Oscars 2022: The Biggest Takeaways From the 94th Academy Awards Nominations

Image via Warner Bros.

While many hoped Spider-Man: No Way Home would end up as the mainstream hit to find Oscar gold on Tuesday, it turns out the other major blockbuster featuring a wiry white boy and Zendaya was nominated instead. Yes, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, a masterful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic novel, sandwalked away with ten nominations—the second most behind Netflix’s Power of the Dog—including best picture and pretty much every technical award possible. 

Narratively speaking, Dune feels a lot like 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, wherein it’s likely the movie will sweep a majority of those technical awards, as Villeneuve’s adaptation combines audience-pleasing blockbuster filmmaking with prestige levels of craftsmanship. Disappointing, however, is the lack of a nomination for Villeneuve in the best director category; given how his distinctive vision is directly responsible for the movie’s achievements in all the technical spaces, it’s a bit of a shame he missed the cut. Nevertheless, it’s a big win overall, as Dune—a notoriously difficult book to adapt—managed to find both monetary and awards success. —WG

There are typically one or two acting categories with an overabundance of talented performers, making for a hotly contentious race every year. This time, the best actress category left a handful of deserving talent out of the mix—most notably Lady Gaga for House of Gucci and Alana Haim for Licorice Pizza. 

In regards to House of Gucci, I’m not sure I can describe the movie in simple binary terms of “good” or “bad,” but rather, that it’s just an experience you have to see to believe. Fundamentally, that movie doesn’t work without Lady Gaga’s absurdly committed performance, which continues to be meme’d months after its release. Meanwhile, Haim’s breakthrough debut in Licorice Pizza is so effortlessly astonishing that I thought for sure she’d end up in the mix. The sneaky secret of Paul Thomas Anderson’s coming-of-age epic is that the movie is all about Haim’s character—so for the film to find nominations in other categories but without her presence feels like a miss, considering how commanding her performance is. 

That’s the difficulty of awards season: sometimes even the most deserving of performances get left out in the cold. Yet even if Gaga and Haim were nominated, it probably wouldn’t have translated to a trophy on Oscar night; This feels like Olivia Colman’s award to lose anyhow. —WG

I won’t harp on it too crazy, especially since The Tragedy of Macbeth didn’t get a Best Picture nomination, but it was dope to see Denzel Washington’s work in the A24 film be recognized up against Will Smith, playing Richard Williams, Venus and Serena Williams’ father, in the Best Actor category. Competition is stiff, but recognize greatness when you see it in your face. —khal

There’s a strong likelihood you’re not familiar with Drive My Car. Writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s fantastic Japanese drama is a meditative and affecting 3-hour exploration of secrets and grief, as a veteran stage actor heads to Hiroshima to direct a performance of Anton Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. Unsurprisingly, the film quickly became critics’ favorite, winning top prizes at the L.A. Film Critics’ Awards and the National Society of Film Critics. When it comes to translating that success into Oscar buzz, these sorts of critical darlings have historically found themselves on the outside looking in—but that’s not the case this time around. Hamaguchi’s adaptation of the short story of the same name racked up a landmark four nominations—best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, and best international feature film—the most ever for a Japanese movie. 

Drive My Car is charting a similar path to Parasite, wherein many pundits considered Bong Joon-ho’s beloved Korean thriller to have a shot at best international feature, but not much of a contender outside of that. As you’ll remember, the 2019 movie went on to earn awards for best original screenplay, best international feature, best director, and best picture. Whether or not Drive My Car finds the same level of success on Oscar night remains to be seen—but it’s refreshing to have one of the year’s best films rightfully earn its place amongst the nominees. —WG

Questlove did it. The man who’s led the legendary Roots Crew to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon directing Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)—a documentary using previously-unreleased footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival—felt like such a Questlove story, and this Best Documentary Feature nomination, on the heels of Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award wins at Sundance in 2021, is looking like the grand finale. If you haven’t seen it, rectify that before the Oscars; the tale is as old as time, and the performances it contains are simply timeless. —khal