This Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards will offer one more red-carpet push for the films that dominated both the critical discourse and the box office for the past 12 months. But for those over Barbenheimer, there are a Dolby Theatre’s worth of eligible movies that didn’t get any love from the Academy at all.
Which is why The Globe and Mail presents its annual Alterna-Oscars: a quick guide to the should’ve-been-contenders – and how you can watch them from the comfort of your own home this weekend.
Priscilla (Prime Video and on-demand, including Apple TV, Amazon, Cineplex Store)
Given the competition, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Cailee Spaeny to secure a best actress nomination for her work in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still be disappointed that Spaeny won’t be anywhere near the stage this Sunday, given that her performance as the young bride of Elvis Presley is a true magic act. Playing the title character from a high-schooler to unprepared mother, the actress makes every stage of Priscilla’s dream-turned-nightmare life seem wholly real. Spaeny can project wide-eyed naiveté as well as she can play the scorned lover or overwhelmed parent. This is all the more impressive given that the actor has said in interviews that the film’s tight production schedule meant she’d be playing Priscilla “pregnant in the morning, then after lunch I’d be 14 years old.”
The Killer (Netflix)
With his reputation for cold, calculating precision, there doesn’t seem to be much ocular space left in the demanding eyes of David Fincher to focus on comedy, that loosest and most improvisational of art forms. Yet here he is, the perfectionist of Se7en and Zodiac, making what might be his idea of a big-screen sitcom with the excellent hitman odyssey The Killer. And for this brave, bold step? Not a whisper of acknowledgment from the Oscars. Even the film’s intensely layered digital effects have gone unnoticed. Oh well, I guess that just means that this fast and mean tale of an assassin (Michael Fassbender) on the run from his employer will go down as a forever-unappreciated classic.
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Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
Was Davis Guggenheim’s film one of the best documentaries of 2023? No, but it was one of the most originally constructed and purely entertaining docs to come along last year, which should count for something in the Academy’s eyes. Especially when considering that celebrity docs can so easily slip into insipid vanity projects – especially if they include the willing participation of the actual subject. But while Guggenheim’s film on Michael J. Fox features the Canadian star front and centre – Fox even serves as narrator – this portrait is startlingly different. Intimate and tough, Guggenheim’s film offers Fox no excuses, diving deep into his alcoholism and unruly years as a teen heartthrob. It’s also constructed in an aggressively fun fashion, with only one “talking head” (Fox himself) and most of the footage constructed from clips of the actor’s filmography and sly re-enactments. Read Q&A with Michael J. Fox.
Asteroid City (Prime Video)
Even if you don’t enjoy Wes Anderson’s very Wes Anderson-y approach to filmmaking, it is hard to deny the pure technical artistry of his latest dust-dry Americana comedy. Not even a single nod for production design? Or hair and makeup?? Costumes??? If you haven’t had a chance yet, it’s time to visit Asteroid City, ostensibly a story about a group of families who gather for a Junior Stargazer convention in the 1950s municipality of the title. As typical, there is more here than the framing, as the comedy we’re about to watch is actually a televised production of a play written by the famed Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), whose life and development process becomes another layer of the narrative. This means that characters are doubled, sometimes tripled, and occasionally cross divisions of mediums and realities. Think of it as the Wes Anderson equivalent of the Marvel multiverse, except entertaining and inventive.
Showing Up (Hoopla)
Perhaps by now it’s not a surprise that Kelly Reichardt has been considered persona non grata by the Academy. She works lean, mean and without any kind of hype machine. Yet a very small part of me hoped that her latest film, a portrait of artists making art – catnip for Academy members, one would presume! – would fit the bill. Alas, not so much. Which just means that you can enjoy this film about a Portland sculptor and arts-school administrator (Michelle Williams) and marvel at how better your taste is than everyone else’s.
Barry Hertz