by GEORGE RAMOS
How often does the Oscar for Best Picture actually go to the best movie that year?
Critics often disagree with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about this award. Some award-winning films in my memory that probably should not have won Best Picture, according to the entertainment website The A.V. Club: Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Dances with Wolves (1990), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Crash (2005), Green Book (2018) and CODA (2021).
I’ve seen all but Green Book, and I agree with critics that each of those years had better films that did not win.
The films that won during some of those years tend to play on the emotions of Academy members—and even to appeal to their sense of white liberal guilt.
It should come as no surprise that serious filmgoers appreciate movies with a message, and who can resist honoring a message that one agrees with?
The Academy also has a reputation for favoring movies about filmmaking and acting; the 2011 film The Artist comes to mind. Who can resist aligning themselves with a movie that flatters their own industry?
We all have our biases. We are merely human beings after all. It should come as no surprise that Academy members get the award wrong sometimes.
Which brings us to the best films of 2023.
Cinema really shined last year. Mrs. Ramos and I have seen six of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture (plus one nominated for Best International Feature Film), and I highly recommend each of them, especially my favorite film of last year, Past Lives.
I have no hope that Past Lives will win the Oscar, though. The movie is not big enough. It’s a small, intimate film about relationships, and a Best Picture winner needs to be about something bigger. A lot bigger.
Moviegoers will forever remember 2023 as the year of Barbenheimer.
Barbie and Oppenheimer provided a major boon to the movie theater industry. Audiences displayed genuine anticipation in advance of both films.
People went to the movies dressed up in clothing inspired by each of the movies … and in some cases combined outfits to support both. I really loved seeing the excitement, and it seems obvious to me that one of these films will win Best Picture.
It will not be Barbie.
I’m not here to bash Barbie. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of it, and would readily watch it again if I had the chance. I just think that Academy voters take Oppenheimer more seriously.
Oppenheimer earned nominations in 13 different categories, including Best Director; Barbie earned 8, and its director, Greta Gerwig, did not earn a directing nomination. I can’t help but think that the Academy has already signaled the outcome just during the nomination process.
If I’m right and Oppenheimer wins, will it deserve Best Picture? I think so.
Oppenheimer has a sophisticated narrative structure, beautiful cinematography, serious performances, big sound and–most important–a big, timely message: technology is a double-edged sword.
I think Barbie has these too, but the film isn’t serious enough for the Academy.
I sympathize with Barbie, but the movie Oppenheimer as a whole well deserves the accolades it gets. Even if it’s not my favorite movie of the year.
Luckily, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Take it as an American pastime to disagree with the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
My favorite film of the year won’t win this year, and it didn’t win last year (Aftersun, in case you were wondering).
I’m not bitter. I recognize the Academy for who they are–people with opinions–and they and I simply agree to disagree. My values are mine, and they don’t always align with theirs.
How often does the Oscar for Best Picture go to the best movie that year? For most people, the answer is rarely. And that’s OK.
The Mainsheet 