Awards season is in full flow, and the highlight for many is the Oscars. Not me, that honor goes to the BAFTAs, God bless you Stephen Fry. But still, we’re a few weeks away from discovering who will walk away with those little gold statues to place on their mantle/bathroom shelf.
This year’s nominations were announced today and the big story is La La Land, equaling the nomination tally of record-holders All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997). Love for Moonlight (rightly) continues with 8 nominations, a tally shared by Arrival.
Overall it’s a decent spread, nothing too egregious, somewhat predictable and safe, and certainly a list of nominations that should avoid a repeat of the #OscarsSoWhite debacle. Rather than it being down to the Academy itself, it’s down to some stellar work from Barry Jenkins, Ruth Negga, Ava DuVernay, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Viola Davis, and many more. The domination of the Best Documentary Feature category (four of five nominees coming from black directors) is wonderful, and a acknowledgement of the quality on show.
The Snubs
In some ways, it’s a reflection of how many great female performances there were this year that most ire is focused on the Actress in a Leading/Supporting Role category. 20th Century Women gave us stellar work from both Annette Benning and Greta Gerwig, neither got a nod. Likewise Amy Adams gave one of the year’s best performances in Arrival.
Weiner being passed over in favor of the clunky Life, Animated, is a shame, but the worst snubs seem to be for a number of films that have made plenty of impact with audiences and critics alike during 2016. Swiss Army Man, The Witch, Certain Women, Cameraperson and Sing Street, no nod for “Drive It Like You Stole It”?
The biggest travesty, where’s the love for The Handmaiden? WTF Academy?
The Surprises
Ruth Negga is stunning in Loving, a film that seems to have flown under the radar of many but it’s delightful to see her get a nomination. When Elle was overlooked in the best foreign film category, it seemed a bad omen for it’s star, so hooray that the appreciation of Isabelle Huppert’s work continues.
A Best Film nomination for Hell or High Water? Hell yeah!
On the flipside, it’s baffling to see the Hacksaw Ridge love continue, a stunning War film that lacks nuance every time it indulges it’s preachy core.
Biggest surprise? We now have to say Academy Award nominee Suicide Squad.
Actor in a Leading Role
Casey Affleck
Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield
Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling
La La Land
Viggo Mortensen
Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington
Fences
Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali
Moonlight
Jeff Bridges
Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges
Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel
Lion
Michael Shannon
Nocturnal Animals
Actress in a Leading Role
Isabelle Huppert
Elle
Ruth Negga
Loving
Natalie Portman
Jackie
Emma Stone
La La Land
Meryl Streep
Florence Foster Jenkins
Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis
Fences
Naomie Harris
Moonlight
Nicole Kidman
Lion
Octavia Spencer
Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams
Manchester by the Sea
Animated Feature Film
Kubo and the Two Strings
Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
Moana
John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
My Life as a Zucchini
Claude Barras and Max Karli
The Red Turtle
Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
Zootopia
Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer
Cinematography
Arrival
Bradford Young
La La Land
Linus Sandgren
Lion
Greig Fraser
Moonlight
James Laxton
Silence
Rodrigo Prieto
Costume Design
Allied
Joanna Johnston
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Colleen Atwood
Florence Foster Jenkins
Consolata Boyle
Jackie
Madeline Fontaine
La La Land
Mary Zophres
Directing
Arrival
Denis Villeneuve
Hacksaw Ridge
Mel Gibson
La La Land
Damien Chazelle
Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight
Barry Jenkins
Documentary (Feature)
Fire at Sea
Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
I Am Not Your Negro
Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck
Life, Animated
Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
O.J.: Made in America
Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow
13th
Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
Documentary (Short Subject)
Extremis
Dan Krauss
4.1 Miles
Daphne Matziaraki
Joe’s Violin
Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
Watani: My Homeland
Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
The White Helmets
Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Film Editing
Arrival
Joe Walker
Hacksaw Ridge
John Gilbert
Hell or High Water
Jake Roberts
La La Land
Tom Cross
Moonlight
Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon
Foreign Language Film
Land of Mine
Denmark
A Man Called Ove
Sweden
The Salesman
Iran
Tanna
Australia
Toni Erdmann
Germany
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Man Called Ove
Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
Star Trek Beyond
Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
Suicide Squad
Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson
Music (Original Score)
Jackie
Mica Levi
La La Land
Justin Hurwitz
Lion
Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
Moonlight
Nicholas Britell
Passengers
Thomas Newman
Music (Original Song)
Audition (The Fools Who Dream)
from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Can’t Stop The Feeling
from Trolls; Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
City of Stars
from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
The Empty Chair
from Jim: The James Foley Story; Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
How Far I’ll Go
from Moana; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best Picture
Arrival
Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers
Fences
Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers
Hacksaw Ridge
Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers
Hell or High Water
Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers
Hidden Figures
Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers
La La Land
Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers
Lion
Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers
Manchester by the Sea
Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers
Moonlight
Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
Production Design
Arrival
Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Paul Hotte
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Hail, Caesar!
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
La La Land
Production Design: David Wasco; Set Decoration: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
Passengers
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
Short Film (Animated)
Blind Vaysha
Theodore Ushev
Borrowed Time
Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Robert Valley and Cara Speller
Pearl
Patrick Osborne
Piper
Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
Short Film (Live Action)
Ennemis Intérieurs
Sélim Azzazi
La Femme et le TGV
Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
Silent Nights
Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
Sing
Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy
Timecode
Juanjo Giménez
Sound Editing
Arrival
Sylvain Bellemare
Deepwater Horizon
Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli
Hacksaw Ridge
Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
La La Land
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
Sully
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Sound Mixing
Arrival
Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye
Hacksaw Ridge
Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
La La Land
Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth
Visual Effects
Deepwater Horizon
Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
Doctor Strange
Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
The Jungle Book
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon
Kubo and the Two Strings
Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Arrival
Screenplay by Eric Heisserer
Fences
Screenplay by August Wilson
Hidden Figures
Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Lion
Screenplay by Luke Davies
Moonlight
Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Hell or High Water
Written by Taylor Sheridan
La La Land
Written by Damien Chazelle
The Lobster
Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
Manchester by the Sea
Written by Kenneth Lonergan
20th Century Women
Written by Mike Mills
The 89th Academy Awards will air on February 26th.