Following a year of COVID-caused theater closings and postponed blockbusters, the Motion Picture Academy will try to put a positive spin on the industry this Sunday evening when the 93rd annual Oscar winners are announced.
Understandably, it will not be the usual ceremony. For starters, the main venue will be Los Angeles’s iconic Union train station – featured in such major films as The Dark Knight Rises, Blade Runner, Pearl Harbor and Hail, Caesar! In addition, there will be remote Zoomed sites from around the world to accommodate nominees unable to travel to Hollywood for the event.
Television ratings are likely to be low, reflecting the crop of little-seen independent films vying for the Best Picture statuette. Still, if results of earlier awards are an accurate indicator, it looks to be a big night for Nomadland and for its director-screenwriter-editor, Chloé Zhao. This saga of widow Fern (Frances McDormand), who, after losing her job and her town, takes to the road in her unreliable RV, making contact with similar nomads, has all the markings of a serious movie that illuminates the current zeitgeist.
So here are my wildly unscientific predictions of Sunday’s winners. As usual, there is no need to contact me afterwards to remind me where my picks missed the mark.
* Best Picture – Nomadland
* Best Director – Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
* Best Actor, Leading Role – Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
* Best Actress, Leading Role – Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
* Best Actor, Supporting Role – Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
* Best Actress, Supporting Role – Yuh-jung Youn, Minari
* Best Animated Feature Film – Soul
* Best Adapted Screenplay – Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
* Best Original Screenplay – Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
* Best Original Song – Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth, “Speak Now,” from One Night in Miami
* Best Original Score – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Soul
* Best Sound – Sound of Metal
* Best Costume Design — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
* Best Animated Short Film – If Anything Happens I Love You
* Best Live Action Short Film – Two Distant Strangers
* Best Cinematography – Nomadland
* Best Documentary Feature – My Octopus Teacher
* Best Documentary Short Subject – A Love Song for Latasha
* Best Film Editing – Nomadland
* Best International Feature Film – Another Round (Denmark)