Written by Matthew Smolenski, Edited by Charlotte Ammirato

With the 92^nd Academy Awards fast approaching, and provocative as ever, Reel Talk has sought out the opinions of department staff and students alike to create an alternative list of nominees and winners that reflects the diverse opinions and tastes of those within the Warwick Film and Television Studies Department. With the 38 forms received creating a shortlist of 35 Best Picture candidates, a wide range of opinions were expressed in every category, but who came out on top? What did most people agree on? Well, the nominees are…

Best Picture

• Parasite – 18 votes (17 students, 1 staff) – WINNER
• Little Women – 11 votes (10 students, 1 staff)
• The Irishman – 9 votes (8 students, 1 staff)
• Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – 7 votes (all students)
• Midsommar – 6 votes (all students)
• Marriage Story – 5 votes (all students)
• The Lighthouse – 4 votes (all students)
• Pain and Glory – 4 votes (2 students, 2 staff)
• Us – 4 votes (2 students, 2 staff)
• 1917 – 3 votes (all students)

At a whopping eighteen votes, almost half of all respondents included Parasite as one of their three possible Best Picture nominees, strongly reflecting near-universal critical consensus on the Oscar nominee. It is important to note that while the Academy uses a preferential voting system for this category, in which voters rank their choices, this survey allowed equal weighting to every film included by voters. Notable absences include historical drama Ford v. Ferrari (known as Le Mans ’66 domestically), which received no votes, historical comedy Jojo Rabbit, with just one vote, and Joker, falling just behind at two votes. What is most exciting about this category is its new additions, with Midsommar, The Lighthouse and Us all giving horror a voice that was notably absent from this year’s nominees, two of which have most likely been aided by their inclusion in weekly horror screenings by the department. This seems particularly likely for Us, which appears to have been hampered by its March release early in the year. Oscar favourites such as The Irishman, Little Women and Marriage Story sit strong on this list, and though not being nominated for Best Picture, department members also showed love for films ranging from Sorry We Missed You and The Farewell to Ad Astra and Avengers: Endgame; The Souvenir to Uncut Gems.

Best Director

• Greta Gerwig – Little Women – 13 votes (11 students, 2 staff) – WINNER
• Bong Joon-ho – Parasite – 8 votes (all students)
• Sam Mendes – 1917 – 2 votes (all students)
• Joanna Hogg – The Souvenir – 2 votes (all students)
• Martin Scorsese – The Irishman – 2 votes (all students)

Despite being one of the categories with the widest spread of votes, with only 4 directors receiving 2 or more votes, Greta Gerwig’s perceived snub as director of the Best-Picture-nominated Little Women has been overwhelming corrected by the Film and Television Department. Close behind was Oscar frontrunner Bong Joon-ho, leaving a large gap for runners-up Sam Mendes and Joanna Hogg. What is perhaps most striking about this set of nominees is its near-equality between male and female directors. Other popular female directors included Olivia Wilde, responsible for her directorial debut Booksmart, and Celine Sciamma for Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Of course, Gerwig’s complete domination of the category left only 5 directors with multiple votes, with even conventional standouts Quentin Tarantino and Oscar nominee Todd Phillips failing to rise above the list of directors receiving single votes. Even Martin Scorsese’s nomination, on the same level as Joanna Hogg, is impressive, given that his influence was crucial in the production of The Souvenir.

Best Screenplay

• Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story – 8 votes (all students) – WINNER
• Greta Gerwig – Little Women – 7 votes (4 students, 3 staff)
• Rian Johnson – Knives Out – 7 votes (all students)
• Bong Joon-ho – Parasite – 4 votes (all students)
• Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – 3 votes (all students)

It is no surprise that the wordy drama of Marriage Story, Greta Gerwig’s unique classic literature adaptation and Rian Johnson’s detective fiction homage came out on top of this category, and these qualities managed to elevate them over even Best Picture winner Parasite. Little Women’s seven votes are particularly impressive given a lack of distinction between adapted and original screenplay. Here, an almost equal number of students and staff have recognised Gerwig’s ability not just to create a story but to translate one, her bold achronological take most likely accounting for a large portion of her Best Director win as well. Despite missing out on a Best Director nomination in the Alternative Oscars, Quentin Tarantino’s script for Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood proved popular as the last film to receive multiple votes. As expected, many screenplays to receive one vote were amongst Best Picture and Director nominees, including The Irishman, Midsommar and Us, but the visual spectacle of 1917 seemingly proved inadequate for a single screenplay vote.

Best Actor

• Adam Driver – Marriage Story – 10 votes (8 students, 2 staff) – WINNER
• Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems – 4 votes (all students)
• Joaquin Phoenix – Joker – 3 votes (all students)
• Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – 3 votes (all students)
• Song Kang-ho – Parasite – 2 votes (all students)
• Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory – 2 votes (all students)
• Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse – 2 votes (all students)

Like the Best Actress category that follows, a lack of specificity between lead and supporting roles has allowed for a range of answers that reveal the performances that have left a lasting impression, regardless of billing. Brad Pitt, for example, has usurped Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead performance in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood by two votes, and supporting actor nominees Tom Hanks and Al Pacino also made the shortlist. Leading roles have, however, continued to dominate, with Adam Driver’s powerful Marriage Story performance easily topping the list, alongside Oscar frontrunner and recent BAFTA winner Joaquin Phoenix. Also of note is Adam Sandler’s placement at second for his leading Uncut Gems role, a film for which no Oscar nominations were received. Equally important is Song Kang-ho, whose Oscar absence, alongside other Parasite actors, has been perceived as biased and perplexing given the film’s nomination in six other categories. Our Film and Television Department seems to argue that Parasite did not lack brilliant performances.

Best Actress

• Florence Pugh – Midsommar – 11 votes (9 students, 2 staff) – WINNER
• Lupita Nyong’o – Us – 7 votes (5 students, 2 staff)
• Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story – 5 votes (all students)
• Saoirse Ronan – Little Women – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)
• Jennifer Lopez – Hustlers – 3 votes (all students)
• Park So-dam – Parasite – 2 votes (all students)

Receiving the same amount of votes as her male counterpart, Parasite’s Park So-dam also placed similarly on the list of best actresses, but this category is perhaps most notable for its genre diversity. While rising star Florence Pugh has been recognised by the Academy for her supporting role in Little Women, Warwick’s staff and student body recognised Pugh for her intense leading role in Midsommar with equal enthusiasm to Adam Driver’s dramatic part. Close behind was notable Oscar absentee Lupita Nyong’o for her multi-faceted horror performance in Us, in which she played two separate roles that remained in dialogue with each other while retaining individual eccentricities for each part. Of course, Academy favourites Scarlett Johansson and Saoirse Ronan provided equally constrained and explosive performances which earned them high places on the shortlist, but Jennifer Lopez’s Hustlers performance, perceived as another snub, ranks above Park So-dam, as well as Oscar nominees Renée Zellweger and Cynthia Eviro. Missing entirely from the shortlist are Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie, nominated by the Academy for their roles in Bombshell, which was rejected entirely by the Department, with no votes in a single category.

Most Snubbed

• Little Women / Greta Gerwig– 6 votes (all students) – WINNER
• Uncut Gems / Adam Sandler– 4 votes (all students)
• Us / Lupita Nyong’o – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)
• The Lighthouse / Willem Dafoe – 4 votes (all students)
• Booksmart – 3 votes (2 students, 1 staff)
• Cats – 2 votes (all students)
• A Hidden Life – 2 votes (all students)

Unsurprisingly, this category provided one of the widest ranges of answers, but by combining films, and actors or directors involved in them, a substantial enough set of nominees was created. Little Women received two votes and Greta Gerwig received four votes, for example, and given Gerwig’s lack of other directorial output this year and Little Women’s six nominations, it is safe to assume that both answers refer to the same problem. If a lack of attention to foreign performances can be attributed to a lack of Parasite cast nominations, Adam Sandler’s background in low-brow, critically reviled comedies appears to have hurt his chances for an Uncut Gems nomination. An unnamed Academy voter explained as much to the New York Post recently, stating that “He’s emerging as a truly great actor, but then he does cheesy Netflix comedies that are really dumb”. In a similar vein, one staff member identified Eddie Murphy’s performance in Netflix’s blaxploitation biopic Dolemite is My Name as a snub, and Olivia Wilde’s coming-of-age comedy Booksmart was a popular choice among staff and students alike. Tom Hooper’s undeniably bizarre musical Cats managed to just about claw its way onto the list of popular snubs, but once again it is the less popular choices of Motherless Brooklyn, Waves, The Farewell and Elizabeth Moss in Her Smell which reveal the wide range of tastes and opinions within the Department.

Honourable Mentions

While an impossible category to rank, the number of long and detailed responses reveals a clear passion for the subject. Once again notable patterns and outliers emerged. One student, for example, identified the otherwise unpopular IT: Chapter Two for its makeup work, and another identified Kevin Feige’s work as a producer in orchestrating the decade-spanning ‘Infinity Saga’ of his Marvel Cinematic Universe, which recently concluded with Avengers: Endgame. Staff mentions included the continued career revival of Keanu Reeves, Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe, Blinded by the Light, Waves, Julia Fox’s performance in Uncut Gems and George Mackay’s role in 1917. Other student votes included Weathering with You, The Beach Bum, Under the Silver Lake, John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch, Monos, Rocketman, Bacurau, Joe Pesci, the cast of Booksmart and Ford v. Ferrari. While the ‘Most Snubbed’ category has brought to light perceived injustices based on the positioning of certain films and performances within the realm of ‘Oscar material’, it is in the additional comments and honourable mentions that the broad range of films usually forgotten during this season have been brought to light.

Conclusion

Just how ‘Alternative’ these Alternative Oscars have been will remain to be seen on the basis of how the real Oscar winners compare to those of the Department, but what the nominees have revealed is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that, in the eyes of Warwick’s students and staff, needs correcting. With the exception of Greta Gerwig for Best Director, every other winner of the Alternative Oscars has been included by the Academy, and many Oscar frontrunners continued to do well amongst the Department. What these results suggest, ultimately, is that awards season is perhaps most useful as a time to reflect on the films of the past year rather than as a competition, as many excellent candidates emerged regardless of popularity. While discourse surrounding the Oscars will always be largely shaped by distribution and money, cases of overlap with the Academy largely appear to be based entirely on quality, with smaller films with smaller distribution methods even coming out on top of, for example, the easily accessible The Irishman. We hope those reading and those who voted had as much fun as we did organising. Happy awards season!