On Jan. 23, the nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were announced. More commonly known as the Oscars, the Awards are a ceremony during which the best movies of the year are chosen and celebrated. Although the event is never without controversy, watching it remains an annual tradition for many moviegoers.
Out of its categories, some of the popular ones include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor/Actress and Best Adapted/Original Screenplay. More recently, Best International Feature Film and Best Animated Feature Film have garnered attention with the increasing accessibility of films and a broader global audience.
Of the nominations, “Emilia Pérez” is a contested title that has received the judges’ pick for both Best Picture and Best International Film. In addition, it is the leader of this year’s Oscars with a total of 13 nominations. Featuring Hollywood stars like Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, “Emilia Pérez” is a Spanish-language musical about a transgender woman who was once a Mexican cartel leader. While the form and the subject matter sound like a dramatic, empowering tale, the audience disagrees. Especially because this movie has a transgender protagonist, people in trans and other queer spaces have come out and said that the film’s representation of trans people as a whole was based on stereotypes and misleading ideas.
Not only did it butcher its trans representation, but critics also say that its Mexican representation was also deeply superficial. The director, Jaques Audiard, is a French man, and its main leads — Saldana, Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón (who plays the titular Emilia Pérez) — are not Mexican. While Gomez has some Mexican ancestry, many are critiquing the overall lack of Mexican actors and the movie’s Hollywood perspective on their country’s real problems with drug wars.
Another nominated movie facing criticism is the architecture period drama, “The Brutalist.” This movie explores a Hungarian Holocaust survivor László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody, who immigrates to the United States for the American Dream. While the actual plot of “The Brutalist” is decent — with mixed reviews from audiences and critics about its audacious yet classic tale — what has caught people’s eye is the details of its post-production. Among its 10 nominations, Best Actor for Brody and Best Editing are two of them. However, Dávid Jancsó, the primary editor of “The Brutalist,” has admitted to using artificial intelligence to correct some of Brody’s pronunciations of Hungarian dialogue. This sparked controversy, as AI in art is already a highly debated topic, and it also questions the merit of Brody’s nomination.
The reveal that “The Brutalist” used AI brought attention to “Emilia Pérez,” which also used AI for some of the actors’ singing. Both films have gotten nominations in the Best Actor/Actress category, stirring the public’s opinions on these choices.
Other topics of debate include support for the movie “Challengers,” directed by Luca Guadagnino. Starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor; this sports drama-romance has garnered much attention from its audience and the media. However, “Challengers” failed to receive any nominations. Not even its soundtrack, which received both critical and popular acclaim for its refreshing beats, was nominated for Best Soundtrack.
For Best Cinematography, the film “Nickel Boys” is a popular mention for being snubbed in this category. The film is competing for Best Picture since its unique first-person point-of-view of the film left many of its viewers in awe — but not the traditional Academy.
Contrasting “Emilia Pérez,” fans are lamenting the lack of recognition for “I Saw the TV Glow,” an indie film with an authentic and creative tale of queerness, youth and identity.
In addition, while the movie-musical “Wicked” has gained surprising amounts of nominations, “Gladiator II,” its release date companion, earned just one for Best Costume Design. Despite doing well in the box office and receiving fanfare for Denzel Washington’s captivating performance as Macrinus, this epic historical drama did not capture the attention of the Academy judges.
Whether or not people may agree with the Academy’s choices, the Oscars are a nearly century-long ceremony for the most outstanding — and sometimes outrageous — films. Tune in for this year’s conclusion on Sunday, March 2, and root for your favorites.