Have you ever looked at the movies nominated for Oscars (and the eventual winners) and scoffed, saying you could pick better films to win Best Sound and Best Original Screenplay? Well Rachel and Dakota are back for a second year to reveal who they would pick to win Oscars in all the categories (except for the shorts, something we are both woefully unable to judge due to lack of viewing). You can check out last year’s article to decide if we truly have better taste than the Academy or if we’re off our rockers.
Dakota – Before we start, at this time I have now watched 109 feature films released in 2021. Do you keep track as rigorously as I did? Also I’m excluding films that were eligible for the Oscars last year, because reasons.
Rachel – I just checked, and according to Letterboxd, I’ve seen 51 features released last year. However, as you know, I’m terrible at logging movies and I’d wager I’ve seen a few more than 51 movies last year.
Best Supporting Actress
Dakota – Suzanna Son, who played Strawberry in Red Rocket was a breathtaking debut, Sean Baker is a master at getting non-professionals and newcomers to give the performance of their lives. Huge shout out to Ana de Armas for making the most out of a small amount of screen time. I seriously would watch an entire franchise of films spun off from her character Paloma in No Time to Die.
Rachel – Completely agree with you about Son! It’s a tricky role and she smashed it. I went with Caitriona Balfe for her role as Ma in Belfast. I can’t begin to imagine what it was like being a parent in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The decision to stay or leave was a cloud over every family and Balfe portrayed this conflict with so much strength and vulnerability. I also wanted to give a shout out to some great supporting performances from Linh Dan Pham and Annabelle Wallis in lesser seen films, and of course, the great Maya Rudolph’s voice performance in The Mitchells vs The Machines.
Dakota – It’s certainly a bold move picking a voice only performance. I think the last time I would have had one make my top five would have been Scarlett Johnansson for Her.
Best Supporting Actor
Dakota – Well this is interesting, we both have Mark O’Brien on our lists but for different films! Great year for our favourite Newfie!
Rachel – O’Brien is so good in Blue Bayou! I also enjoy how we’re very closely aligned in this category. And for the record Troy Kotsur is phenomenal in CODA and I’m rooting for him to win on the night. That being said, Colman Domingo was amazingly terrifying in Zola in a very underappreciated performance.
Best Actress
Rachel – I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed in the lead actress options available last year. Not to say there weren’t some great performances, but it isn’t like in the actor categories or supporting actress where it’s super competitive. For clarity, I blame this on a lack of great female lead roles, not a lack of bad actresses. That being said, Jodie Comer absolutely shines in a wonderfully complex role and I was/am pretty surprised there was little to no award traction for her.
Dakota – You’re not wrong. The actual Oscars did a terrible job picking their nominees. I only agree with Cruz and K-Stew getting nominated. I love that our top 3’s are (basically) identical. Penelope Cruz did it all for me this year, she was the height of comedy in Official Competition and tugged at my heartstrings in Parallel Mothers. All that said, Jodie Comer was R-O-B-B-E-D by the Academy. Obviously The Last Duel overall was, but how the hell was she left out?!?
Best Actor
Dakota – This category was just made for you wasn’t it? Denzel, Nic, Bob, three of your faves. Simon Rex crushed his turn in Red Rocket, I will be singing the praises of this film for a very long time. Considering how much the real Academy loves Bradley Cooper (do you know he has nine Oscar nominations already? They are mostly for producing though) I was shocked he didn’t squeak into the real race. Loved his downfall in Nightmare Alley.
Rachel – My guyyyyys. In complete contrast to Best Actress, I really struggled to pick just five. However, Denzel was always going to be my pick. I always love when we/the media get excited for younger actors, and someone like Denzel will come through and remind us what acting is. King Kong ain’t got shit on him.
Best Original Score
Dakota – This was a bit of a tricky one for me as I didn’t go back to re-listen to scores. I keep a running doc throughout the year so it doesn’t take me hours to make my picks. If I thought Dune and The Green Knight were spectacular when I saw them months ago, I need to trust past Dakota. That said, I’m doing what the Oscars were too scared to do, give Johnny Greenwood two nominations in the same year for his work on Spencer and The Power of the Dog.
Rachel – I’m going with the Academy on this one — I really love Hans Zimmer’s score for Dune and what it adds to the movie. I also wanted to shout out the score for Zola which had the difficult task of including Twitter notification noises throughout the movie without annoying audiences.
Best Original Song
Rachel – I’m not a huge music person in general (especially new music — I’m stubborn and aging). So I kind of cheated here and listened to your picks, and Guns Go Bang is a banger. I would just leave it at that, but my Destiny’s Child-loving self would not be impressed with leaving Beyonce off.
Dakota – It wasn’t a fantastic year for movie songs, but since I don’t usually like musicals my options are kinda limited to begin with. I love the tongue in cheek nature of “So May We Start”, but I do want to talk about Bruno and how Disney really screwed up by not submitting this song.
Best Original Screenplay
Dakota – I’m a sucker for Sean Baker’s manic script for Red Rocket. It’s just so bonkers. The book-like structure for The Worst Person in the World is an admirable silver medalist for us both. Really strong year for world cinema as you can tell that three of my nominees aren’t in English, but more on that in a few categories.
Rachel – Nine Days was my favourite film of 2021 and a large part of that is the script. I’ve read and re-read the Nine Days script and love the simplicity of the storytelling and the world building. And shout out to Mass — I thought it was a shoo-in for at least a screenplay nomination if not acting (for Ann Dowd especially).
Best Adapted Screenplay
Rachel – I was very close to choosing Zola as my top pick. Taking a social media thread and making it an engaging and cohesive story — without losing the spirit of Twitter — is crazy impressive and Janicza Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris should be commended for it. But what’s just as/more impressive is adapting the long thought to be unadaptable. Frank Herbert’s sci-fi bible is dense and where many have tried and failed, Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth succeeded. Legends.
Dakota – The Last Duel is described as an English language version of Rashomon and while the technique of showing the same story from multiple perspectives isn’t original at all, this is the only film to capture the reality of personal biases. Rashomon shows the same crime four times, each time slightly differently. Here we get the crime, but also more back story each time. When scenes repeat, you notice the subtle differences – mainly each person being their own lead and hero, but it is subtle nonetheless. It’s a shame House of Gucci got all the potential campaigning, as this was Ridley Scott’s real masterpiece of the year.
Rachel – Right so I’ve seen Drive My Car now and I need to make a few changes via commentary. What a beautiful script that’s simple and incredibly moving. There are multiple plots weaved throughout the film — each given their own space and time and balanced together where nothing feels short changed. I’d remove either Passing or CODA from my picks to make way for Drive My Car.
Best Cinematography
Dakota – This was THE year for cinematography. I could name about a dozen more films that I agonized over making the cut. Drive My Car, The Worst Person in the World, No Time to Die, Spencer, Licorice Pizza, The Harder They Fall and more. It was a movie lover’s dream to get so much beautiful imagery.
Rachel – Completely agree. There were some gorgeously shot movies in 2021! The Green Knight is a lot of things, but poorly shot it is not. It’s ridiculous it hasn’t gotten any technical love come awards time. I want to highlight Zola’s cinematography for a second: in an interview Janicza Bravo mentioned how she took great care in filming the bodies of the actresses. Bravo made sure to light and block the scenes in the most flattering way, while also retaining the grit needed in that movie. There have been one too many times that men have filmed female bodies in a ridiculously demeaning way, and I love to see a filmmaker like Bravo showing off the female form as sexy and strong. Bravo, Bravo. 😀
Dakota – Oh so punny of you.
Best Sound
Rachel – Full disclosure: I made a last minute change and copied your top pick. The Green Knight deserves this award alone when the Green Knight shows up at the Round Table.
Dakota – That is exactly why The Green Knight is my top pick. That sound of him lumbering in and his creaky joints will forever live in my mind. Honestly it would make all time greatest sound effects list if I were making such a thing. I also quite like how we both have The Tragedy of Macbeth on our lists, much different than the bang, bang films of No Time To Die, The Harder They Fall, Dune and Nobody.
Best Costumes
Rachel – The logic of my Dune pick is similar to the adapted screenplay thinking. To be able to bring to life the costumes from Frank Herbert’s text in the way that Bob Morgan, Jacqueline West, and Denis did is a massive accomplishment. I don’t think any of your picks so far have made me raise an eyebrow (maybe Bradley Cooper actually), but The Tragedy of Macbeth? For costume?
Dakota – So now you’re coming after my Best Actor pick seven categories later? This is the equivalent of throwing a sucker punch and running away! I’m going to do something here I didn’t plan on doing and that is insert reference photos. Just look at how stunning Alex Hassel is as Ross or the regalness of Brandon Gleeson, or the ominous raven like nature of Kathryn Hunter. How dare you! I thought you loved this film?
Rachel – I do love the film! But I can’t say in any of my viewings I thought, “solid costumes”. Not that they were bad costumes, mind you.
Best Hair and Makeup
Dakota – Unlike the Oscars, I don’t need crazy prosthetics to make the cut for this category. I like simplicity and modern looks. Zola had great modern looks and Spencer nailed the Diana hair cut. Am I nominating The Last Duel for Ben Affleck’s bleached monk-do and goatee or for Jodie Comer’s braids? I’ll never tell.
Rachel – Spencer is a very good shout and was a 6th pick for me. The Suicide Squad wins for me just for Polka-Dot Man.
Best Animated Feature
Dakota – I’ve shamefully only seen five animated movies from last year, and they are the five nominated for the Oscars. So my order is just preference really. Encanto was better than I expected and I have no idea why Luca gets as much hate as it does.
Rachel – People just don’t like Italian sea creatures. Possibly even more shameful than your situation: I haven’t seen Encanto yet. Also, in my world, Flee is getting all the prizes.
Best Documentary
Rachel – Again, Flee is winning everything in my world. I think this was a strong year for documentaries! I’m really glad Writing With Fire is on both of our lists and the Academy’s, such an important story to share with the world.
Dakota – Such a strong documentary year, I watched a bunch of really impressive ones. Tops has to be for the four hour doc Woodlands Dark and Days Betweitched: A History of Folk Horror though. I’ve spent exactly a year raving about this masterclass of a film. The only thing I love more than movies is movie history and this is it in spades. Despite being a fairly run of the mill style documentary Edgar Wright did a great job with The Sparks Brothers, making it as fun as possible.
Best International Film
Rachel – I’d just like to clarify that as of writing, I still haven’t seen Drive My Car. But even without that film, the competition in this category is really tight. Truly I’m happy to place any of these five in the top slot, but I’m going for a Flee sweep.
Dakota – What do you mean, do you not have three hours of free time to watch a slow burn Japanese film? What’s wrong with you? As I mentioned in the screenplay category, this was a crazy good year for international films. I heard great things about Saloum and I’m Your Man (mostly from you), and there were more I wish I could have added! I can’t wait for Official Competition to get a wide release for people to see the balls to the wall humour that Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez have perfected. Shout out to my boy Asghar Farhadi for A Hero and for being snubbed from the Oscars.
Rachel – Future Rachel back again to say I’ve seen Drive My Car, and yea, it needs to be included. But I don’t know which one to take out! I guess it has to be I’m Your Man…ah I don’t know. As we said in our Oscar Predictions episode, International Film is a consistently excellent category year after year, and this year’s no exception.
Best Visual Effects
Dakota – The simplicity of The Green Knight makes it tops for me. The underwater scene diving for the head, the giants walking, the blending of live action performance from Ralph Ineson as the titular Green Knight with CGI to bring him to life was all spectacular. Special mention to the polka dots in The Suicide Squad, the butt hole worm in Dune and just about everything in that final Mecha Godzilla fight in GvK.
Rachel – Dune seems like an obvious choice here, but I was truly impressed with how well the practical effects and CGI came together. Also, I’m really happy we both included Godzilla vs Kong — I was actually pretty surprised this didn’t get a nomination (AND YET SHANG-CHI DID).
Best Production Design
Rachel – I really wanted to love Last Night in Soho but the third act fell a little flat for me. However, I love ‘60s London and Edgar Wright built that world beautifully.
Dakota – You’re so right on Soho, it probably just missed the cut for me (it was on my list after I saw it for a bit). The theatricality of The Tragedy of Macbeth was beyond stunning. I loved the sets having this weird in between look of something for the stage with something that you could see in real life. Looking at my list, I’m surprised you’re not making fun of me since they are all period pieces.
Rachel – I have to accept who you are at some point.
Dakota – I would appreciate that greatly.
Best Film Editing
Dakota – The Last Duel manages to not only tell the same story three different ways, but it is constantly showing you more of the past and future each section. It was very impressive what editor Claire Simpson did. Zola was another very impressive film that managed to incorporate social media into the fabric of the film. I love seeing how we both had Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, a little Japanese SciFi film that played out in real time showing both the past and future on TV screens. The plot description sounds silly, but the execution is top notch.
Rachel – I’m surprised Red Rocket isn’t on your list!
Dakota – It was probably number six or seven for me. I really like showy editing and Red Rocket is a bit more subtle. Still a great pick by you though!
Best Director
Rachel – Rachel-Who-Has-Seen-Drive-My-Car here again to say that Ryusuke Hamaguchi should be included in my picks, but once again, I don’t know who I would take out. What Villeneuve did with Dune is masterful and for the Academy to not nominate him is ridiculous. I suppose either Oda or Branagh need to go to make way for Hamaguchi, but for the record, I think both of them did an incredible job. Nine Days is the directorial debut of Oda and he translated his vision onto film beautifully. As for Branagh, I really admire how he was able to create such a personal story with such humour, sadness, and beauty.
Dakota – This is an interesting category for me, as I don’t think this category needs to completely overlap with Best Picture. The big difference is I included Janzica Bravo, a film I really liked but is still flawed. But her direction and vision is so strong I couldn’t ignore it. Basically my picks here are about absolutely original and creative visions, even if the final product is flawed. Huge shout out to Mark O’Brien again for having a debut directorial effort so assured and put together. A great religious horror film about guilt. I’m very happy to see Joachim Trier make your list. Him and Hamaguchi would have been next up for me.
Best Picture
Dakota – The Last Duel was a stunning film and one that I am disgusted that it got completely ignored by the Academy as a whole. It was so brutal and insightful. I think overall 2021 was definitely stronger than 2020, something you have been trying to convince me of for a while, so you win there.
Rachel – My desire to see Flee make a clean sweep aside, I genuinely believe it’s one of the best movies to be released last year. It tells an incredible story told in an artistic and creative way that is engaging and compelling. Close up on its heels for me is The Worst Person In The World. I love seeing a break up story from the perspective of the breaker upper, and I love how messy the characters are. The performances across the board are stunning and the way Trier shoots the film is perfect.
Dakota – I like that we actually have quite a bit of overlap! Five films made both our lists, The Last Duel, Belfast, Red Rocket, The Tragedy of Macbeth and Pig. Others on your list came very close to making it as well. I agonized about being able to put The Worst Person in the World, but couldn’t bare to take anything else off. Parallel mothers also made my honourable mentions.
Rachel – Yes, Rachel version: Drive My Car is back. I’ll be more decisive here and say that I’m going to remove Parallel Mothers for Drive My Car. It’s a gorgeous film, but I have a few niggles with it. So sorry, Mr. Almodóvar, you are being bumped.
Dakota – I’m glad that future Rachel is able to reconcile her mistake with past Rachel. Too bad the picks were already locked in. Let’s look at how we would have done things. My big winner is The Last Duel with five awards, followed by The Green Knight with four and Red Rocket with two. On your end Dune got five awards, Flee with four and The Green Knight with two. I’m pretty satisfied with our picks, I hope you are too and I hope everyone enjoyed this article too!
Special thanks to Stephanie Prior for creating the graphics.
