Phew. The annual ritual of the Oscar nominations announcement has finally passed. The awards discourse on the internet often feels like it’s hosting a year-long film festival of its own, and the Academy Award nominations are when prognosticators start to spiral. For the subsequent bouts of elation, outrage, and armchair punditry that have since plagued the internet, this year’s nominations have had cinephile group chats go off the rails. Emilia Pérez, Netflix’s divisive bid for Best Picture glory, leads the pack with 13 nods, while The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s post-modern epic, stands as its only potential counterweight. Somewhere between these extremes lies a year for cinema as fragmented, obnoxious and ridiculously contradictory as the industry itself.
Leading the charge is France’s official submission to the Oscars this year — Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, a Spanish-language musical about a trans Mexican gangster, which shattered records with 13 nominations, the most ever for a non-English-language film. As distributor, Netflix finally appears poised to claim the coveted Best Picture statuette that has eluded it for nearly a decade.
Yet, Emilia Pérez’s path to victory is far from certain. Despite its nomination dominance, the film has polarised audiences, with Rotten Tomatoes scores reflecting both lukewarm critical reception and outright disdain from general audiences. Its detractors, including members of the Mexican and trans communities, have raised concerns about representation, while film Twitter has been having a field day tearing apart its “artistic merits.” Still, the Academy’s embrace of the film seems to embody the seismic shift of the increasing internationalisation of the award show.
This year’s nominations reflect an Academy electorate that is no longer tethered solely to the gravity of Los Angeles. Following the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the mid-2010s, the Academy had no choice but to expand its ranks and bring in a more diverse and international voter base. This broader lens has reaped benefits, with films like Parasite, Drive My Car and most recently, The Zone of Interest paving the way for Emilia Pérez. Yet, the question remains whether Emilia Pérez can transcend its controversies to become Netflix’s long-awaited Best Picture winner.
Meanwhile, the Best Picture race remains a mosaic of possibilities. The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s 3½-hour exploration of Holocaust trauma through a modernist lens, earned 10 nominations, including nods for directing, original screenplay, and acting categories. Its nods suggest a potential repeat of the 2002 Oscars, when The Pianist dominated major categories (including Adrien Brody’s first Oscar win) but ultimately lost Best Picture to Chicago. Could The Brutalist suffer a similar fate, overshadowed by the populist appeal of Wicked, Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster musical, or even Emilia Pérez?
Wicked itself, became the first musical since La La Land to score double-digit nominations but failed to secure directing and screenplay nods — omissions that rarely bode well for Best Picture contenders. Still, its sheer spectacle and star power could capture voters’ hearts.

Sean Baker’s Anora, with eight nominations, has now surprisingly emerged as a dark horse, having powered through the season as the frontrunner so far. The Cannes darling has navigated the awards circuit with an enviable consistency, hitting all the major precursors without faltering. Baker’s personal tally of four nominations (directing, original screenplay, editing, and producing) places him in rarefied air alongside auteurs like Chloé Zhao and Alfonso Cuarón. Anora might lack the bombast of its competitors, but its steady presence in the race could resonate deeply with voters during the final stretch.
International cinema’s footprint on the Oscars continues to expand. For the first time in history, two non-English-language films — Emilia Pérez and Brazil’s I’m Still Here — are vying for Best Picture. The latter, directed by Walter Salles, shocked pundits by securing nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Fernanda Torres), and International Feature. Torres’ campaign has been buoyed by her Golden Globe win and a fervent social media push, but her chances remain tenuous given the lack of SAG and BAFTA nominations.
The acting categories were fairly predictable this year. Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) and Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) are locked in a duel for Best Actor. In Best Actress, Demi Moore (The Substance) faces Mikey Madison (Anora) and Karla Sofia Gascon (Emilia Pérez) in what could be one of the night’s most competitive showdowns. Meanwhile, in the supporting categories, Ariana Grande’s performance in Wicked has captured the cultural zeitgeist, but Zoe Saldaña’s Golden Globe win for Emilia Perez positions her as the formidable frontrunner. And tough luck to Guy Pierce, Edward Norton, Yura Borisov and especially Succession-kin Jeremy Strong, but the supporting actor trophy seems like its Kieran Culkin’s to lose.

This year’s diversity milestones cannot go unmentioned. Four Latinos earned acting nominations, a historic first, while Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) became only the second Black actress to receive multiple Best Actress nominations, following Viola Davis. Erivo’s quest for an EGOT status is compelling, as she seeks to become the first performer to achieve the feat with an Oscar win.
The director category, featuring an all-first-timer lineup, is another area of interest. Brady Corbet, James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Sean Baker, Jacques Audiard, and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) represent a new vanguard of filmmakers. Notably absent are Edward Berger (Conclave) and Jon M. Chu, both of whom helmed Best Picture nominees. Berger’s omission in particular, feels glaring given Conclave’s eight nominations and his prior snub for All Quiet on the Western Front.
In the screenplay categories, the nominations demonstrate a fascinating split between the sweeping and the intimate. Original Screenplay nods for The Brutalist and Anora reflect the Academy’s appreciation for bold auteur visions. Meanwhile, the competition feels particularly tight this year for the Adapted Screenplay nominees, as the papal thriller, Conclave faces off against the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown; with Emilia Perez and Wicked also looming in the shadows rather menacingly.

Guild awards will undoubtedly shape the weeks ahead. The DGA could bolster The Brutalist, while SAG may lean toward the star-studded ensemble of Wicked. BAFTA’s sensibilities could favor Conclave, and the PGA’s penchant for crowd-pleasers might validate Emilia Pérez. With just over five weeks until the ceremony, the race remains as unpredictable as ever.
The Oscars stream live on March 2.
Published – January 24, 2025 12:24 pm IST