Skandies: #8 (Patreon)

Picture: In Front of Your Face (84/8)
Director: Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick (81/7)
Actress: Guslagie Malanda, Saint Omer (81/8)
Actor: Eden Dambrine, Close (83/7)
S. Actor: Pascal Greggory, One Fine Morning (75/6)
S. Actress: Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion (85/9)
Screenplay: Noah Baumbach, White Noise (76/9)
Scene: "Hello, college!", Babylon (64/5)

[The year's highest-ranked scene from a film that didn't place in Picture. I gotta say the way it ends makes me feel content about having skipped Babylon.]

HISTORY:

First appearance for Kosinski. He got a single vote for Tron: Legacy, none at all for Oblivion or Only the Brave. (Also, his average remains basically unchanged, because Maverick's high rating was counterbalanced by Spiderhead's dismal one. Likewise true of Hong: In Front of Your Face received his second-highest rating ever, after Right Now, Wrong Then, but The Novelist's Film and Introduction are his two lowest-rated films ever. That's Ed, when your lowest average over 16 Skandie-eligible films is 2.60/4, you're faring extremely well.)

Been a long time since we last saw Greggory, who's placed twice previously in the lead category: at #5 for Raja (2004) and at #8 for Gabrielle (2006). This is another performance that might well have fared even better had the film in which it appears been more widely seen, though at least One Fine Morning's proper (i.e. not merely qualifying) run did hit a few markets pre-deadline. Monáe placed 16th in Supporting for Moonlight (2016). Malanda and Dambrine are new.

Baumbach has to be among the most honored screenwriters in Skandie history, though I only keep track of "nominations" (just because so many films have multiple screenwriters; it'd be a huge pain in the ass). He won outright for The Squid and the Whale (2005) and has also placed 10th for The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (co-written with Wes Anderson), 4th for Margot at the Wedding (2007), 5th for Fantastic Mr. Fox (with Wes Anderson, 2009), 7th for Greenberg (2010), 2nd for Frances Ha (co-written with Greta Gerwig, 2013), 4th for Mistress America (with Gerwig again, 2015), 3rd for The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017), and 3rd again for Marriage Story (2019).

Anyway, lemme make sure I've got this straight. White Noise, by our reckoning, boasts last year's 8th-finest screenplay and 10th-finest direction, plus two strong performances (I'll reveal that Gerwig was #21 in Supporting Actress, Driver #23 in Actor) and two beloved scenes...but was nowhere near being one of 2022's best films? I mean, it's fine—I'll look like a genius down the road and y'all will look silly. But it really feels as if people kinda decided in advance that this adaptation was a bad idea and then couldn't fully let go of that idea. Too much work to find out but I'm very curious about whether any film has previously placed top 10 in Director and Screenplay while whiffing in Picture.