Written by Alexander Reams
Well, folks, the time has come. Oscar season is back, and I’m bringing you awards coverage for the 2021-2022 season.
Before I divulge the entire list to you, there are some notable appearances and absences in this lineup of nominees. I’ll start off with the dessert, the big one, the one everyone cares about, Best Picture. The lineup is what was mostly predicted throughout the buildup to nomination day, with one film getting nominated purely because of the huge amount of critics love and the surprising groundswell of support it gained in the last few weeks before voting opened, I speak of course of “Drive My Car” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s 3-hour long, slow, and thoughtful film that did not seem like a serious contender for Best Picture. Until one day it did, and then it was and stayed a “no guts, no glory” pick to be nominated, and now it is, any nominations for “Drive My Car” were my favorite of the day. Speaking of “no guts, no glory” predictions, Guillermo Del Toro’s latest film “Nightmare Alley” snuck into the lineup, along with “Drive My Car”, kicking out Aaron Sorkin’s middling “Being the Ricardos” and Lin Manuel-Miranda’s explosive “tick, tick…BOOM!” from the lineup, both were longshots, but they still got their due.
In Best Director everything seemed to be going according to plan until one name was not called, Denis Villeneuve for “Dune”, he has been battling it out with Jane Campion this entire season and now is not even nominated, one of the biggest shocks from the nominations. In his stead is Ryusuke Hamaguchi for “Drive My Car”. Best Actor and Actress were fairly expected sans Javier Bardem for “Being the Ricardos” (who took the Dinklage/Cage spot) and Kristen Stewart, who has been taking hit after hit, from missing BAFTA to SAG, it was not looking good, and she has been on the bubble since missing BAFTA, and its wonderful to see her nominated here. The first Oscar nominations of the day were the Best Supporting Actress category and the first name uttered was not one I expected to hear, Jessie Buckley for “The Lost Daughter”, she missed SAG, but was nominated at BAFTA, and has quietly been getting nominated from critics groups. For this writer, I take this as payment for her not being nominated for her performance in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”. The biggest shock of Best Supporting Actor was the appearance of J.K. Simmons (“Being the Ricardos”) and Jesse Plemons (“The Power of the Dog”), neither had a lot of precursors, sans Critics Choice for Simmons and BAFTA for Plemons.
As far as numbers go “The Power of the Dog” leads the pack with 12 nominations, with “Dune” following close behind with 10. On the other end of the spectrum, we have some films with the least amount of nominations for a Best Picture nominee, “Don’t Look Up”, “Drive My Car”, “CODA”, and “Licorice Pizza”.
Here is the full list of nominees:
BEST PICTURE
- “Belfast”
- “CODA”
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Drive My Car”
- “Dune”
- “King Richard”
- “Licorice Pizza”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “West Side Story”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
- Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
- Judi Dench, “Belfast”
- Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”
- Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Ciarán Hinds, “Belfast”
- Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
- Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”
- J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”
- Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
- “Drive My Car”
- “Flee”
- “The Hand of God”
- “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
- “The Worst Person in the World”
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
- “Audible”
- “Lead Me Home”
- “The Queen of Basketball”
- “Three Songs for Benazir”
- “When We Were Bullies”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- “Ascension”
- “Attica”
- “Flee”
- “Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
- “Writing with Fire”
ORIGINAL SONG
- “King Richard”
- “Encanto”
- “Belfast”
- “No Time to Die”
- “Four Good Days”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- “Encanto”
- “Flee”
- “Luca”
- “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
- “Raya and the Last Dragon”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- “CODA”
- “Drive My Car”
- “Dune”
- “The Lost Daughter”
- “The Power of the Dog”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- “Belfast”
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “King Richard”
- “Licorice Pizza”
- “The Worst Person in the World”
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”
- Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”
- Andrew Garfield, “tick, tick… Boom!”
- Will Smith, “King Richard”
- Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
- Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
- Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
- Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”
- Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”
- Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”
DIRECTOR
- Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”
- Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”
- Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
- Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
- Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
- “West Side Story”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
- “West Side Story”
COSTUME DESIGN
- “Cruella”
- “Cyrano”
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “West Side Story”
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
- “Belfast”
- “Dune”
- “No Time to Die”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “West Side Story”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
- “Affairs of the Art”
- “Bestia”
- “Boxballet”
- “Robin Robin”
- “The Windshield Wiper”
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
- “Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”
- “The Dress”
- “The Long Goodbye”
- “On My Mind”
- “Please Hold”
ORIGINAL SCORE
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Dune”
- “Encanto”
- “Parallel Mothers”
- “The Power of the Dog”
VISUAL EFFECTS
- “Dune”
- “Free Guy”
- “No Time to Die”
- “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
- “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
FILM EDITING
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Dune”
- “King Richard”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “tick, tick… Boom!”
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
- “Coming 2 America”
- “Cruella”
- “Dune”
- “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
- “House of Gucci”
You can connect with Alexander on his social media profiles: Instagram, Letterboxd, and Twitter. Or see more of his work on his website.
