Each year, I use the weekend of the Academy Awards to write my last official post on the previous year in film, usually predicated on the relationship with the imminent Oscar winners. It often ends up being a half-hearted kind of Oscar prediction, except it’s less about predicting the Oscars and more about my thoughts on the nominees. It’s a useful barometer to use.
Even if the Oscar winners are more about momentum, and illusions of the zeitgeist and excellent campaigning than it is about taste and quality, they’re inextricably linked with value and exposure. You can see it in the way that many casual film enthusiasts will prioritise an Oscar nominated film. Many filmmakers and performers are going to get much-needed boosts to their career from this award season, and it’s hard to feel too annoyed about that even when the actual films leave me ambivalent.
