“The Power of the Dog”, a dark and psychological western by Jane Campion, left Tuesday at the head of the race for the Oscars, very open and diversified after a year of scarcity linked to the pandemic. This feature film had already won the Golden Globe for best dramatic film in early January.
The film produced by Netflix collected a total of twelve nominations, notably in the categories of best film, best director, best actor (Benedict Cumberbatch in tormented cowboy) and best supporting female roles (Kirsten Dunst) and male, where he manages to align two candidates out of five in total (Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee).
Even more remarkable, its director, the New Zealander Jane Campion, makes history as the first woman to win two nominations for the Oscar for best director, 28 years after “The Piano Lesson”.
“The Power of the Dog” is closely followed by the big-budget space opera “Dune” (ten nominations) by Denis Villeneuve, snubbed this year as a director by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which awards the Oscars . This adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel was a hit in the technical categories, but its star, Timothée Chalamet, was not selected.
Kenneth Branagh is one of five candidates in the category of best director thanks to his film “Belfast”, a black and white plunge into his childhood at the heart of the Northern Irish violence of the late 1960s. With seven nominations, ” Belfast” is tied with the remake of the musical film “West Side Story” by the master Steven Spielberg, also selected by the jury.
Despite the mixed reception received by its remake, “West Side Story” made its way among the ten films candidates for the Oscar for best feature film, Hollywood’s supreme award, with also a nomination for Ariana DeBose for the supporting female role.
The last two candidates for the Oscar for best director are Paul Thomas Anderson, for “Licorice Pizza”, and the Japanese Ryusuke Hamaguchi for “Drive My Car” which, although subtitled, is also present in the category of best feature. – footage.
Blockbusters like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and the latest James Bond, however, have failed to find a place there. The red and blue superhero had to settle for a meager nomination for special effects while “Dying Can Wait” left with three technical nominations.
To promote diversity, the Academy of the Oscars had however this year set the number of films in the running for the best feature film at ten.
Will Smith elected, Lady Gaga disappointed
Unsurprisingly, the ever-popular Will Smith was selected for his role in “The Williams Method”, where he plays the coaching father of champions Serena and Venus Williams.
He will face him Benedict Cumberbatch, Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Andrew Garfield (the musical film “Tick, Tick… Boom!”) and Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”).
Disappointment among the actresses for Lady Gaga whose film “House of Gucci” has only one nomination, for make-up.
The lucky winners are Jessica Chastain (“In the eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”), Penelope Cruz (“Madres Paralelas”) and Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardo”).
With the resumption of filming and the reopening of cinemas in the United States after the health restrictions, the candidates of weight jostled this year for the 94th edition of the Oscars.
“Last year, we had very independent Oscars … This year, it’s the return of great cinema, great studio films”, analyzed before the nominations a member of the Academy of Oscars, who requested anonymity.
Verdict on March 27
“The race is very open,” says Pete Hammond, editorial writer for the specialized site Deadline.
The awards ceremony is scheduled for Hollywood on March 27. Nearly 9,500 members of the Academy which awards the Oscars are called to vote this year.