We’ve finally received our first broad glimpse at what the industry thinks of this year’s awards contenders—and the most resounding message? Barbenheimer. On Friday, BAFTA announced its annual longlists, which provide key early indicators of strength and momentum as the British Academy (which shares considerable overlap with the Oscars’ voting body) signals their favorites of the year. This first stage includes a Best Film longlist of 10 movies, the same size as the Oscars’ final best-picture lineup, and acting, writing, and technical categories largely determined by chapters—the equivalent of peer-voting branches, which is also how the Academy makes its nominations . In other words, while the crossover is never 100%, these matter—significantly.
So yes, Barbie and Oppenheimer unsurprisingly lead the way this year with 15 mentions apiece, alongside Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese’s epic that has been keeping pace all season so far. These remain your undisputed front-runners, along perhaps with The Holdovers, which despite being a less tech-driven movie fared well with seven mentions, and Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest extravagance which placed an impressive 14 times on Friday.
After that, though, things get interesting.
Last year, BAFTA’s longlists most crucially signaled the strength in international contenders All Quiet on the Western Front and Triangle of Sadness, which made the Best Film list of 10 in addition to screenplay and various other races. This year, they’ve given a similar boost to Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, which feel stronger by the day. Both movies are mentioned for best film, director, screenplay, acting, and more. The best film lineup also includes stalwart American indie Past Lives and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, which haven’t really missed a notable list yet either. That makes nine extremely strong players for best picture, then. BAFTA rounding out its list with All of Us Strangers—Andrew Haigh’s critical darling that was waiting for a breakout like this—says as much for what it included as what it didn’t.
Last year, eight movies on BAFTA’s Best Film longlists went on to Oscar nods; they missed only the biggest American movie of the year Avatar: The Way of Water, and the smallest to go all the way with the Academy, Women Talking. BAFTA instead went for homegrown talent, in Living and Aftersun. We can see that the British All of Us Strangers is playing a similar role here—though it’s worth noting that with an incredibly impressive 10 mentions, the Searchlight title is officially in the thick of it, with all four of its actors beating out serious competition here. Aftersun and Living both went on to major Oscar nods, to boot.
So how will the Oscars alter this top 10? Saltburn, a major question mark on the trail thus far, found some much needed hometown love with 11 nominations, but it’s hard to imagine it performing better than it has today and it ultimately missed the best-film list. (Still, good news for stars Rosamund Pike and Barry Keoghan, both of whom made the cut.) BAFTA most eye-poppingly snubbed American Fiction up top. That’s a major dent to its aspirations as a front-running best picture candidate, even as star Jeffrey Wright and writer-director Cord Jefferson landed in their respective categories. (By comparison, BAFTA didn’t love Everything Everywhere All at Once, but the movie still made its best-picture five.) Some of Fiction’s absence can be attributed to the unfortunate particularities of BAFTA, which often overlooks American films with largely Black casts—but only some. Same goes for The Color Purple, which requires a boost from the Screen Actors Guild next week to stay competitive. (Stars Danielle Brooks and Fantasia Barrino did place on the acting lists, at least.)
This was, finally, a very disappointing morning for May December, Netflix’s critical darling that should’ve appealed more to this group. It’s up only for Samy Burch’s original screenplay and Julianne Moore in supporting actress. Unlike his co-star, though, even its breakout star Charles Melton could not make the longlist of 10—not a dealbreaker for an Oscar nod, by any means, but a blow to his positioning in a very competitive supporting-actor field.
David Canfield
Source link
