The 92nd annual Academy Awards will take place on February 9th, 2020. The nominations for potential winners in all the categories were announced January 13th, 2020… and they were unsurprisingly somewhat disappointing.
Origin story Joker led the nominations with 11 nominations (I am genuinely struggling to find what was so great about this movie) followed by The Irishman, 1917, and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood each with 10 nominations.
Of all the acting nominees, only one is non-White: Cynthia Erivo, for her portrayal of Harriet Tubman in Harriet. The frustration of only a singular non-White actor being nominated does not stem from undeserving White nominees, but more so very deserving non-White nominees. Some snubs include: Awkwafina in The Farewell (she won a Golden Globe for this film, but wasn’t even nominated here), Lupita Nyong’o in Us, Song Kang-ho in Parasite and Eddie Murphy in Dolemite is My Name.
Although the Best Actor/Actress categories are lacking in diversity, not all hope is lost: South Korean film Parasite left yesterday with 6 nominations, including Best Picture, the first Korean film to ever be nominated for the coveted award, even though it’s 2020.
Another issue with this year’s Oscars nominations is the complete lack of female representation, having all-male Best Director nominees. Although I have not seen the critically acclaimed Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig, I am familiar with her directing work and it is most certainly Oscar worthy. Other snubs in this category include: Lulu Wang for The Farewell and Marielle Heller for A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood.
Lack of diverse representation in prestigious award shows is unfortunately quite familiar (think back to the 2015 and 2016 Oscars, #OscarsSoWhite). While these award shows genuinely are meaningless, it is important for folks to be represented and their work be recognized and formally appreciated. Some snubs I encourage you to check out for yourself are: Us, Dolemite is My Name, and Hustlers.
Lastly, in some pretty cool news: The Lighthouse, a movie filmed in Yartmouth, Nova Scotia was nominated for Best Cinematography, (and in all honesty it should have been nominated for much more!)- another great film to check out, with some potentially familiar scenery.
Here is a list of major award nominees:
Best Picture
1917
Joker
Ford v. Ferrari
Jojo Rabbit
Little Women
The Irishman
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Parasite
Actor in a Leading Role
Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood)
Adam Driver (Marriage Story)
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Johnathan Pryce (The Two Popes)
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo (Harriet)
Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)
Saorise Ronan (Little Women)
Charlize Theron (Bombshell)
Renee Zellweger (Judy)
Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)
Todd Phillips (Joker)
Sam Mendes (1917)
Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood)
Bong Joon Ho (Parasite)
