6 Films to Keep Your Eyes on This Award Season
Like Moira Rose, renowned for her flamboyant personality and love for the finer things in life, we too find ourselves enamoured with the glamour and excitement of awards season. This time of year serves as a celebration of cinematic excellence, showcasing a number of remarkable films that have graced the silver screen over the past year.
With ceremonies such as the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards swiftly approaching, let’s talk about some of our personal favourites from this year’s illustrious cohort.
Barbenheimer
Oppenheimer
Nominated for:
- AA: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Actress
- BAFTAs: Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Act and Actress in a Supporting Role
Where to Watch: Available on DVD and VOD
Barbie
Nominated for:
- AA: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, as well as two nominations for Best Song.
- BAFTAs: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay
Where to Watch: Available on DVD and VOD
The cultural phenomenon of 2023 is expected to hit big during the rest of the awards season. Originally starting as a meme comparing the two films as they shared the same opening day, Barbienheimer soon became the standout cinema experience of the summer, encouraging people to view them as a double feature.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer depicts the story of Robert J Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), as he deals with both professional and personal developments surrounding the creation of the atomic bomb. The film is an extremely detailed character study of Oppenheimer, and Murphy’s acting is the standout of the season. With Nolan’s signature style and amazing cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer leads both the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards with the most nominations and is expected to be the standout winner throughout the rest of the awards season.
Based on the eponymous doll, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie became the highest-grossing film of 2023. Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) as she goes through a journey of self-discovery during an existential crisis. (But of course, you knew that.) The film tiptoes between an eccentrically pink and stylized version of a doll coming to life, and the very real aspects of girlhood that are found in all of Gerwig’s films (impeccably captured by Billie Eilish’s, What Was I Made For?, that soundtracks the film). But when the Academy Award nominations were announced, two main names were amiss from the Best Director and Best Actress slots; the powerhouse duo of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie defines Barbie through Gerwig’s directing style and Robbie’s ability to perfectly encapsulate the fashion icon, and it is a real shame that neither has been nominated.
Anatomy of a Fall
Nominated For:
- AA: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress
- BAFTAs: Best Film, Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role
Where to Watch: Buy or Rent on VOD platforms (Prime Video, iTunes etc)
Directed by Justine Triet – the first female French director to be nominated for the Academy Awards Best Director – Anatomy of a Fall tells the story of Sandra (Sandra Hüller), a woman who is the prime suspect of her husband’s murder, and her blind son (Milo Machado-Grander) who acts as the sole witness. This gripping courtroom drama explores the possibility that Sandra’s husband’s fall was an accident rather than a murder and that she is not responsible. The film begins like a traditional mystery drama but soon begins its slow descent into something else, something more psychological that exposes the flaws of the legal system. For fans of films such as Scenes From a Marriage, Gone Girl, and Marriage Story – this film is a must-watch. Also, I must give a shout-out to Messi the dog, who truly makes me believe that there should be an Oscars category for Best Animal in a Supporting Role.
The Holdovers
Nominated for:
- AA: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
- BAFTAs: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress.
Where to Watch: UK Cinemas everywhere
My favourite film of 2023, The Holdovers is directed by Alexander Payne (Election, Downsizing) and tells the story of classics professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) as he is forced to chaperone a student (newcomer Dominic Sessa) over the Christmas break. The 1970s New England boarding school setting is instantly reminiscent of Dead Poets Society, and the relationship between Humhan, Angus Tully (Sessa) and the head cook Mary Lamb (played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is instantly heart-warming. At its core, The Holdovers is about opening yourself up to the kindness of strangers and is the perfect mix of melancholy and cynicism I like in my films. The standout performances from Giamatti and Randolph have been highly rewarded, and I hope they continue to do so!
Past Lives
Nominated For:
- AA: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay
- BAFTAs: Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Not in the English Language.
Where to Watch: Netflix (UK)
Oh, Past Lives, what have you done to me? To be completely honest, I am writing this part of the article straight after watching Past Lives for the first time, and I am overcome with emotion. For all those Before Trilogy, When Harry Met Sally, In the Mood for Love fans, this film is for you. Past Lives centres around the relationship between two childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) over 24 years after one emigrates from South Korea. The film is semi-autobiographical and inspired by real events of the director’s (Celine Song) life, with the painfully relatable heartbreak at the centre of the narrative. Past Lives is one of the films that is so beautifully subtle that you don’t realise you’re crying over the characters until it is too late.
Rye Lane
Nominated for:
- BAFTAs: Outstanding British Film, Best Actress
Where to watch: Disney + (UK)
Titled after the real-life Rye Lane Market in Peckham, Rye Lane is a MUST for those who love a rom-com. Directed by Raine Allen-Miller in her directorial debut, the film tells the story of Yas and Dom, each trying to get over their respective exes, and their growing connection throughout one day in South London. Rye Lane is one of those ‘bite-of-life’ films that perfectly captures an extremely specific time and place, and what it means to fall in love. The BAFTAs have rightly nominated it for Outstanding British Film, and Vivian Oparah has also been nominated for Best Actress in the role of Yas. The film is served with bottomless charm and also contains what I consider to be the best cameo ever.
