by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
It’s turkey, football, and family time here in the States! So, what are we all thankful for? Movies, of course! Guess it’s time then to look at another awards season gone by! As a reminder, with our Oscars: What If… series we look at categories the Academy Awards should be honoring, but, for one reason or another, they aren’t. So, we’re going to imagine what could’ve been regarding past Oscar seasons. Hopefully someday the Academy will do right by these creative talents, but until then we must do the Academy’s job for them. Let’s look back at the year the giant container ship Ever Green got stuck blocking the Suez Canal, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan leading to the Taliban’s return to power, the Tokyo Olympics finally took place after being delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though spectators were still not allowed on site, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched, the MCU jumped into television on Disney+ with shows like WandaVision and Loki, and Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the U.S. government by provoking an attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th leading to nine deaths within seven months and Trump’s second impeachment. It is time to examine the films of 2021, celebrated at the Oscars in 2022. Let’s see what could have been!
Best Stunts and Choreography
Given to the best achievement in dance, stunts, related performances, and overall choreography for film.
And the nominees are… Dune, In the Heights, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, West Side Story
And the winner is… In the Heights!
Do yourself a favor. Go to YouTube, search for the song “96,000” from the film In the Heights, which was filmed at the local Highbridge Community Pool in Washington Heights where the movie takes place, and be blown away by some of the most innovative, fresh, and exciting dance choreography you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Honestly, I could make an argument that this film deserves the Oscar for the choreography from that song alone. But once you add the rest of the choreography from the remainder of the film on top of it? It’s not even a competition. In the Heights is the clear winner for its fantastic imagination and creativity brought to life by director Jon M. Chu and choreographer Christopher Scott. The same pair, by the way, that would go on to dazzle us with the cultural phenomenon Wicked a few years later. Whether it’s the beauty shop come to life in “No Me Diga,” dancing on the side of a building in “When the Sun Goes Down,” transforming the New York subway system into Havana, Cuba for “Paciencia y Fe,” or putting on a massive celebration full of salsa, flamenco, and hip hop stylings in “Carnaval del Barrio,” the choreography throughout this film is beyond incredible
Best Performance by Voiceover or Motion Capture
Given to the best off-screen voice performance, or on-screen motion captured performance, for film.
And the nominees are… Stephanie Beatriz as Mirabel Madrigal in Encanto, John Leguizamo as Bruno Madrigal in Encanto, Abbi Jacobson as Katie Mitchell in The Mitchells vs The Machines, Kelly Marie Tran as Raya in Raya and the Last Dragon, Jacob Trembley as Luca in Luca
And the winner is… Abbi Jacobson as Katie Mitchell in The Mitchells vs The Machines!
Woof, talk about a movie that quickly faded from public consciousness. Which is a damn shame too because The Mitchells vs. the Machines is not just a highly entertaining film but also kind of prescient about the direction of big tech and AI. But this movie falling off the map doesn’t mean Abbi Jacobson’s central performance as Katie (and Dog Cop!) isn’t spectacular. Jacobson does such an outstanding job of imbuing teenage rebelliousness and insecurity into the role that makes her feel like a real person that you’ve met before. There’s an authenticity to her angst that’s all too relatable. But it’s not just her ability to capture our vulnerable teenage years that makes this performance so special, but also her overwhelming sense of pride and joy in her passion about film, and her sense of quirky outlandish humor that specifically captures a distinct point in time. Jacobson becomes the embodiment of internet cultural osmosis, for better and for worse. She’s almost like a living meme. Because of that, there’s never a dull moment. It’s hard to be this entertaining and passionate while also being this genuine and raw, but Jacobson pulls it off perfectly.
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Given to the best overall ensemble cast performance for film.
And the nominees are… Dune, Licorice Pizza, Mass, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story
And the winner is… Mass!
Mass doesn’t just deliver the best ensemble performance of the year, it delivers one of the best ensemble performances in the history of film as a medium of art. Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Martha Plimpton, and Jason Isaacs are on another level. Honestly, all four of these performances could have been nominated for an Academy Award. They are that special and outstanding. For as rough as this film is to navigate due to its incredibly upsetting subject matter, these four handle it with such grace and nuance while never being scared of the task at hand. It would be so easy for a less skilled ensemble to shrivel before the weight of this subject and script, but this quadruplet takes on everything with such bravado that you are left breathless. Intense anger has never melded so beautifully with overwhelming sadness. Bewildering confusion met with stalwart vigilance. A loss for words has rarely been more poignant, while an embrace of the inconceivable has rarely been so well articulated. These four performances will have you contemplating your preconceived notions of right and wrong. Who is to blame, who is at fault, and who should be punished for objectively horrific acts of brutal violence come into question in ways you never thought possible. This is not just beautiful scriptwriting that makes Mass work. It’s sincere vulnerability as well as the raw and unregulated emotions that these four bring to the table that make this such a towering achievement deserving of Oscar gold.
But also, as an aside, Fran Kranz, where are you?! You directed this incredibly moving film in your debut effort five years ago and we haven’t heard a peep from you since! Next movie when??
Best Directorial Debut
Given to the best achievement in direction by a debut directing talent for film.
And the nominees are… Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter, Rebecca Hall for Passing, Fran Kranz for Mass, Lin-Manuel Miranda for tick, tick…BOOM!, Michael Sarnoski for Pig
And the winner is… Michael Sarnoski for Pig!
Alright, so imagine you had a pig. And this pig, well, you love this pig. This is a special pig. It’s not just a very rare and valuable truffle pig that’s important to you because you’re an acclaimed chef, but it’s also a pig you’ve grown a deep attachment to in the wake of tragic personal loss. Now, stay with me here, imagine someone steals your pig, and you have to go on a quest, sometimes even a destructive rampage, across a city to find your cherished pig. Sounds crazy, yeah? But this absurd plot is brought to life by writer/director Michael Sarnoski to beautiful effect. It’s absurd in the best way, as violent as John Wick in brief moments, but surprisingly poignant and vulnerable in ways you can’t see coming. Sarnoski’s vision, and his ability to get one of the best performances we’ve ever seen from the great Nic Cage, make this one of the truly great underseen gems of this decade. From camera technique to pacing, capturing performances and delivering a solid artistic vision, Pig is one-of-a-kind. Sarnoski is more than deserving of this honor.
Best Popular Film
Given to the best audience supported motion picture that earned a spot as one of the top 25 box office films of the year.
And the nominees are… Dune, Encanto, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home
And the winner is… Spider-Man: No Way Home!
While Top Gun: Maverick has garnered the moniker “The film that saved movies” in recent years, that sentiment is not entirely true. In fact, it’s not even a matter of “Spider-Man walked so Top Gun could run,” because by almost every metric… Spider-Man: No Way Home was a more popular and higher box office earning film than Top Gun: Maverick ever was… and this Spidey film was certainly a bigger box office success than any other film from 2021 as theaters were still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spider-Man: No Way Home brought in a staggering $814.9 million domestically and $1.921 billion worldwide. Easily, by leaps and bounds (over three and a half times more than the second place finisher domestically), making No Way Home the number one movie in each category in 2021. For comparison’s sake, Maverick earned $722 and $1.503 billion, respectively. The only argument that could truly be in Maverick’s favor is its week-to-week performance as No Way Home’s box office take was so front-loaded, with it earning $260 million in its opening weekend which was big enough for the second best opening of all-time only behind the phenomenon that was Avengers: Endgame. That is, until its successor Spider-Man: Brand New Day, this year. No Way Home is now the fourth-highest grossing domestic film, and nineth-highest grossing worldwide film, ever. I keep bringing up Maverick not to tarnish that film, but to show how big of a deal No Way Home was to theater-going audiences when Maverick somehow earned the nickname “The film that saved movies.” In nearly every way, No Way Home was truly the movie that brought audiences back to theaters after the pandemic, and it was by far the most popular film of 2021.
But, as we often discuss when breaking down the Best Popular Film category, it’s not just “Popular” that matters. “Best” is a key component of that title too.
In this regard, the winner is Dune, and it’s also not close. Dune was a critic and audience smash and went on to earn many accolades, including six Oscars against 10 nominations. But, frankly, I struggle with handing the crown to Dune just because it has more gold on its shelf, especially when No Way Home was incredibly well-received by critics and audiences too.
Dune has an 83% certified fresh critic rating and a 90% verified hot audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 74 score on Metacritic, an 8.0/10 on IMDb, and a 3.9/5 on Letterboxd. Pretty impressive, but… No Way Home has a 93% certified fresh and 97% verified hot critic and audience score on RT, a 71 on Metacritic, an 8.1/10 on IMDb, and a 3.8/5 on Letterboxd. These scores, from critics and audiences alike, are shockingly similar, with No Way Home even scoring better on multiple occasions. So, while Dune was inarguably a much bigger awards darling, even beating No Way Home head-to-head at the Oscars for Best Visual Effects, in the category of Best Popular Film it’s hard not to go with the web-slinger. Both films are nearly equally beloved by critics and fans alike, and it’s unquestionable which film was more popular. For the direct comparison, Dune made $109 million domestically and $411 million worldwide. Spidey earned nearly seven and a half times that domestically and over four and a half times that worldwide. This was not a competition. So, let’s spread the love. Dune already got to take home six Oscars. No Way Home can earn one – Best Popular Film.
That’s gonna do it! Thanks for joining me on another trip down memory lane to see what could’ve been! We got to talk about multiversal web-slinging shenanigans, the adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original Broadway smash, and an introspective look at the tumultuous life of a truffle pig and its caretaker. Be sure to come back next time when we look at films like The Batman, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Top Gun: Maverick as we’ll examine the Oscars of 2023, celebrating the films of 2022!
You can read more from Heath Lynch, and follow him on Letterboxd