Zero for 30: Decisive defeats for big Oscars movies

For every Oscars winner, there are four losers. And this year, four movies in particular were all resolutely defeated.

The 95th Academy Awards was a night of history-making triumphs and heart-tugging speeches. No one slapped anyone, and the Oscars officially declared itself incident-free.

Everything Everywhere All At Once’s decisive victory in seven races was a moment of elation and celebration.

Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan gave emotional speeches about what their wins mean for them and for the Asian community. The Daniels – Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan – were equally expressive and gracious each time they went up on stage for their Director, Original Screenplay and Best Picture statuettes.

And Brendan Fraser’s sincere comeback story is a resonant one, even if The Whale was less liked. Everyone thanked their families, their teachers and especially their mums. Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley, another former child actor, picked up a very popular win for her otherwise overlooked film, Women Talking.

There was a lot to rally behind.

Banshees was Colin Farrell’s first Oscar nomination. Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

But for every winner there are four losers. And with 24 categories, that’s a lot of losers. No more so than four Best Picture nominees which between them went zero for 30 last night.

The Banshees of Inisherin was nominated nine times and lost all nine. Elvis was nominated eight times and lost all eight. The Fabelmans was nominated seven times and lost all seven. And Tar was nominated six times and lost all six.

It’s a striking, awkward run for four acclaimed films which each stacked up either incredible performances or filmmaking artistry or both.

It’s hard to look at Banshees and Colin Farrell’s incredibly humanist and hilarious portrayal of Paidraic and say that it doesn’t deserve an Oscar win. Or Kerry Condon’s scene-stealing turn as Padraic’s steely sister Siobhan. And writer-director Martin McDonagh’s sharp screenplay.

What about Cate Blanchett’s singular, intense role as narcissist composer Lydia Tar? Paul Mescal’s sensitive turn in Aftersun and Bill Nighy’s understated one in Living?

Austin Butler will undoubtedly get another shot at an Oscar. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

And Austin Butler’s committed, pulsating performance that went far beyond mimicry, it turned Elvis the icon into Elvis the human.

How about Top Gun: Maverick’s editing, which stitched together complex action scenes so that it propulsively flowed and never confused? And animated feature Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, a tender and life-affirming story?

Australian Mandy Walker could have made history as the first woman to win in Cinematography for her work on Elvis and Justin Hurwitz could have collected a second Oscar for his visceral jazz score for Babylon.

Should Angela Bassett not get to stride atop that stage for her gut-wrenching exploration of grief in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

Angela Bassett was a favourite to win Best Supporting Actress. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

We could go on, but you get the point. There were scores of worthy Oscar winners in the losers’ pen, and even more in the list of should-be nominees who were left out of the finalists entirely, including Jordan Peele, Danielle Deadwyler, Paul Dano, Dolly De Leon, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Decision to Leave.

It was an absolute bumper year and multiple categories were competitive until that envelope was opened. The people who won deserved to win. The people who lost also deserved to win. The night acknowledged a great mix of smaller-budget and art house films including Women Talking and Aftersun to the biggest blockbusters of the year, such as Top Gun: Maverick.

Just because few people saw a movie – sometimes a criticism of the Oscars – doesn’t mean you should discount it, often the opposite, in the same way that a gargantuan box office doesn’t have to equal populist garbage.

It’s a rarity that an Oscars year had so many deserving also-rans, where whole categories were filled out with nominees that could have easily and maybe even should have won.

Maybe it sucks that Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, The Fablemans and Tar were so roundly defeated. But all four movies, like Everything Everywhere All At Once and the others that won, will endure. And they will be remembered for more than just how many Oscars they lost.