Best Pictures #106: The 2023 (96th) Academy Awards: My Choice

by A.J.

Best Pictures #106: The 2023 (96th) Academy Awards

The 96th Academy Awards ceremony for films released in 2023 was held on March 10th, 2024. The ceremony was still over 3 hours but still ended early because it started an hour earlier than previous years. A minor controversy was avoided when a last minute decision to exclude Messi the dog, who played Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall, was reversed and cameras showed the much loved dog in the audience. A rather unexpected milestone was reached when Cillian Murphy, nominated for Oppenheimer, became the first Irishman to win the Best Actor Oscar.

One of the biggest movies of the year ended up being the most awarded film the night with Oppenheimer winning 7 of its 13 nominations, the most wins and nominations of any film. The odd Poor Things won 4 of its 11 nominations, including the most shocking upset of the night when Emma Stone won her second Best Actress Oscar over the expected winner, Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. Martin Scorsese's epic, and excellent, based on true events crime drama did not win any of its 10 nominations, the same fate as Scorsese's last film with 10 nominations, The Irishman. Ryan Gosling's seriocomic performance of the nominated original song "I'm Just Ken" was the highlight ceremony. He began singing in the audience of the shoulder of co-star Margot Robbie, moved to the stage, danced with the chorus on stage, quickly adjusted the mic stand without missing a beat, and then got some of the stars near the stage to sing along. That song did not win, but the other nominated song from Barbie, "What Was I Made For?" did win, giving 22 year old Billie Eilish her second Original Song Oscar and giving Barbie its only win. The rest of the night went as expected, more or less, even with Al Pacino skipping naming all of the Best Picture nominees and then semi teasing out naming the winner: "My eyes see...Oppenheimer."

Overall the Academy's Best Picture nominees were a strong and diverse class. They included: two foreign language films, two films directed by women, four films focused on female main characters, three films that take a hard look at history, biopics, period pieces, satires, indie films, comedies, dramas, and two films about grumpy intellectuals. Some of the best reviewed movies of 2023 were included in the Academy's list of 10 nominees, including my choice for the best film of 2023.

My Pick for Best Picture of 2023: Oppenheimer

It's not often that my personal choice for the best movie of the year is a major box office hit and then not only nominated for Best Picture but becomes frontrunner and eventual winner. Of course, I'm glad when that does happen. So much has been said about Oppenheimer and it has received so much praise that it feels gratuitous to say anymore. However, it is very exciting when a movie comes along that has so much to say, so much to think about, and is done so well that you just want to keep talking about it. 

There is always the risk of sounding pretentious and even foolish—don’t the two go hand in hand?—when describing films as art, but they certainly are, even if they are not "art films." This movie should be a history lesson or another by the numbers biopic, but in the hands of Christopher Nolan, who is proving himself to be a master filmmaker, it is a rare blend of entertainment and art. No one knows for sure how a movie will be remembered, whether it wins Best Picture or not, but my theory is Oppenheimer will be a movie that people continue to revisit. After all, we do live in the atomic age of Oppenheimer.