An honest, safe biopic. Two musicals that vary so wildly in quality that, in watching them back-to-back for this piece, I almost suffered whiplash. An epic drama about the American Dream in post-World War II New York, as long as it is emotionally triumphant. A troubling adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that utilises a bold storytelling device. These are just a handful of this year’s Best Picture nominees, here compiled from the very worst to the very best, with a final note on what I think the nominees should have been in their place…
10: Emilia Perez
Post-production controversies aside (because, you know: wow), Emilia Perez wasn’t very good to begin with. To be fair, aspects of it are, from Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez’s riveting, career-changing performances, to its admittedly innovative story (a trans cartel leader wants to secretly transition into a woman sure sounds enticing), but any highs it may have pale in comparison to its awful musical numbers and problematic depiction of trans people as a narrative device. It wants to say something important, but the message is buried by twists that lead nowhere, characters that aren’t there, and clunky genre clichés that leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Jacques Audiard sure tries, with ecstatic direction, but all told Emilia Perez — an exuberant musical crime flick — feels more like an exercise in throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, and not enough of it does.
9: Wicked
Wicked is fine. Wicked is lovely and vibrant and fun, with powerful performances and beautiful set pieces. It’s also a bit too long, a bit too safe, and for that reason I can’t place it anywhere else but here. I really like the thing, I swear, but Best Picture material, in the year of our lord 2025, with all that competition snubbed? I think not.
8: A Complete Unknown
Shocking no one, the Academy really liked this isolated biopic of Bob Dylan (a career-best Timothee Chalamet), which focuses on the songwriter’s controversial use of electric instruments in the folk music scene. It’s obvious Oscar stuff, a touching presentation of one of our most beloved and enigmatic artists, but to the credit of Chalamet and director James Mangold, as well as co-stars Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown is one of the stronger additions to the biopic fold. Predictable and safe, sure, but also deeply affecting, with excellent performances and a slight twist on the formula during film’s end. It works better than it should, all told, but can’t compete with many of its fellow nominees.
7: Dune Part Two
The second chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s bold adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel, Dune: Part Two is also the second Best Picture nominee to feature Timothee Chalamet front-and-centre, this time trading in his guitar and shades for a sword and vendetta. Gloriously mounted and visually stunning, it’s this year’s most rewarding visual feast, full of vibrant set pieces and exhilarating action. Where it loses points is with the emotional anti-climaxes and rushed storytelling, characters tossed aside with ease and conclusions drawn with a quick flurry of deaths. The characters feel a little muted, far removed from the drama being sold, but if the Academy were to award a film for its sheer beauty, then I guess they could do with a lot worse than Dune: Part Two as a Best Picture winner.
6: The Substance
Touted rightly as a return to form for star Demi Moore, The Substance is a rare horror flick to land on the Best Picture shortlist in recent years, and what a well-deserved distinction. Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the drama follows a faded celebrity who uses a mystery drug to create a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley), which of course goes swimmingly. Melancholy and delivered with a meticulous slow burn, The Substance is unsettling, sinister horror at its best, tapping into the times and a host of social insecurities with palpable dread and gnarly visuals. Amongst a sea of serious dramas and typical biopics, it’s recognition is a sobering and welcome one.
5: The Brutalist
Brady Corbet’s epic American Dream drama The Brutalist is the most likely candidate to win Best Picture, and it’s easy to see why. A big, bold, stunningly shot tale of a Hungarian-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust (a heartbreaking Adrien Brody) who emigrates to the United States in search of a new life, Corbet’s vision is an arduous one, full of visceral pain and the ache of history, its many nuances and twists grounded throughout by its flawless ensemble, which also includes Felicity Jones as Brody’s wife, and Guy Pearce as his callous business partner. Gorgeously produced, The Brutalist is far too long — I can think of at least three scenes that could have been cut down — and far too bleak, but what an achievement it remains. The fact it cost shy of ten million dollars to produce still boggles the mind.
4: I’m Still Here
This probing drama about Brazilian activist Eunice Paiva, forced to grapple with the disappearance of her dissident husband during Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1970, is a film of such fierce human emotion that it took me far longer than its 138-minutes to get through. Charting one nation’s trials through the eyes of a family in turmoil, I’m Still Here casts a mesmerising Fernanda Torres in the lead role, and finds director Walter Salles delivering a masterclass in classical storytelling that’s also rich with empathy, righteous anger and, despite the heartbreak of its real-life origins, just enough hope to keep a light shining.
3: Conclave
Edward Berger’s dramatic thriller Conclave, based on Robert Harris’s bestselling novel of the same name, is the most immaculately paced film of the year, a bracing procedural that follows an embattled cardinal (Ralph Fiennes, in what is secretly the best performance of the year) sent to elect the next pope, only to find corruption and controversy amongst those vying for the title. Aware of its melodramatic real-world inspirations but nonetheless frighteningly intense, Conclave is precise and twisting, executing its bolts from the blue and gripping character work brilliantly. Also: Stanley Tucci! John Lithgow! Isabella Rossellini! Bliss.
2: Anora
One of the great modern sins of the Academy, amongst many, is that Sean Baker doesn’t have an Oscar to his name yet. With Tangerine, Red Rocket and The Florida Project, the director’s been carving his own path through Hollywood for years now with bold, affecting tales of marginalised communities, lost souls, love against the odds and hate destroyed. To that end, Anora is his finest achievement to date, a beautiful, visceral, heartbreaking ode to a woman (a revelatory Mikey Madison) who faces a doomed marriage and identity woes. A magnetic chronicle of the disenfranchised and misunderstood, of lovers and deception, of the American Dream and all its lies, Anora is a marvellous work of art, full of life and some of the most exciting filmmaking choices of recent years. It might just win, and how deserving a victory it would be.
1: Nickel Boys
Over the years, the actual best film of the year has been offered a Best Picture nod and little else, as sort of a consolation prize before the top honour lands on the lap of a more accessible, safe winner. Last year we had Past Lives, previous years gave us The Banshees of Inisherin, Drive My Car, Roma. This year, that distinction falls on Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’s daring adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel about two Black boys sent to an abusive reform school at the end of the Jim Crow era in Florida. Placing audiences quite literally in the shoes of its protagonists, Ross deploys a wrenching first-person POV to tell their story, leaving no stone unturned. Painting a vivid, deftly shot image of a moment in history desperate to be remembered, Nickel Boys is emotionally resonant but also driven by affecting and even hopeful character work, following two young boys bound by friendship and love and trauma in a world too cruel. It’s an important film, to be sure, but also a major work of cinematic art, unique in its development and sure to endure as an experimental masterpiece for years to come.
My Nominees (based on UK release date): Anora, Conclave, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Brutalist, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Flow, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Perfect Days, No Other Land.
That’s all for now. Be good to each other, and I’ll see you soon!
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