Paul Thomas Anderson, accepting the Best Picture Oscar for his dynamic chase film One Battle After Another, found himself reflecting on the formidable lineup of contenders from 1975. That year, the Academy recognised films like Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Barry Lyndon, Nashville, and the eventual winner, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Anderson mused, “There is no best among them. There is just what the mood might be that day.”
While Anderson’s sentiment champions artistic merit over competition, it highlighted a curious reality regarding his own category. The race for Best Picture wasn’t a diverse mood-driven affair; it was a clear contest between two frontrunners: One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s action-packed vampire flick, Sinners. This intense rivalry meant that other well-received and commercially successful films, such as Marty Supreme, went home empty-handed. Even Hamnet, despite significant early buzz and numerous Best Actress awards throughout the season for its star, Jessie Buckley, felt surprisingly sidelined by the time the main ceremony rolled around. This situation underscored the perceived redundancy of the Academy’s decision to expand the Best Picture category to a 10-nominee field, regardless of whether the films genuinely warrant it.
The Evolution of the Best Picture Category
The Academy’s decision to increase the number of Best Picture nominees from five to ten in 2009 was officially framed as an effort to “recognise and include” films that might otherwise be overlooked. However, it’s widely understood that this move was also a response to the significant omission of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight from the Best Picture nominations that year. The absence of the blockbuster superhero film was a major blow to the Oscars’ credibility, fuelling criticism that the awards often failed to acknowledge popular commercial successes or films that resonated with a broad audience. Given The Dark Knight‘s critical acclaim and Heath Ledger’s posthumous win for Best Supporting Actor, its exclusion from the top five Best Picture contenders indeed felt peculiar. Expanding the field to ten was, therefore, seen as a well-intentioned corrective measure.
Diluted Competition and the “Also-Rans”
In practice, however, a 10-nominee Best Picture lineup appears to dilute the significance of the nominations. This year, the slate included films like the subdued Netflix drama Train Dreams, the previously mentioned Brad Pitt vehicle F1, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s polarizing alien comedy Bugonia. On Oscar night, it was evident that these films were largely considered “also-rans.” While they were acknowledged with celebratory montages throughout the broadcast, they received little further attention. Their stars did not present awards, and host Conan O’Brien’s monologue did not feature jokes about them. Ironically, it was Weapons, a horror film that was notably snubbed for Best Picture, that provided ample material for the host’s comedic routines. While Hamnet garnered a win for Buckley, Sentimental Value secured Best International Film, and F1 took home Best Sound, with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein receiving several technical accolades, the majority of the other Best Picture nominees—including the Brazilian thriller The Secret Agent—left without any awards. A palpable sense emerged that many of these nominees had limited impact on the film culture of the past year.
The Real Drama: A Two-Horse Race
The genuine excitement of this awards season stemmed from the escalating rivalry between the films that truly captured attention. Sinners and One Battle After Another shared striking similarities, both thematically exploring race, power, and rebellion. Furthermore, they were both high-budget blockbusters produced by the same studio, Warner Bros. Their respective releases were met with significant industry scrutiny regarding the implications of their success or failure for the future of original storytelling in Hollywood and the enduring power of superstar actors to draw audiences to cinemas.
The outcome of the ceremony remained uncertain until the very end, with both films having garnered significant accolades at earlier awards like the Golden Globes, Baftas, and the Actor Awards. The unpredictable nature of the evening, with wins zig-zagging between the two frontrunners—such as Teyana Taylor from One Battle and Wunmi Mosaku from Sinners both missing out on Best Supporting Actress to Amy Madigan for Weapons, but One Battle clinching the inaugural Best Casting award, followed by Sinners winning Cinematography, and Michael B Jordan triumphing over Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor, before Anderson ultimately bested Coogler for Best Director—provided the sole moments of suspense in an otherwise measured broadcast.
In the aftermath of the ceremony, social media platforms buzzed with the reactions of disgruntled Sinners fans expressing their disappointment over the film’s Best Picture loss, and critics of One Battle vociferously pointing out its perceived shortcomings.
Irrespective of one’s personal stance on these debates, this passionate discourse is precisely the kind of engagement that cinema should inspire. It speaks volumes about films that ignited widespread conversation and served as genuine, grand-scale cinematic events. These two films, in particular, stand as compelling arguments against a bloated 10-nominee Best Picture lineup that often includes films with little lasting impact.
A Call for Focus
A return to a more focused selection of five nominees, reminiscent of the celebrated era of 1975, would imbue the Oscars with a greater sense of purpose. It would also more accurately reflect the films that resonated with audiences and critics over the preceding twelve months.
Concerns about films like The Dark Knight being overlooked are likely unfounded in the current climate. The Academy’s voting body is increasingly younger, more diverse, and less conventional. Such a film would undoubtedly secure a Best Picture nomination in today’s landscape, rather than merely benefiting from an expanded field that guarantees a nomination. This is a matter the Academy should seriously consider for future ceremonies.
