We’re just over a month away from the 94th Academy Awards, and a lot of the buzz is typical: how could the Academy snub my favorite movie? Will the hosts be any good? Could Will Smith finally receive the award for Best Actor? After last year’s socially-distanced ceremony, the Oscars will be returning to their old home at Dolby Theatre, but this season may mark a turning point for movies vying for the top award.
Digital distribution defined another pandemic year of movie-making. This year’s Best Picture field is nearly evenly split among streamers (Netflix and Apple Original Films), specialty studios (last year’s winner, Searchlight, for example), and major studios (Warner Brothers and MGM) — and while some of the nominees had fairly typical theatrical runs, the entire field depended on at least some digital distribution. Finally, it seems like getting films in front of audiences was more important than getting an audience to the movies.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Perhaps this shift will make it clear that the conversation about the best movie of the year is not the same as the conversation about the most popular one. When nominations were announced on February 8th, Jane Campion’s Netflix drama The Power of the Dog garnered more nods (12) than Denis Villeneuve’s much-favorited Dune (10). Spider-Man: No Way Home—the third-highest grossing movie ever at the U.S. box office—got one lonely nomination for Best Visual Effects. It’s still only playing in theaters. The race is on, and it’s Netflix’s to lose.
Streaming Studios Have Been Building Momentum
Netflix
For the third year in a row, Netflix leads the pack. The studio has a total of 27 nominations, with two more original films up for the big award: Adam McKay’s satirical Don’t Look Up and Campion’s reinvented Western, The Power of the Dog. While the overall nomination count is down from last year, this shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign that the studio is faltering. Netflix has been investing more in originals over the past few years, and their streaming-first distribution model works, given the persistence of the pandemic and consumers’ changing habits.
While Marriage Story’s cast was heavily lauded, neither of Netflix’s nominated films earned major overall awards in last year’s cycle. But The Power of the Dog has already snagged the Golden Globe for Best Picture Drama — not to mention Campion’s win for Best Director and the smattering of other accolades awarded to lead Benedict Cumberbatch and supporting actor Kodi Smit-McPhee. In the past decade, five of the ten movies that won the Golden Globe for Best Picture went on to take home the Oscar, too. Awards can be difficult to predict, but this looks pretty good for Netflix.
Critical Appeal and Blockbuster Success Aren’t the Same Things
As we consider this year’s Best Picture nominees, it’s important to look at the movies that didn’t make the cut. Fans have often complained that plenty of great films don’t get the recognition they deserve — this year, those include the latest James Bond installment, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the year’s top-grossing film, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Jimmy Kimmel and Kevin Smith are among those who have taken to their platforms to share their outrage, which plenty of others have echoed online. “The big winner nominations-wise – was The Power of the Dog. The Power of the Dog got twelve nominations – one for every person who saw it,” Kimmel joked.
Responding to building frustration about the movies they do (or don’t) recognize for awards, the Academy has introduced a “fan favorite” award, giving viewers a chance to vote for their favorite movie via Twitter. This might seem like a consolation prize, and maybe it is. Ultimately, the Oscars aren’t intended to cater to fandom or box office numbers. They have long been a venue for championing new voices, ideas, and more recently, sharing underrepresented views. When the Oscars are at their best, they reward artistic risk in form and content. And no matter how many people paid to see Spider-Man, it’s hard to argue that another film in a massively successful franchise is any kind of risky.
Making a Case for the Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog may not have Dune’s splashiness or Belfast’s charm, but the movie is timely, inventive, and meticulously crafted.
Campion takes the western — a form traditionally dominated by men and machismo — and turns it into a vehicle that can reckon with a crisis of masculinity. The story trades western caricatures for multifaceted and vulnerable characters, with nuanced performances from its entire cast. Benedict Cumberbatch seethes and spirals as Phil, a rough Montana rancher, when his brother George (Jesse Plemons) brings home a new wife, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Phil struggles to make sense of himself in relation to his family, beating them down to maintain his hyper-masculine self-image. The interplay between opposites defines the film: wild and tame, masculine and feminine, sane and insane, dark and light — and its power is in its ability to collapse these binaries.
The movie uses some iconic elements of westerns to its advantage, with its imagery of vast wilderness and emotionally repressed characters. This gives other film elements opportunities to shine. Ari Wegner’s magnificent cinematography pays homage to western landscapes. It strategically uses light and color to flesh out the movie’s characters, while Jonny Greenwood’s score brilliantly emphasizes and exaggerates plot and emotion, complementing the actors’ expressions and body language.
It’s crucial to note that the film is breaking cultural ground, too. Jane Campion is the first woman nominated for Best Director more than once, and Ari Wegner is now the second woman ever to be nominated for the Oscar for cinematography. No matter what, the movie has already elevated Netflix to a new level of filmmaking, but the Best Picture win would validate the craft and vision behind The Power of the Dog.
