It’s awards season again and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its nominees for the 97th annual Oscar Awards.
Musical film “Emilia Pérez” takes the lead in nominations, holding 13 in total, including three music nominations, a nomination for International Feature Film and one for Best Picture. The musical adaptation of Boris Razon’s novel, “Écoute”, follows a lawyer who’s enlisted in the task of helping a notorious cartel leader fake her death to retire and complete her gender transition.
But some movie-goers have expressed disapproval for the movie, particularly for its Mexican and transgender representation, which raises questions as to how it received multiple nominations.
According to Forbes, if the film were to win Best Picture, it would be the lowest critic-scored film to have done so since Paul Haggis’s “Crash” won the award in 2006.
In the wake of her nomination for the film, making her the first transgender person to be nominated for best actress in a leading role, Karla Sofía Gascón has responded to critics of the film’s queer representation.
“There are some that say, ‘I want to see LGBTQ or trans characters outdoing what people do in real life,’ but we do bad things, too,” Gascón told Vanity Fair. “I don’t understand the criticism about the representation of portraying Emilia Pérez this way.” Gascón plays the character Emilia Perez, a transgender former drug cartel leader, which was a new approach to representing the transgender community.
In close second just behind “Emilia Pérez” are the films, “Wicked” and “The Brutalist.” Each has 10 Oscar nominations, including for best picture.
“Moments like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, it is sacrilege to let them pass by without a moment of gratitude,” “Wicked” actress Cynthia Erivo posted on Instagram.
“Wicked” is a musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same title, which expands on the story of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. “The Brutalist” is a fictional period drama following a Holocaust survivor’s arrival to America to start a new life as an architect.
Dareen Darwish, a chemical engineering sophomore, said she hopes the academy will award something to “The Substance.”
“I knew I was going to love it when I saw it and I did,” Darwish said.
The sci-fi horror film follows a middle-aged woman who takes a serum that forces her to navigate life while alternating her consciousness between herself and an idealized version of herself.
The film received five nominations, including an actress in a leading role nod to Demi Moore.
“Being nominated for an Oscar is an incredible honor and these last few months have been beyond my wildest dreams,” Moore said to ABC7.
On the other hand, other sources–including TODAY, Vulture and Billboard – said “Challengers,” despite receiving nods from other awards shows, received no Oscar nominations, was one of the biggest snubs of the year. The film follows a former tennis star as she coaches her husband out of a losing streak when he’s forced to play against his former best friend and her ex-boyfriend. Challengers” star Josh O’Connor reacted graciously to the news of the movie receiving no nominations.
“There’s so many great films,” O’Connor told IndieWire. “But I do think that every year. I’m always amazed by what people and artists can create. I don’t mind.”
The 97th annual Academy Awards will be hosted by television host and comedian Conan O’Brien and will start at 6:30 p.m. March 2 on ABC and Hulu.