Film Critic Rani Jadfa delves into the highs and lows of the pre-Oscars Awards season
The 2024 Award Season is almost coming to a close: let us take a look back at some of the highlights from the last couple months of celebrity celebrations.
It is only right we start with Oppenheimer: Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster has bulldozed the competition, almost winning all its nominated categories each time. This includes Best Picture, Ludwig Göransson for Best Score (which he is yet to lose), Cillian Murphy for Best Actor and Robert Downey Jr for Best Supporting Actor. No matter your opinions on this outcome, the movie did have some incredible acting talents and ‘Can You Hear the Music’ became an iconic TikTok sound, which has the power to make anything instantly famous.
From the television side of things three shows have dominated: Succession (the final season of the drama), The Bear (strangely a comedy) and Beef (a rage-filled limited series), all of which have taken the world by storm over the last few years.
Although it is usually very common for there to be front runners during award seasons (like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Abbott Elementary last year) there have been a fair few actors holding their own, like Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Supporting Actress (The Holdovers) or Emma Stone (Poor Things) and Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) taking turns for Best Actress. Pedro Pascal even scooped up a SAG Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and, in perfect Pascal fashion, admitted, ‘I’m a little drunk. I thought I could get drunk’. Personally, as a lover of The Last of Us and the man himself, I thought the award was incredibly well-deserved.
No award season goes by without some questionable choices, from Jo Koy hosting the Golden Globes to Andrew Scott not receiving enough recognition for his gut-wrenching performance in All of Us Strangers. However, the main one this year was the lack of wins for Barbie, which took over the entire world last summer and pretty much won ‘Barbenheimer’ – it made over $162 million at opening compared to Oppenheimer coming just under $82.5 million. Despite all the controversy, this film has changed the world of cinema forever. What Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and the entire Barbie team created for generations of girls and women is astounding and I would argue that the timeless impact they have had on cinema should matter more than a statue of a small naked man.
Of course, there is still one big award show to go. Will Oppenheimer stick the landing and take it all home? Or will a dark horse emerge at the last moment? Or perhaps no one will even remember who won anything because something crazy will happen and take over all the headlines instead – like a La La Land/ Moonlight situation. Wait. Will Smith is not invited, right? I guess we will just have to wait and see what the Oscars bring on March 10th.
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