It’s that time of year, again: awards show season. Tuesday morning, the Oscar nominations were announced, and the biggest talk of the day was that “La La Land” has landed an astounding 14 Oscar nominations, a record high in nominations for the Academy Awards, and the only other movies to reach this feat are “Titanic” and “All About Eve.”
Senior film major Tracy Knittel believed that the storyline of “La La Land” could be easily followed and was relatable, making it as accepted as it has been.
“I think that “La La Land” did something really nuanced in combining so many things at once— A-list actors, a musical film and a more experimental style of shooting with lots of jumps in time and jumps in and out of reality,” says Knittel.
This year, competing for best picture and what will be the most coveted award of the night are “Moonlight,” “Fences,” “Hidden Figures,” “Arrival,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “La La Land,” “Lion” and “Manchester by the Sea.”
Junior broadcast journalism major and theatre minor Alex Lake appreciated “Hidden Figures.”
“It’s such a powerful film that brings attention to a lot of relevant issues,” says Lake.
The record “La La Land” met wasn’t the only record of the year. Last year, no black actors were nominated, which led to quite a controversy, but this year, six black actors have been recognized for their work, a record in the history of the award show.
Among the 14 nominations earned by “La La Land” are best actress and best actor for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s performances and best director for Damien Chazelle’s work. The other directors nominated are Mel Gibson for “Hacksaw Ridge,” Barry Jenkins for “Moonlight,” Kenneth Lonergan for “Manchester by the Sea” and Denis Villeneuve for “Arrival.”
In addition to Ryan Gosling, the best actor nominees are Casey Affleck for “Manchester by the Sea,” Andrew Garfield for his performance in “Hacksaw Ridge,” Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic” and Denzel Washington for “Fences.”
Knittel says that she believes Casey Affleck’s nomination was well deserved.
“Affleck’s portrayal works perfectly to help the audience sympathize with his character, while still sympathizing with those who need more from him in their own healing,” says Knittel. “He was just the right amount of frustrating and human to make this feel real.”
Alongside Emma Stone, the talented group of ladies nominated for best actress includes Isabelle Huppert for her performance in “Elle,” Ruth Negga for “Loving,” Natalie Portman for her role in “Jackie” and Meryl Streep for “Florence Foster Jenkins.” Missing from that list is Amy Adams for her role in “Arrival,” which received eight nominations in total. The New York Times considers Adam’s lack of a nomination to be a snub. The most upsetting part is that an ABC and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences managed website mistakenly named Amy Adams as a best actress nominee and Tom Hanks as a best actor nominee for “Sully.” They later posted a statement expressing their apologies for their mishap.
It’s easy to see that this was a successful year in the film industry. Setting records and taking names, these nominees will find out the results Feb. 26, when Jimmy Kimmel hosts the award show.
You can see the full list of Academy Award Nominations on New York Times’ website.
