What makes awards so fascinating?
All of us with a love for film and television seem to obsess over them year in and year out. I’m certainly guilty of it. And yet, they don’t really matter. Sure, they matter for those who win the awards, leading to further opportunities and whatnot. But the Oscars and (especially) the Golden Globes don’t even really seem to carry the same cultural value they did in decades past. And yet, I await these award shows with anticipation. This time of year, I watch films through the lens of awards-season merit. Who deserves a nomination? Who doesn’t? It’s surely a limiting perspective, one that doesn’t account for all the kinds of films that get made, many of which will never even sniff an Academy Award telecast through no fault of their own. And because the recently announced nominations for the 94th Academy Awards features middling films like Don’t Look Up and Being the Ricardos, I felt it was time to take matters into my own hands.
And so the next two editions of Cory’s Reads are going to look a little different. I’m going to host my own awards show. Let’s call them the Speccies. It’s a reference to the glasses in my logo, although I also understand it sounds like a slur of some kind.
Whatever, it’s just a name.
In this first round of the Speccies, I’m going to announce my nominations, granting all of you the chance to vote for your winner out of the bunch. Next time, I’ll announce both the audience’s choice, as well as my official selection. This is not a prediction of what I am going to choose (although it certainly could be, I suppose) but rather your own take on 2021’s highest achievements in film!
The categories are the same as those at the Academy Awards, sans the awards for Best Live-Action Short Film and Best Documentary Short-Subject. As much as I’d love to recognize some inevitably great films in those categories, I can’t say I’ve seen very many of those in 2021. I tried to keep my descriptions of each category brief so as not to spoil my selections. I’ve also included a few honorable mentions where applicable. Without further ado, let’s announce the nominees for the first annual Speccies.
Read below for the reveal of each category, and to hear some thoughts on my nominations. Click HERE to vote for your favorites.
Thanks for reading, and happy voting!
Best Picture
West Side Story
Nightmare Alley
Licorice Pizza
The Matrix: Resurrections
Flee
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Red Rocket
Titane
The Green Knight
The Souvenir Part II
The Oscars permit a maximum of 10 films to be nominated for Best Picture, so the Speccies are following suit. Only a few of these films will be represented in this category at both ceremonies: West Side Story, Nightmare Alley, and Licorice Pizza. Of course, I never expected many of these to make waves with the Academy. Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix: Resurrections is the furthest thing from an Oscar contender, for example. I’m frustrated that indie hits like Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II aren’t getting the recognition they deserve, but surely a Speccy is more prestigious anyway. Titane was already disappointingly shut out of the Academy’s shortlist for Best International Feature Film, but I never expected the film and its provocative brand of body horror to resonate with the old heads at the Academy anyway, so I’m giving it some love here.
Honorable Mentions: Drive My Car, Concrete Cowboy, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Bergman Island, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Best Actor
Simon Rex (Red Rocket)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog/The Electrical Life of Louis Wain)
Caleb McLaughlin (Concrete Cowboy)
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley)
No matter what happens, Benedict Cumberbatch is already a winner. He’s delivered two of the year’s greatest performances in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog and Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. I couldn’t decide which one was more deserving of a nomination, so he gets a two-for-one. Caleb McLaughlin hasn’t received much buzz for his lead role in Concrete Cowboy, but I found it incredibly authentic and moving. Bradley Cooper might have delivered a career-best in Nightmare Alley as the charismatic Stanton Carlisle (he’s similarly excellent in a supporting role in Licorice Pizza). Simon Rex crafts an irresistible portrait of a washed-up porn star in Red Rocket, while Denzel Washington somehow elevates Shakespeare’s masterpiece even further in Ethan Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Only Denzel and Cumberbatch were recognized by the Academy.
Honorable Mentions: Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick…BOOM!), Dev Patel (The Green Knight), Will Smith (King Richard), Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), Bob Odenkirk (Nobody)
Best Actress
Agathe Rousselle (Titane)
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)
Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby)
Marion Cotillard (Annette)
What a year for the newcomer. Four of these five nominees are making their feature-film debut here. Agathe Rousselle delivers an intensely physical performance as Alexia in Palme d’Or winner Titane, while Alana Haim and Rachel Sennott both capture that unforgettable feeling of youthful angst. Oddly enough, Rachel Zegler is the youngest and least experienced of the bunch, but anyone who earns the trust of Steven Spielberg is likely doing something right. And indeed, Zegler plays the coveted role of Maria in West Side Story with incredible poise, reinventing classics like “I Feel Pretty” and “A Boy Like That” for the modern age. Of course, this inexperienced bunch is joined by Academy-Award-winner Marion Cotillard, who delivers a wonderfully musical performance of her own in Leos Carax’s off-kilter Annette. In a film constantly shifting between the sentimental and the surreal, Cotillard navigates that space with uncanny ease. This category is where I differ from the Academy the most, as not a single one of our nominees align. I can’t wrap my head around the Academy’s love for Being the Ricardos and The Lost Daughter. I have nothing but respect for Nicole Kidman and Olivia Colman, but neither came close to delivering one of 2021’s best performances.
Honorable Mentions: Taylour Paige (Zola), Lady Gaga (The House of Gucci), Honour Swinton-Byrne (The Souvenir Part II), Sydney Sweeney (The Voyeurs), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)
Best Supporting Actor
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
Jon Bernthal (King Richard)
Troy Kotsur (CODA)
Jamie Dornan (Belfast)
Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch)
This is a surprisingly competitive category, featuring actors in films that may not be represented too much elsewhere. CODA was a vital and sweet addition to 2021’s entertainment landscape, and while it may have flown a bit under the radar with mass audiences, the Academy clearly loved it. Kotsur is hilarious in CODA, but also highly moving, carefully capturing the pains of fatherhood in a way that reminded me of Robert De Niro’s Oscar-winning performance in Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Jamie Dornan is also one of 2021’s best fathers, taking Kenneth Branagh’s saccharine Belfast and grounding it necessarily. Jon Bernthal continues to demonstrate just how underrated he is with a charismatic turn in King Richard, while Kodi Smit-McPhee is quietly chilling in The Power of the Dog. And I haven’t even mentioned Jeffrey Wright, whose work in The French Dispatch culminates in one of the year’s very best scenes. Vote at your own risk.
Honorable Mentions: Jonathan Groff (The Matrix: Resurrections), Jharrel Jerome (Concrete Cowboy), Ben Affleck (The Last Duel), Willem Dafoe (Nightmare Alley), literally everyone in Licorice Pizza…they could have formed their own category…
Best Supporting Actress
Jodie Comer (The Last Duel)
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
Rita Moreno (West Side Story)
Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley)
Lorraine Toussaint (Concrete Cowboy)
West Side Story is doubly represented here, as two generations of Anita actresses steal the show. Moreno played Anita in the 1961 iteration of West Side Story, and returns in Spielberg’s version as a new character named Victoria. Ariana DeBose fills Moreno’s well-worn shoes more than admirably, showcasing the talent that has already made her a Broadway star. Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer is a crucial lynchpin in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, maintaining a much-needed female perspective in a film that could have easily fallen off its horse. Surely, nobody is surprised that Cate Blanchett delivers yet another excellent performance in Nightmare Alley, but you may be less familiar with Lorraine Toussaint. The Orange is the New Black actress serves as a powerful mentor to Caleb McLaughlin’s Cole in Concrete Cowboy. This is a wonderfully diverse category where anyone could claim the Speccie. Who’s it going to be?
Honorable Mentions: Suzanna Son (Red Rocket), Bree Elrod (Red Rocket), Toko Miura (Drive My Car), Luisa Ranieri (The Hand of God), Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
Best Director
Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Part II)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Guillermo Del Toro (Nightmare Alley)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
The Best Director category can often be a difficult one to crack, particularly in a year like this where so many directors offered some of their most accomplished works. Indeed, the directors listed here are among the most successful in Hollywood, and their 2021 offerings serve as culminations of their respective careers. Joanna Hogg deserves particular recognition for creating such a personal work with The Souvenir Part II, but Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story are all personal efforts in their own right. Only PTA and Spielberg were nominated in this category at the Oscars, but I can’t complain too much about the nomination of Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who I considered heavily here. I just wish more than one director could win the award.
Honorable Mentions: Joel Coen (The Tragedy of MacBeth), Julia Ducournau (Titane), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch), Tsai Ming-Liang (Days)
Best Screenplay (Original)
Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Part II)
Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God gets its first nomination here, with its shockingly funny yet brutal exploration of adolescence in 1980’s Naples. Sorrentino is joined by a group of auteurs, writer-directors who have each established a signature voice for themselves over the last couple of decades. Like Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical script, each of its fellow nominees strikes a surprising balance between comedy and tragedy. This could truly be anyone’s race.
Honorable Mentions: Mike Mills (C’mon, C’mon), Joachim Trier/Eskil Vogt (The Worst Person in the World), Michael Mohan (The Voyeurs), Lana Wachowski/David Mitchell/Aleksander Hamon (The Matrix: Resurrections), Julia Ducournau (Titane)
Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Takamasa Oe (Drive My Car)
David Lowery (The Green Knight)
Ben Affleck/Matt Damon/Nicole Holofcener (The Last Duel)
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
Guillermo Del Toro/Kim Morgan (Nightmare Alley)
Another fun category, headlined by a litany of literary adaptations. Each of these scripts began as books, although Nightmare Alley is perhaps best known as a remake of the 1947 film of the same name. The Last Duel is similarly connected to a written text, although its roots extend much further back, to historical events in medieval France. The film marks the first script from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon since they won the Oscar for Good Will Hunting in 1999. Their collaboration with Can You Ever Forgive Me? scribe Nicole Holofcener is surprisingly careful and tender considering its harsh subject matter. I’m grateful, if not mildly surprised, that Drive My Car was recognized by the Academy in this category as well.
Honorable Mentions: Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby), Janicza Bravo (Zola), Ricky Staub/Dan Walser (Concrete Cowboy)
Best Cinematography
Ruben Impens (Titane)
Andrew Droz Palermo (The Green Knight)
Drew Daniels (Red Rocket)
Michael Bauman/Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of MacBeth)
2021 featured some beautiful films, and it absolutely killed me to leave off so many of them. I set a limit for myself in that I’d only mention five honorable mentions, but this category requires an expansion of that rule. In addition to the five films listed below, West Side Story, The Matrix: Resurrections, and Bergman Island all blew my mind in terms of their cinematographic achievement. As for the nominees, The Tragedy of MacBeth features some of the best shots I've seen in several years. The same goes for The Green Knight. The camera in Red Rocket and Titane tells a story unto itself, narrating its own perspective on the journey of each film’s troubled protagonist. And has PTA ever made an ugly film? Tougher question: has he ever made a prettier film than Licorice Pizza?
Honorable Mentions: Erik Wilson (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Days, Daria D’Antonio (The Hand of God), Robert D. Yeoman (The French Dispatch), Dan Laustsen (Nightmare Alley)
Best Foreign Language Film
Drive My Car
Parallel Mothers
The Hand of God
Flee
The Worst Person in the World
I’m always happy to complain about Netflix and streaming culture’s impact on entertainment at large, but one of its undeniable successes is the extent to which foreign language films are not just accessible to, but actually accessed by large swaths of American audiences. Alas, even as films like Parasite remain in our shared cultural consciousness, and shows like Squid Game take the world by storm (maybe this is all a testament to the excellence of South Korean film above all else), these excellent nominees may not be familiar to every reader. The tragic (yet surprisingly hilarious) The Hand of God is fortunately available on Netflix, but these other nominees haven’t quite gotten the North American distribution they deserve. Hopefully their prestigious nominations at the Speccies will convince many a reader to chase them down. Drive My Car comes from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a Japanese director rapidly ascending through the international directorial ranks. The Worst Person in the World is one of the most exciting takes on the “rom-com” in recent memory, while Parallel Mothers makes for one of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s most moving films yet. Spain opted not to select the latter film as its entry for this year’s Oscars, so Almodovar will have to settle for the Speccie nomination instead. And Flee? Let’s just say this isn’t the last time we’ll be hearing that film’s name.
Honorable Mentions: Memoria, A Hero
Best Documentary
Flee
The Sparks Brothers
Summer of Soul
A Glitch in the Matrix
Procession
On the surface, this category may seem obvious. One of the nominees is nominated several times elsewhere, including in the “Best Picture” category. And yet, I can assure you this is a hotly contested race. The Sparks Brothers and Summer of Soul are just two of several excellent music docs to come out of 2021, while A Glitch in the Matrix features director/visual essayist Rodney Ascher at the height of his powers, addressing essential (or is it inessential?) questions about the very nature of our existence. And Procession is without a doubt one of the year’s very best films. Many films claim to be about trauma and grief, and some of them are. But Procession irrevocably redefines our conversations surrounding trauma, whilst doubling as an interrogation of masculinity, and tripling as an excavation of the filmmaking process. Great year for documentaries, that 2021.
Honorable Mentions: Ascension, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry
Best Animated Film
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Flee
Belle
Luca
Encanto
The Best Animated Film category tends to reward the year’s best children’s film, but that may not be the case this year, with Flee serving as a clear outlier from the rest of the bunch. Of course, it will face stiff competition from Disney’s Encanto, which has captivated young viewers from its home on Disney+. Pixar’s Luca was also a surprisingly sweet offering in 2021, a vast improvement over the studio’s 2020 film Soul. I also absolutely adored The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and would love to see the film get recognized by the major awards bodies. It’s been a strong year for animation, and while each of these films are great in their own ways, it would almost be a shame for Disney, a mainstay in this category, to walk away with yet another award.
Best Editing
Helle le Fevre (The Souvenir Pt II)
Andrew Weisblum (The French Dispatch)
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Olivier Bugge Coutté (The Worst Person in the World)
Cam McLaughlin (Nightmare Alley)
There are many ways one could measure excellence in editing. Each of these nominees had to juggle many moving parts, and it often falls on the editor to ensure each piece of the puzzle slots in smoothly. The astonishing endings in The Souvenir Part II and Nightmare Alley don’t work without proper editing, nor does the anthological structure of The French Dispatch. The Worst Person in the World also relies on its innovative editing to breathe new life into its well-worn genre trappings.
*I’m going to keep these writeups short in the sections ahead (who wants to hear me rant about production design anyway?) but be sure to vote for your favorites in each category!
Honorable Mentions: The Matrix: Resurrections, Old, The Tragedy of MacBeth, Shiva Baby, The Hand of God
Best Score
Alexandre Desplat (The French Dispatch)
Johnny Greenwood (Spencer)
Jonny Greenwood (The Power of the Dog)
Daniel Hart (The Green Knight)
Eiki Ishibashi (Drive My Car)
How about two nominations for Radiohead star Johnny Greenwood? While I was underwhelmed by Pablo Larrain’s Spencer on the whole, Greenwood’s jazzy score remains one of the year’s very best. He’s joined by another mainstay in this category, Alexandre Desplat. But don’t sleep on newcomers Daniel Hart or Eiki Ishibashi either.
Honorable Mentions: Nathan Johnson (Nightmare Alley), Carter Burwell (The Tragedy of MacBeth), Johnny Klimek/Tom Tykwer (The Matrix: Resurrections), Harry Gregson-Williams (The Last Duel), Brian Tyler (Those Who Wish Me Dead)
Best Sound
Licorice Pizza
The Tragedy of MacBeth
The Green Knight
Red Rocket
West Side Story
Film is a visual medium, but sometimes, when a film just sounds really good, you could almost imagine closing your eyes and extracting the very same experience from the film. Such is the power of sound, and each of these films use it to its fullest potential. That may seem obvious in a musical like West Side Story or a soundtrack-heavy film like Licorice Pizza, but even the quiet soundscapes in the other three nominees manage to evoke a whole range of sonic sensations.
Honorable Mentions: The Matrix: Resurrections, The Last Duel, Nightmare Alley, Titane, Dune
Best Song
So May We Start (Annette)
No Time To Die (No Time To Die)
Beyond The Shore (CODA)
Dos Oruguitas (Encanto)
We Love Each Other So Much (Annette)
A double-dip here for Leos Carax’s bizarre musical Annette, something that won’t be possible come Oscar night, as “We Love Each Other So Much” was tragically left off the Academy’s December shortlist. The song features just a few lines outside of its title, repeating those words over and over so as to conjure new meaning each time. It’s an astonishing feat, and a surprisingly catchy one at that. “So May We Start” is similarly excellent — it’s probably the song I’ve listened to the most out of this list. Of course, the two songs from Annette must square off with Billie Eilish’s Bond theme. If it feels like Eilish’s “No Time to Die” has been around for ages, that’s because it has. Originally released in February 2020, the song is finally eligible for an Oscar over two years later. Surely, this category wouldn’t be complete without at least one Disney musical, but don’t sleep on CODA’s Emilia Jones’ beautiful “Beyond the Shore” either.
Best Production Design
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
The Tragedy of MacBeth
The Green Knight
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
Production design is often all about a film’s ability to evoke its setting. Each of these films do that and then some, creating entire worlds unto themselves. Most of these nominations have gotten love elsewhere in this newsletter, but I want to give a special shout-out to The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, which evokes not just a period or a setting, but a mood, a perspective unique to its subject that truly could not have been properly conveyed in any other medium than film.
Honorable Mentions: West Side Story, The French Dispatch
Best Visual Effects
Dune
No Time To Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The Matrix: Resurrections
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Sorry, Marvel fans. No Way Home doesn’t get a crack at Best Picture at this year’s Speccies, but it is a legitimate contender in the visual effects category. It goes up against another other Marvel film, a Bond film, and two blockbusters from Warner Bros. This category is always a fun one, as it tends to include some of the year’s biggest hits. And as much as Marvel stans may wish it weren’t so, one of these nominations is a clear-cut frontrunner to take home the Speccie. Do you know who it is?
Honorable Mentions: Black Widow
Best Animated Short
Robin Robin
Honestly, I haven’t seen many films in this category. I almost opted not to include it at all. But Aardman Animation’s Robin Robin is an adorable little film streaming on Netflix, and is well worth a half-hour of your time. Congratulations to the first winner of the night!
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Electrical Life of Louis Wain
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
The Matrix: Resurrections
Titane
Old
Fortunately, there’s no “person in a fat suit” movie to steal this award this year. Instead, we have a bunch of astonishing on-screen transformations. Jessica Chastain is unrecognizable in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and M. Night Shyamalan' taps into some delicious body horror with the campy yet addictive Old. And if you haven’t seen Agathe Rousselle’s transformation in Titane, what exactly are you waiting for?
Honorable Mention: House of Gucci
Best Costume Design
The Last Duel
The Green Knight
Licorice Pizza
West Side Story
The French Dispatch
Costume design can be a fun category, often presenting an opportunity for one of the year’s best films to swipe an award in a ceremony that may not have gone their way otherwise. That doesn’t make it a consolation prize, of course. Good costume design, like good production design, goes a long way in making a film immersive and believable. And the outfits in these films do just that.
Honorable Mentions: The Matrix: Resurrections, House of Gucci
If you haven’t already, please click HERE to vote for YOUR winners in the first annual Speccies race. And check back in the next edition of Cory’s Reads to find out who took home the acetate!