The coffee has been brewed, the predictions have been logged, and the moment of truth has arrived. The 97th Academy Award nominations were unveiled this morning, and as the dust settles on Hollywood’s biggest day of recognition, the familiar chorus of celebration, consternation, and outright confusion begins. This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences delivered a slate that, in many ways, followed the script written by the season’s precursor awards. And yet, in true Oscar fashion, it also veered off-road, leaving a trail of shocking omissions and delightful surprises that will fuel film debates for weeks to come. From the complete dismissal of populist hits to the unexpected embrace of challenging indies, this year’s nominations are a fascinating, if baffling, portrait of a film industry in flux.
The Brutal Snubs: When Being Great Isn’t Enough
Let’s begin with the cold shoulder. Perhaps the most glaring and indefensible snub of the morning belongs to director Edward Berger for his masterful work on Conclave. The taut Vatican thriller, which successfully adapted Robert Harris’s bestseller into a nail-biting chamber piece, landed an impressive eight nominations, including a coveted Best Picture slot and a nod for Ralph Fiennes’s commanding lead performance. Yet, Berger, the very architect of the film’s suffocating tension and impeccable pacing, was left out of the Best Director race. This echoes the bizarre omission he suffered for All Quiet on the Western Front, another film showered with nominations in every other conceivable category except for the captain of the ship. The Directors Branch of the Academy has once again proven itself to be a stubbornly idiosyncratic group, rewarding technical prowess across the board for Conclave while inexplicably ignoring the vision that bound it all together.
The chill extended to Luca Guadagnino’s provocative and stylish tennis drama, Challengers, which was shut out completely. Despite a sizzling screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes and a pulsating, Golden Globe-winning score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that became a cultural phenomenon in its own right, the film received zero nominations. Its kinetic editing, star-making turns, and audacious storytelling were deemed too mainstream, too pulpy, or perhaps simply too fun for the Academy’s more austere tastes. The snub feels particularly egregious in the score and screenplay categories, where its originality should have made it a lock.
Similarly, the lead actress category, always a bloodbath, claimed its victims. While many predicted a crowded field, few expected the complete lockout of both Angelina Jolie for her transformative portrayal of opera legend Maria Callas in Maria and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for her critically lauded, triple-critic-award-winning role in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. Jean-Baptiste’s snub is a particularly bitter pill to swallow, as her raw, unvarnished performance was considered by many to be the year’s best, a textbook example of an actor disappearing into a challenging role. Her omission suggests that a film’s accessibility, or lack thereof, remains a significant hurdle for even the most celebrated performances.
The Stunning Shocks: The Unexpected Contenders
If the snubs left audiences gasping, the shocks provided a different kind of jolt. The morning’s most pleasant and seismic surprise was the strong showing for The Apprentice, a film many thought would be too controversial for the Academy’s typically risk-averse voters. Sebastian Stan’s chillingly accurate portrayal of a young Donald Trump earned him a Best Actor nomination, a feat of campaigning and performance that broke through the political noise. He is joined by his co-star Jeremy Strong, whose turn as the ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn landed him a much-deserved, if unexpected, Best Supporting Actor nod. The film’s ability to garner major acting nominations signals a potential willingness within the Academy to engage with more politically charged and contemporary subjects.
In the Best Picture race, the inclusion of the Brazilian drama I’m Still Here was a genuine, out-of-left-field surprise. Walter Salles’s poignant film, buoyed by a late-breaking Golden Globe win for its star Fernanda Torres, clearly captivated voters in the final stretch. Its presence in the top category, alongside a Best Actress nomination for Torres, demonstrates the growing power of international cinema to cross over and compete in major categories beyond its designated international feature slot. It’s a testament to a powerful story, powerfully told, that resonated deeply enough to displace more conventional contenders.
The Welcome Surprises: Small Victories and Corrected Narratives
Beyond the major shocks, several smaller surprises warmed the hearts of film aficionados. After years of delivering transformative, often physically demanding performances in daring films, Demi Moore finally broke through with a Best Actress nomination for the audacious body horror film, The Substance. Her fearless, go-for-broke performance as an aging star who opts for a grotesque cellular regeneration process was the kind of brave work the Academy often overlooks in genre filmmaking. Her inclusion is a victory for horror and for an actress who has consistently pushed boundaries, finally receiving her due.
Another welcome sight was Colman Domingo’s Best Actor nomination for the heartfelt prison drama Sing Sing. While the film itself missed out on a Best Picture slot, Domingo’s powerful and humane performance as a wrongfully incarcerated man who finds purpose in a prison theatre troupe was simply too undeniable to ignore. His nomination, following years of stellar supporting work, feels like a long-overdue coronation for one of the industry’s most versatile and compelling actors.
Ultimately, the 97th Academy Award nominations are a study in contrasts. They are a reminder that for every seemingly predictable outcome, there is a bewildering snub waiting in the wings. They show an Academy grappling with its identity, torn between rewarding established craftsmanship, embracing international voices, and cautiously dipping its toes into the controversial waters of modern politics and genre filmmaking. The snubs of Challengers and Edward Berger will sting, but the surprising embrace of films like The Apprentice and I’m Still Here suggests that the Oscars are, if nothing else, still capable of keeping us on our toes. The stage is now set for a ceremony that promises to be as unpredictable and fiercely debated as the nominations themselves.
