It’s Jan. 23, 2024. The 2024 Academy Award nominations have just dropped. Oppenheimer has swept with 13 nominations, while Poor Things follows closely behind with 11. Barbie has been snubbed of some key awards. Upsets have occurred, tears have been shed, and it seems like everyone in the world (including former government officials) has opinions. As a fan of cinema and (more importantly) as an opinionated person, I also need to have thoughts.
However, there is an unfortunate snag in my “having opinions” plan, which is that I have not seen these movies. Or rather, I’ve only seen two (I am not immune to the zeitgeist of Barbenheimer). But this lack of knowledge is a problem. In my family, I’m known as the “film person,” and I’m expected to have very strong, intense opinions about the upcoming awards ceremony. And I don’t have any. I’m sunk.
OR AM I?
See, this situation is not new. Ever since I’ve entered the film world, I have made a pact to watch every single Best Picture nominee, and I’ve never succeeded. However, throughout the years, I have discovered that there are ways of talking about the Oscars without ever making my lack of knowledge obvious. By following these three rules, I can keep up with Oscar conversations and maintain my image as an intelligent movie buff.
Watch the movies
This seems obvious, but it isn’t. In the past, I’ve been paralyzed by how many movies are nominated for Oscars. But you don’t have to watch every nominee to talk about the Academy Awards. In fact, in my opinion, it’s better to only watch a few movies. That way, I can have strong opinions about a few movies rather than being spread too thin and having neutral opinions about most of the films.
Every year, I make a list of nominated films that I want to see before the ceremonies and plan to watch those. This year, the list consists of Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer (a rewatch), and Poor Things. Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things are frontrunners for Best Picture, and I just wanted to watch Maestro because I am a classical music fan. There are a couple other films I would like to get to—The Zone of Interest, for one—but I will get to them after I watch the movies on the list. This parsing down makes the list of nominees seem way less daunting.
Read reviews
For the movies I don’t get around to seeing, I read reviews of them. This way, I know what other people are saying about them, good and bad, and can contribute to the conversation if it shifts to these films. However, when talking about these movies, I always make sure to say “well, I heard people saying that [insert movie I haven’t seen here] is a little slower paced.” This way, I can preserve my academic integrity and not lie about seeing films I haven’t. Besides, sometimes reading reviews is more fun than seeing the movie, especially if the movie is bad (reading negative reviews of Maestro was way more fun than watching it).
Reference past Oscars ceremonies
A very easy way for me to sound smarter than I am is to reference other Oscar ceremonies. When I say statements like “maybe Anatomy of a Fall will pull a Parasite” or “never say never, no one thought CODA would win the Oscar.” I don’t even have to reference actual movies; I can just say things along the lines of, “well, hopefully something like the disastrous La La Land announcement won’t happen” or of course, “at least nothing can be as bad as Jo Koy’s monologue at the Golden Globes” which is a statement that a lot of the nation can get behind.
By following this plan, I can get through this Oscar season stress-free. The past couple of weeks since the nominations have been announced, instead of feeling stressed out and panicked, I feel relaxed. When I take it slow and avoid overextending myself, I can watch several fantastic movies, debate with people about what should win Best Picture, and happily watch a ceremony that celebrates an art form I love.