Skandies: The "nominations" (Patreon)
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Not all that much suspense about who/what remains, so let's answer potential questions about near-misses and no-chances here, as well as give the top picks a little additional airtime. As a reminder, the word "nominees" is in air quotes because there's no further voting as far as the August Voting Body is concerned—placement has already been determined.
Anyhoo, here we go:
Best Picture
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Decision to Leave
• EO
• RRR
• TÁR
Overlap with Oscar nominees: The Banshees of Inisherin, TÁR.
Just missed: Onoda (#21), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (#22), KIMI (#23), Reflection (#24), Everything Everywhere All at Once (#25).
Not so much: Elvis (#49); Avatar: The Way of Water (#75); All Quiet on the Western Front (no votes), Triangle of Sadness (no votes), Women Talking (no votes).
I'm gonna go ahead and assert that if you award the Palme d'Or to a film that none of these voters considers one of the year's 10 best films, when two of its competitors land among their top five of the year, you have chosen poorly.
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Best Director
• Todd Field, TÁR
• Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
• S S Rajamouli, RRR
• Jerzy Skolimowski, EO
• Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
Previous "nominations": None, though Park just missed at #6 for The Handmaiden. Of course, many of Skolimowski's great films long predate the Skandies.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Field.
Just missed: John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal (#21); Steven Soderbergh, KIMI (tie for #22); Phil Tippett, Mad God (tie for #22); Terence Davies, Benediction (tie for #24); George Miller, Three Thousand Years of Longing (tie for #24). Some high-powered also-rans this year, including two prior winners—Soderbergh in 1998, Miller in 2015.
Not so much: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (#33); Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness (#41).
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Best Actress
• Cate Blanchett, TÁR
• Frankie Corio, Aftersun
• Rebecca Hall, Resurrection
• Lee Hye-yeong, In Front of Your Face
• Tang Wei, Decision to Leave
Previous "nominations": Blanchett is the most-nominated actor in Skandies history, having now landed in the top five a whopping seven times. (She'd been tied for six with Scarlett Johansson.) I am still annoyed that she won Supporting Actress in 2004 for her Katharine Hepburn impression in The Aviator, but that is a thing that happened. She's also placed 2nd for Elizabeth (1998), 5th in Supporting for Coffee and Cigarettes (also in 2004), 2nd again for I'm Not There (2007), 4th for Blue Jasmine (2013), and 5th for Carol (2015). Hall scores her third nomination, and her second in a row; she placed 4th for Christine (2016) and 3rd last year for The Night House. And second time for Tang, our #3 Actress way back in 2007 for Lust, Caution.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Blanchett.
Just missed: Juliette Binoche, Both Sides of the Blade (tie for #21); Mia Goth, X (tie for #21); Margaret Qualley, Stars at Noon (tie for #21); Adèle Exarchopoulos, Zero Fucks Given (#24); Viola Davis, The Woman King (#25).
Not so much: Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie (#61).
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Best Actor
• Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick
• Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
• Jon Hamm, Confess, Fletch
• Jack Lowden, Benediction
• Park Hae-il, Decision to Leave
Previous "nominations": Third for Cruise, but his first since the '90s; he previously placed 5th for Jerry Maguire (1996) and 2nd in Supporting for Magnolia (1999). (John Malkovich was that year's winner, for the film bearing his name.) Only other repeat is Farrell, who landed at #5 for The Lobster (2016).
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Farrell. Yes, we nominated Tom Cruise for a blockbuster and AMPAS did not!
Just missed: Kanji Tsuda, Onoda (#21); Fergus Wilson, Friends and Strangers (#22); Adam Driver, White Noise (#23); Harris Dickinson, Triangle of Sadness (#24); Sean Harris, The Stranger (#25).
Not so much: A rare case in which we liked all five Oscar nominees.
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Best Supporting Actor
• Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
• Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
• Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
• Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Jeremy Strong, Armageddon Time
Previous "nominations": Only Keoghan, who placed 2nd five years ago for The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Gleeson, Keoghan, Quan.
Just missed: Rory Kinnear, Men (#21); Don McKellar, Crimes of the Future (tie for #22); Mark Rylance, Bones and All (tie for #22); Fedja van Huêt, Speak No Evil (tie for #24); Kwon Hae-hyo, In Front of Your Face (tie for #24).
Not so much: Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans (#50). We swapped Dano for him. (Meanwhile, I was the only person who voted for Seth Rogen, which I find utterly bizarre. He's easily the best thing in the movie.)
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Best Supporting Actress
• Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
• Nina Hoss, TÁR
• Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Keke Palmer, Nope
• Kristen Stewart, Crimes of the Future
Previous "nominations": We love ourselves some K-Stew. She won this category in 2015 for Clouds of Sils Maria, and has also placed 3rd in Supporting for Certain Women (2016) and 2nd for Personal Shopper (2017). Yes, that was three years in a row. Possibly unmatched? I can't recall, am too lazy to check. Second nomination for Hoss, our #2 Actress for Phoenix (2015), losing to Rooney Mara. (Gotta say I don't think TÁR gives her sufficient material to merit this degree of adulation. That's some residual affection in my opinion.)
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Condon, Hsu.
Just missed: Greta Gerwig, White Noise (#21); Bae Doona, Broker (#22); Haley Bennett, Cyrano (#23); Olivia Hamilton, Babylon (#24); Nur Fibak, Ahed's Knee (#25).
Not so much: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once (#29); Hong Chau, The Whale (#32); Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (no votes).
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Best Screenplay
• Terence Davies, Benediction
• Todd Field, TÁR
• Rian Johnson, Glass Onion
• Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
• Park Chan-wook & Chung Seo-kyung, Decision to Leave
Previous "nominations": Johnson has written six features and been nominated by us four times. He placed 3rd for both Brick (2006) and Looper (2012), and then 2nd for Knives Out (2019), bested by Tarantino (though it was pretty close—he came within 14 points despite receiving six fewer votes). McDonagh is a second-time nominee, having placed 5th in 2008 for In Bruges.
Overlap with Oscar nominees: Field, Johnson, McDonagh.
Just missed: Nadav Lapid, Ahed's Knee (#21); Arthur Harari and Vincent Poymiro, Onoda (tie for #22); Panah Panahi, Hit the Road (tie for #22); Jerzy Skolimowski & Ewa Piaskowska, EO (#24); Saul Williams, Neptune Frost (#25).
Not so much: Kazuo Ishiguro, Living (#31); Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness (#45); Edward Berger and Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front (no votes); Sarah Polley, Women Talking (no votes).
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Best Scene
Nah, I gotta save something as a surprise.