Written by Cameron Smith, Edited by Anfisa Semenova

Lo and behold, we are ready to announce the winners of this year’s Alternative Oscars poll!

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2022 was an eclectic year for film, and this was illustrated by the Oscar nominations announced ahead of the 95th Academy Awards. High-grossing blockbuster sequels, a relentless World War One drama, an ode to family and filmmaking from a master of the craft, a deliciously dark Irish dramedy, and a certain mind-bending, multiverse-venturing fan favourite are just a few that will be celebrated this Sunday night (or rather the early hours of Monday for everyone here in the UK)! But enough of what the Academy are talking about, here are what the Warwick Film and Television department have chosen as the Alternative Oscars winners for 2022.

Best Picture

· Everything Everywhere All at Once – 14 votes (13 students, 1 staff) – WINNER

· Aftersun – 13 votes (10 students, 3 staff)

· The Banshees of Inisherin – 8 votes (7 students, 1 staff)

· The Fabelmans – 5 votes (all students)

· Decision to Leave – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)

· Avatar: The Way of Water – 4 votes (2 students, 2 staff)

· Top Gun: Maverick – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)

· The Batman – 4 votes (all students)

· Nope – 4 votes (all students)

· Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – 4 votes (all students)

· Babylon – 3 votes (1 student, 2 staff)

It is one of the frontrunners at the ‘real’ Oscars, and it is the frontrunner at the Alternative Oscars: Everything Everywhere All at Once wins Best Picture, by a hair. The bold, ingenious work of science-fiction has clearly captured the hearts of the Warwick students as they made up thirteen of the film’s fourteen votes. Aftersun narrowly misses out on the top spot; ten students and three staff adored Charlotte Wells’ heart-aching, vulnerable exploration of memory, relationships and trauma. The Banshees of Inisherin, a dark comedy with an emphasis on the dark, finished third with eight votes whilst five students voted for Spielberg’s intimate interpretation of his own childhood and subsequent love for filmmaking – it finished fourth. Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave was snubbed in every category by the Academy, but it finished alongside five other films (which includes the much-loved Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) with four votes and tied in fifth. It was a contentious and diverse category with a whopping forty-one different films being nominated by the department: rogue picks with one vote include: Ali and Ava, Vortex, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Best TV

· The Rehearsal – 5 votes (4 students, 1 staff) – WINNER

· Better Call Saul – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)

· Andor – 4 votes (all students)

· House of the Dragon – 4 votes (all students)

· The White Lotus – 4 votes (3 students, 1 staff)

· Abbott Elementary – 3 votes (all students)

· Severance – 3 votes (1 student, 2 staff)

· The Bear – 3 votes (all students)

Comedian Nathan Fielder’s elaborately constructed yet unscripted docu-comedy HBO show The Rehearsal edges the Best TV category, with votes from four students and one staff. Tied in second place with four votes were Better Call Saul, the prequel series to Breaking Bad that aired its final season this year, two other prequels, Andor and House of Dragon, and the second season of Mike White’s popular The White Lotus. Abbott Elementary, Severance and The Bear were voted for thrice each, and tied in third place. Forty-five shows were voted for in total, in what proved to be a popular year for the small screen.

Best Director

· Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) – 11 votes (10 students, 1 staff) – WINNER

· Charlotte Wells (Aftersun) – 6 votes (5 students, 1 staff)

· Jordan Peele (Nope) – 3 votes (2 students, 1 staff)

· Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) – 3 votes (2 students, 1 staff)

· Todd Field (Tár) – 2 votes (1 student, 1 staff)

· Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave) – 2 votes (all students)

Everything Everywhere’s Best Picture triumph was by a single vote, but The Daniels dominated the Best Director category in the poll, with a vast five vote gap between the exciting young duo and Wells, who impressively made her feature film debut with Aftersun. Despite perhaps being the favourite for the Oscars, Spielberg is surprisingly joint third place here, and he is joined alongside Jordan Peele for the remarkable sci-fi and western hybrid Nope, another Academy-snubbed film that our department appreciated (stick around to see where it ranked in the ‘Most Snubbed’ category). Todd Field’s calculated, tense direction for Tár earns him fourth place with South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook. It is only Ruben Ostlund who was nominated at the Oscars that did not get a single vote by the department; he directed the divisive class critique Triangle of Sadness, seemingly out of favour here at Warwick.

Best Screenplay

· Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin) – 14 votes (all students) – WINNER

· Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) – 6 votes (4 students, 2 staff)

· Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) – 3 votes (2 students, 1 staff)

· Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness) – 2 votes (1 student, 1 staff)

· Park Chan-wook & Jeong Seo-keyong (Decision to Leave) – 2 votes (all students)

· Charlotte Wells (Aftersun) – 2 votes (all students)

· Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) – 2 votes (all students)

· Paul Fisher & Tommy Swerdlow (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) – 2 votes (all students)

Martin McDonagh contrasts the foreboding backdrop of war and violence with the small-town squabbles of two best friends in The Banshees of Inisherin, and this comprehensively wins the category for Best Screenplay, with all fourteen votes coming from students. The Daniels were second with Everything Everywhere whilst Spielberg has to settle for third yet again with his semi-autobiographical script for The Fabelmans. There is finally some appreciation for Ostlund’s Triangle of Sadness in joint fourth place, as well as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the new, much-loved instalment in the Shrek saga that is the film on everyone’s lips right now.

Best Actress

· Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) – 13 votes (12 students, 1 staff) – WINNER

· Cate Blanchett (Tár) – 5 votes (3 students, 2 staff)

· Danielle Deadwyler (Till) – 2 votes (1 student, 1 staff)

· Mia Goth (X, Pearl) – 2 votes (2 students)

“This is not just for me, this is for every little girl that looks like me” said Michelle Yeoh as she won the SAG award for Best Actress for her role in Everything Everywhere. The performance does show off her remarkable martial arts abilities that are integral to her fascinating star persona, but what makes her truly special is that she crucially merges this experience with huge emotional depth and a versatility that makes her portrayal of Evelyn Wang one to be remembered for many years to come. She is a trailblazer: she becomes first Asian woman to receive an Academy Award nominee for Best Actress. It is no surprise that she wins this category in the Film and Television department, and should be no surprise if she wins it on Sunday night. Her thirteen votes trump the five votes of her tough competitor Cate Blanchett, who is spellbinding as the ‘cancelled’ composer Lydia Tár. Two actresses snubbed by the Academy finish in joint third place; some of the department thought that Deadwyler in Till and Mia Goth in X and Pearl deserved more credit for their roles. There was also notably one vote for Jenny the Donkey, who was adored for her cameo in The Banshees of Inisherin – maybe next year, Jenny.

Best Actor

· Paul Mescal (Aftersun) – 14 votes (11 students, 3 staff) – WINNER

· Austin Butler (Elvis) – 4 votes (2 students, 2 staff)

· Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) – 4 votes (all students)

· Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans) – 2 votes (all students)

· Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) – 2 votes (all students)

It felt like there was almost collective cheer around the United Kingdom and Ireland when Paul Mescal was nominated for Best Actor by the Academy, and this popularity is reflected in his fourteen votes and crowning as the Best Actor by Warwick. The wildly talented young star outdoes himself in Aftersun as the struggling young dad Calum, with a beautiful, restrained performance. Butler’s near-identical, shape-shifting portrayal of the King of Rock in Elvis accumulated four votes and placed in second, alongside Farrell’s touching Padraic from Banshees. The top three have all been nominated at the Oscars, but a surprising exclusion is that of Brendan Fraser, who may be the favourite for his committed portrayal of obese English teacher Charlie in The Whale, as he only picked up a single vote. LaBelle in The Fabelmans and Quan in Everything Everywhere were in third with two votes each, all from students.

The Worst

· Blonde – 7 votes (5 students, 2 staff) – WINNER

· The Whale – 4 votes (all students)

· Morbius – 3 votes (all students)

· Elvis – 2 votes (all students)

· Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules – 2 votes (all students)

· David O. Russell – 2 votes (all students)

· Tom Hanks – 2 votes (all students)

We have had the good, and now let’s have the bad. In this melange of the worst things to happen in 2022, the list is topped by Andrew Dominick’s poorly received study of Marilyn Monroe: Blonde, which is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel. Accusations of misogyny and style over substance were just a few of the criticisms lodged at the film when released on Netflix, these sentiments seem to be shared by the department as five students and two staff voted for it as the worst of the worst. Aronofsky’s polarising The Whale was in second, whilst in third was perhaps the most meme-worthy film of the year in the Marvel offering Morbius, starring Jared Leto. Luhrmann’s excessive Elvis tied with animated comedy Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules with two votes in fourth place. Special shout-outs to David O. Russell (who directed Amsterdam, met with mixed reviews) and Tom Hanks (the legendary actor had a busy year as he starred as Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker and as Geppetto in Disney’s remake of Pinocchio amongst other roles), who also received two votes each for their contributions to 2022.

Most Snubbed

· Nope – 8 votes (7 students, 1 staff) – WINNER

· The Batman – 4 votes (all students)

· Decision to Leave – 3 votes (all students)

· Horror – 2 votes (1 student, 1 staff)

· Aftersun for Best Picture – 2 votes (all students)

· Bones and All – 2 votes (all students)

· Babylon – 2 votes (all students)

· Till – 2 votes (all students)

Precisely what the Alternative Oscars intend to do is to shine light on the films/people/issues that were neglected by the Academy, and the Most Snubbed category outlines this aim. Jordan Peele’s Nope has had a steady following thus far, and the department judges it as the most snubbed – its ingenuity in its approach to genre and spectacle is undeniable, and makes it one of the most fascinating products of 2022. Robert Pattinson’s iteration of Bruce Wayne’s caped crusader in The Batman was not left unappreciated, and neither was Decision to Leave, Guadagnino’s cannibal coming-of-age flick Bones and All, Chazelle’s all-star Hollywood romp Babylon and Till, directed by Chinonye Chukwu. The Nigerian-American filmmaker labelled Till’s complete snubbing as “unabashed misogyny towards Black women”, and the department seemed to share this criticism of the Academy, with there also being a vote for Till actress Danielle Deadwyler. Other votes highlighted this same topic, with submissions of ‘A lack of women in multiple categories’, and for Fresh director Mimi Cave, for Mia Goth and for Alice Diop’s Saint Omer. It is important to recognise these issues, which tarnishes the night in which all cinema should be celebrated and noticed instead of being consistently side-lined and snubbed.

Conclusion

The real Oscars arrive in just a couple of days, where all will be revealed. Will Everything Everywhere run rampant in the categories like it has here? Will Yeoh make history, yet again? Will Mescal clinch the Best Actor trophy against all odds? Will Jenny the Donkey make a late dash for an award? The Alternative Oscars are a great way of gauging how our students and staff feel not just about the Academy’s choices, but how they have responded to a year of cinema as a whole. We hope you have enjoyed reading these results for our Alternative Oscars for 2022! Enjoy the ceremony!