There’s never been anything like the 2021 Academy Awards, which will air live on ABC, Sunday, April 25th. That’s because there has never been a year like 2020. The pandemic shut down the world’s movie theaters for the better part of 12 months, disrupting the industry more profoundly than anything else in its 120-year history. The Oscar ceremony comes later this year, with the hope that it would give audiences and voters time to catch up with the films they might have missed in all the chaos. And the rules concerning theatrical distribution have been relaxed somewhat.
Without an acclaimed, Titanic-level blockbuster (Tenet was neither) up for any awards, the atomized audiences of the streaming era largely missed the nominated films. That’s a shame, because it turns out 2020 was a very good year for film. If you’re looking to catch up on some good cinema between now and the time your second vax dose kicks in, there are plenty of gems on the Oscar shortlist.
But it wouldn’t be the Academy Awards without a high-profile snub, and the most egregious is the Spike Lee shutout. Lee has a history of being overlooked at Oscar time, but this year was the worst of all. He turned in a pair of career-highlight films that couldn’t have been more different. Da 5 Bloods would be my personal choice for Best Picture, and both Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman deserved at least nominations for their performances as soldiers coming to terms with their experiences in Vietnam and racism in America. But the only nomination Da 5 Bloods received was for Best Original Score. That begs the question, why isn’t Lee’s concert film with David Byrne, American Utopia, represented in the Best Original Song category, where there’s a chance “Husavik” from the Will Ferrell comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga will take home the trophy?
The Best Actor category is as close to a lock as it gets. Chadwick Boseman, beloved from his role as Black Panther, died last year. His last performance as a tortured, treacherous trumpet player in the bluesy Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is even more Oscar-worthy when you consider he delivered it while dying of cancer.
The Documentary Feature category, on the other hand, is up in the air, with three excellent nominees. My choice is Crip Camp, the story of the birth of political activism among the disabled community, buoyed by the impeccable editing of former Memphian Eileen Meyer. Equally powerful are My Octopus Teacher, about filmmaker and freediver Craig Foster’s life-changing experiences in the kelp forests of South Africa; and Time, the chronicle of Sibil Fox Richardson’s two-decade battle to get her husband released from prison.
Pixar’s out-of-body jazz odyssey, Soul, is the front runner for Best Animated Feature, but the gorgeous Irish film Wolfwalkers could be a dark horse, and the Pixar fantasy/comedy Onward is definitely worth a watch.
Judas and the Black Messiah was a surprise Best Picture nominee, sneaking in before the extended deadline. It’s a crackerjack film that casts the true story of Black Panther Fred Hampton as a streetwise thriller, like Goodfellas. Daniel Kaluuya deserves the Supporting Actor trophy for his role as Hampton, but his co-star LaKeith Stanfield was also nominated, potentially splitting the vote and raising the question of who exactly was the film’s lead actor.
Minari, the story of Korean immigrants struggling to make ends meet in rural Arkansas, was the charmer of Indie Memphis 2020. It received six nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Lee Isaac Chung; I’m pulling for Yuh-Jung Youn for Best Supporting Actress.
Mank, which received 10 nominations total, is a tasty slice of Old Hollywood by David Fincher. Starring Best Actor nominee Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz, the alcoholic screenwriter who penned Citizen Kane, its meticulous craftsmanship is a wonder to behold. Erik Messerschmidt should win Best Cinematography for his Kane-inspired, black-and-white imagery.
My pick for Best Picture is Nomadland. Director Chloé Zhao and actress Frances McDormand crafted a moving portrait of a woman adrift, both economically and spiritually, in the American West. McDormand deserves Best Actress for one of the most detailed and emotionally resonant performances you will ever see, and Zhao — who lived on the road with her actress and crew for months at a time — should become the second Asian person in a row, after Bong Joon-Ho for Parasite, to win Best Director.
