By Kyle Flynn

Last week, two things happened. AFI Fest ended, and Gotham Nominations came out. Otherwise, what I will now start dubbing ‘The Great Seasonal Transition,’ the end of the Fall Festival Season, straight into the start of another award season. I was fortunate enough to see many of the upcoming contenders while attending TIFF50 this year. What I hope is that this gives me a better perspective on the landscape of the race than most. 

Looking over the Gotham Nominations. One Battle After Another (OBAA) led with six nominations, followed by If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. The Best Picture Nominees are weaker than I would have hoped. I have watched 7 out of 10 of the films, missing Lurker, Familiar Touch, and East of Wall. Admittedly, to my dismay, I was not fond of Bugonia or Train Dreams. Hamnet, Sorry Baby and OBAA are bright spots in the line-up, but I would have loved to see nominations for Magic Farm, The Shrouds, even Blue Moon or The Mastermind in the Picture category. 

Glancing over some of the other nominations in the category. My favorite nomination of the day has to be Oliver Laxe, securing a Best Director nomination for Sirat, still my favorite movie of the year, but the only nomination received for the film. The director nominations as a whole are incredible: Mary Bronstein, Kelly Reichardt, PTA, and Jafar Panahi make up the remaining five nominees. Very close to my personal best director nominees. Indya Moore receiving a nomination for Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (The Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival) in the Supporting Performance category is a very inspired choice. I couldn’t stop smiling after seeing the nomination. The same goes for Josh O’Connor and Ethan Hawke, who received lead performance nominations for their roles in The Mastermind and Blue Moon, respectively. 

Overall, it was a very strong year for the Gotham Awards, even if the best picture selections made by the jury left a little to be desired. Below are my updated post-Fall Festival Oscar Predictions for the twenty-one categories (excluding the three short films).

Best Picture:

1. One Battle After Another
2. Hamnet
3. Sinners
4. Marty Supreme
5. Sentimental Value
6. It Was Just An Accident
7. Frankenstein
8. Wicked For Good
9. Jay Kelly
10. The Testament of Ann Lee (Avatar is very close, but very trepidious right now on deciding what Disney/20th Century/Searchlight rep to put in)

Best Director

1. PTA
2. Chloe Zhao 
3. Jafar Panahi
4. Josh Safdie
5. Ryan Coogler

Best Actor

1. Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
2. Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
3. Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)
4. Jermey Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere)
5. George Clooney (Jay Kelly)

Best Actress 

1. Jesse Buckley (Hamnet)
2. Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) 
3. Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good)
4. Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You)
5. Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)

Supporting Actress

1. Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)
2. Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good)
3. Amy Madigan (Weapons)
4. Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
5. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)

Supporting Actor

1. Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
2. Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value)
3. Paul Mescal (Hamnet)
4. Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)
5. Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly)

Original Screenplay

1. Sinnners
2. It Was Just An Accident
3. Marty Supreme
4. Sentimental Value
5. Jay Kelly

Adapted Screenplay

1. One Battle After Another
2. Hamnet
3. Frankenstein
4. Wake Up Dead Man
5. Train Dreams

Casting

1. One Battle After Another
2. Sinners
3. Marty Supreme
4. Wicked: For Good
5. Hamnet

International Feature

1. It Was Just An Accident
2. Sentimental Value
3. The Secret Agent
4. No Other Choice
5. Left-Handed Girl

Documentary Feature

1. The Perfect Neighbor
2. 2000 Meters to Andriivka
3. Mr. Nobody Against Putin
4. Cover-Up
5. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

(The next Golden Row Article, probably after the Gotham Awards, will be a deep dive into this year’s doc race since we will have both Cinema Eye nominations, IDA nominations, CCDA winners, and Gotham Winners)

Animated Feature

1. Kpop Demon Hunters
2. Zootopia 2
3. Arco
4. Little Amelie or the Character of Rain
5. In Your Dreams

Cinematography

1. Sinners
2. Hamnet
3. One Battle After Another
4. Frankenstein
5. Marty Supreme

Editing 

1. One Battle After Another
2. Marty Supreme 
3. Sinners
4. Hamnet
5. Wicked: For Good

Production Design:

1. Frankenstein
2. Wicked: For Good
3. Sinners
4. Marty Supreme
5. Hamnet

Costume Design

1. Wicked: For Good
2. Sinners
3. Frankenstein
4. Hamnet
5. Marty Supreme

Make-up and Hairstyling

1. Frankenstein
2. Wicked: For Good
3. The Smashing Machine
4. Sinners
5. Weapons

Visual Effects

1. Avatar: Fire and Ash 
2. F1
3. Wicked: For Good
4. Frankenstein
5. Jurassic World Rebirth

Sound

1. Sinners
2. F1
3. One Battle After Another
4. Wicked: For Good
5. Avatar: Fire and Ash

Score

1. One Battle After Another
2. Sinners
3. Hamnet
4. Frankenstein
5. The Testament of Ann Lee

Original Song

1. I Lied To You (Sinners)
2. Golden (KPop Demon Hunters)
3. Dear Me (Diane Warren: Relentless)
4. No Place Like Home (Wicked: For Good)
5. Girl In the Bubble (Wicked: For Good)