New Delhi: Jane Campion’s Western The Power of the Dog, a psychological drama set in the director’s native New Zealand, is leading the 2022 Oscars race, where India registered its presence by scoring a nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category with Writing With Fire.
Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, both debutants, Writing With Fire chronicles the rise of Khabar Lahariya, India’s only newspaper that is written, edited, produced, distributed and marketed entirely by rural women from backward communities.
With The Power of the Dog, Campion also becomes the first woman to have been nominated twice in the best directing category. She was previously nominated for 1994’s The Piano.
Besides biggies like best picture, the film has earned nods to Benedict Cumberbatch in the actor in a leading role category, Kirsten Dunst in the supporting actress category along with her husband Jesse Plemons and rising star Kodi Smit-McPhee, the latter two in the supporting actor segment.
The Power of the Dog is closely followed by Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel.
Surprisingly, Villeneuve didn’t get the direction nod, but he was acknowledged in the best picture category as a producer with Mary Parent and Cale Boyter. He has also secured a nod in the adapted screenplay segment alongside Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth.
Also part of the best picture line-up are: CODA, Don’t Look Up by Adam McKay, Japanese film Drive My Car, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story by Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg’s take on West Side Story collected seven nominations, which also include costume, cinematography and sound.
King Richard got a best actor nod for Will Smith, who stars in the title of Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. The film bagged six nods with Aunjanue Ellis getting recognised in the best supporting actress category for playing Oracene Price, the matriarch of the Williams family.
Besides Dunst and Ellis, other nominees in this category are Judi Dench (Belfast), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) and Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter).
Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical work Belfast collected seven nominations, including two for the writer-filmmaker in original screenplay and direction category.
Drive My Car got nominations for director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who will compete with Campion, Branagh, Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza).
Interestingly, the film may do what Parasite did at the 2020 Academy Awards since it has also been nominated in the best international film category as well. The international feature film of the year list also has Flee (Denmark), The Hand of God (Italy), Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan) and The Worst Person in the World (Norway) in competition.
Actor couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have secured nominations in the lead acting categories for Parallel Mothers and Being The Ricardos, respectively.
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Andrew Garfield (tick, tick…BOOM!) are also vying for the best actor trophy.
Bardem’s co-star J.K. Simmons has secured a nod in the supporting actor segment, alongside Troy Kotsur from CODA, a family drama centred on a high school student who is the child of deaf adults.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who made her directorial debut with The Lost Daughter, got a nod in the adapted screenplay category. Other films in the category include CODA, The Power of the Dog, and Drive My Car.
Don’t Look Up, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and The Worst Person in the World are also among the original screenplay nominees.
There is tough competition in the actress in a leading role category: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Kristen Stewart (Spencer), and Cruz.
No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s final film as James Bond, is nominated in the visual effects, sound, and original song categories.
Marvel Studios bagged two nominations in one category – best visual effects – for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Disney’s Cruella, starring Emma Stone in the title role, managed two nominations in costume for veteran designer Jenny Beaven and makeup and hairstyling.
Besides India’s Writing With Fire, the best documentary feature category also features Ascension, Attica, Flee, and Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
Audible, Lead Me Home, The Queen of Basketball, Three Songs for Benazir and When We Were Bullies are part of the documentary short subject final list.
The animated short film segment is populated by Affairs of the Art, Bestia, Boxballet, Robin Robin and The Windshield Wiper. Whereas Ala Kachuu – Take and Run, The Dress, The Long Goodbye, On My Mind and Please Hold will face off in the live-action short film category.
The best animated feature film of the year nominees include Encanto, Flee, Luca, The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Raya and the Last Dragon.