Next Sunday, it will be time to play the music and to light the lights for the 98th Academy Awards. Once again, my woeful predictions are back, despite not having seen, let alone heard of the majority of the nominated films. But I’m not going to let that stop me, so, with less basis in fact than most years, here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards.
Best Original Screenplay
Robert Kaplow, Blue Moon
Jafar Panahi; in collaboration with Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, and Mehdi Mahmoudian, It Was Just an Accident
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
I’ve heard of a whopping two of these films but only seen one, so I will go with Ryan Coogler and Sinners.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Tracy, Bugonia
Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams
I’ve actually seen two of these films and heard of one other, so I’ll go with Bugonia.
Best Animated Feature
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2
Taking a shot in the dark as I haven’t seen any of these and have only heard of two of them.
Best Cinematography
Dan Laustsen, Frankenstein
Darius Khondji, Marty Supreme
Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams
Of the two of these that I’ve seen, I’m going with the more classic one.
Best Costume Design
Deborah L. Scott, Avatar: Fire and Ash
Kate Hawley, Frankenstein
Malgosia Turzanska, Hamnet
Miyako Bellizzi, Marty Supreme
Ruth E. Carter, Sinners
This seems like another win for Sinners.
Best Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor
I’ve neither seen nor heard of any of these, so this is a total shot in the dark.
Best Documentary Short Subject
All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness
This is a total guess for a category that I know nothing about.
Achievement in Film Editing
Stephen Mirrione, F1
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another
Olivier Bugge Coutté, Sentimental Value
Michael P. Shawver, Sinners
Another guess, as I’ve actually seen one of these but am going with one I haven’t.
Best International Feature Film
It Was Just an Accident, France
The Secret Agent, Brazil
Sentimental Value, Norway
Sirāt, Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia
It’s the only one also nominated for Best Picture, so shouldn’t it win here?
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey, Frankenstein
Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino, and Tadashi Nishimatsu, Kokuho
Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, and Shunika Terry, Sinners
Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, and Bjoern Rehbein, The Smashing Machine
Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg, The Ugly Stepsister
I want to say it will be the crew behind Sinners but instead I’m going with Frankenstein.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet, Max Richter
One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood
Sinners, Ludwig Göransson
This is just a stab in the dark.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
Dear Me from Diane Warren: Relentless, Music and lyrics by Diane Warren
Golden from KPop Demon Hunter, Music and lyrics by Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, 24, Ido, and Teddy Park
I Lied to You from Sinners, Music and lyrics by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson
Sweet Dreams of Joy from Viva Verdi!, Music and lyrics by Nicholas Pike
Train Dreams from Train Dreams, Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner, lyrics by Nick Cave
It’ll probably end up being Diane Warren, but I’ll go with the KPop Demon Hunter track.
Achievement in Production Design
Frankenstein, Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
Hamnet, Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
Marty Supreme, Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
One Battle After Another, Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Sinners, Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne
Looks like another opportunity for Frankenstein to shine.
Best Animated Short Film
Butterfly, Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
Forevergreen, Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Retirement Plan, John Kelly and Andrew Freedman
The Three Sisters, Konstantin Bronzit
Best Live Action Short Film
Butcher’s Stain, Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
A Friend of Dorothy, Lee Knight and James Dean
Jane Austen’s Period Drama, Julia Aks and Steve Pinder
The Singers, Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt
Two People Exchanging Saliva, Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata
These two picks are based on nothing but pure alchemy.
Achievement in Sound
F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, and Juan Peralta
Frankenstein, Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, and Brad Zoern
One Battle After Another, José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, and Tony Villaflor
Sinners, Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, and Steve Boeddeker
Sirāt, Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, and Yasmina Praderas
The cars go vroom vroom.
Achievement in Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett
F1, Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, and Keith Dawson
Jurassic World Rebirth, David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan, and Neil Corbould
The Lost Bus, Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen, and Brandon K. McLaughlin
Sinners, Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, and Donnie Dean
Let’s hope that the Avatar franchise is still pushing the needle on special effects.