Too Much, forgive me. Either way, I’m very excited to talk to you about Barbie. I’m not sure this makes it into my top 10 for the year, but it’s almost certainly the 2023 film I’ve watched the most, and I think it’s a total delight with as much on its mind as any of Greta Gerwig’s previous films, albeit in a very different key from Lady Bird and Little Women. I’d say more, but I don’t want to start our chat with a three-paragraph monologue. So, Mark, what’s keeping you from feeling the Kenergy?...

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Split Decision: "The Holdovers"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Abe Friedtanzer and Cláudio Alves on The Holdovers…

ABE: Cláudio, it is always my pleasure to talk about films with you even though I know our tastes rarely overlap. In fact, when I met you in-person at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, you noted that we were barely seeing any of the same films. I was only in Toronto for three and a half days and saw a whirlwind eighteen films in that time, the best of which was The Holdovers. My editor decided to hold my review for the theatrical release, which proved somewhat underwhelming, but fortunately there was plenty of awards acclaim for the film to keep my enthusiasm up about this gem.

I remember seeing Sideways twenty years ago and very much enjoying it as I was just starting to really get into film (and The Film Experience as a reader), and it's great to see Alexander Payne reunited with his star Paul Giamatti for a role that's perfect for him. He's one of the best parts of this film but there are so many, at least in my opinion. Cláudio, tell me about your experience of seeing the film and what did and didn't work for you...

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