Oscars 2022: The Big Techies

Our weeklong analysis of the Oscars marches on. Yesterday, we looked at seven below-the-line categories; today, we’re looking at five more technical categories—but, like, the cool ones. (I promise, the sexy stuff is coming soon.) Let’s get to it.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES
All Quiet on the Western Front—James Friend
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths—Darius Khondji
Elvis—Mandy Walker
Empire of Light—Roger Deakins
Tár – Florian Hoffmeister

WILL WIN
Some of the Academy’s omissions in this category are downright flummoxing. But it’s notable that three of the five nominees exhibit more subtle technique than usual, especially when voters in recent years have favored boisterous showmanship. That means this is likely a race between the two more aggressive contenders: All Quiet on the Western Front and Elvis. The latter is certainly flashier, but the former is more intense and disturbing with its grotesque war imagery. I’ll go with All Quiet.

SHOULD WIN
My sour thoughts toward both Bardo and Empire of Light overall shouldn’t diminish the quality of their cinematography, though I don’t think either Khondji or Deakins is working at the top of their game. All Quiet and Elvis both have their impressive moments, but neither is as consistently gorgeous as I’d like. So I’ll go with Tár, which is rigorous throughout and also features one of the year’s most extraordinarily lensed scenes with its lecture-hall sequence.

MOVIEMANIFESTO’S BALLOT
Athena—Matias Boucard
Avatar: The Way of Water—Russell Carpenter
Babylon—Linus Sandgren
The Northman—Jarin Blaschke
Watcher—Benjamin Kirk Nielsen

I don’t have the energy to research this, but I suspect this is the first time my own ballot hasn’t overlapped with the Academy’s on a single selection. So be it. The dazzling 11-minute opening shot of Athena warrants recognition all on its own, and the rest of the movie is pretty damn impressive in its own right. The only justification I can fathom for excluding Avatar: The Way of Water is misbelieving that the whole thing was animated as opposed to being filmed with actual cameras. Babylon’s wild extremism shouldn’t obscure its elegant craft; the same is true of The Northman, which captures gnarly violence with fluid precision. Watcher weaponizes the camera, turning seemingly banal images into nightmare fuel.

MovieManifesto’s winner: Avatar: The Way of Water—Russell Carpenter.

Honorable mention: Blonde—Chayse Irvin; EO—Michal Dymek.

BEST FILM EDITING

NOMINEES
The Banshees of Inisherin—Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis—Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
Everything Everywhere All at Once—Paul Rogers
Tár—Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick—Eddie Hamilton

WILL WIN
Aside from Best Supporting Actress (analysis coming tomorrow!), this is arguably this closest race of the whole slate. All five nominees have a chance, though I’m reasonably comfortable eliminating The Banshees of Inisherin and Tár. From there, it becomes a question of perspective: Is this category a bellwether for Best Picture, or a calling card for bravura intensity? If the former, then Everything Everywhere All at Once is the easy pick. But the Academy has skewed toward the latter in recent years, which makes me lean toward the showier productions. And it doesn’t get much showier than Top Gun: Maverick.

SHOULD WIN
My thoughts toward Everything Everywhere are complicated, but I think it’s become weirdly underrated as a piece of rollicking craftsmanship. In quantitative terms, it contains a lot of material, and Rogers down yeoman’s work compressing it into something reasonably coherent and digestible. He deserves the prize here.

MOVIEMANIFESTO’S BALLOT
Barbarian—Joe Murphy
Decision to Leave—Kim Sang-beom
Everything Everywhere All at Once—Paul Rogers
Glass Onion—Bob Ducsay
X—David Kashevaroff and Ti West

Barbarian features the smash cut of the year. Decision to Leave spools around in time with stealthy exactitude. Glass Onion’s double-helix structure imbues a silly mystery with thrilling, delightful suspense. There isn’t a wasted frame in X.

MovieManifesto’s winner: Glass Onion—Bob Ducsay.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

NOMINEES
All Quiet on the Western Front—Volker Bertelmann
Babylon—Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin—Carter Burwell
Everything Everywhere All at Once—Son Lux
The Fabelmans—John Williams

WILL WIN
Three-horse race here. I’m tempted to take The Fabelmans, but I’d probably be voting with my heart over my head. The score for All Quiet on the Western Front, with its booming brass and droning percussion, is more conspicuous than that of Babylon, which is more classically appealing. I’m not sure voters will parse those distinctions as opposed to simply picking the one that’s more noticeable. That’s All Quiet.

SHOULD WIN
Look, I know John Williams already has 23 wins and 187 nominations, but his score for The Fabelmans is just too lovely for me to resist.

MOVIEMANIFESTO’S BALLOT
All Quiet on the Western Front—Volker Bertelmann
Babylon—Justin Hurwitz
The Batman—Michael Giacchino
EO—Pawel Mykietyn
The Fabelmans—John Williams

Look at that, three out of five! Nice work, Academy. Sadly, voters overlooked Giacchino’s stupendous work for The Batman, which adds doomy flavor to the movie’s already-considerable intensity.

MovieManifesto’s winner: The Fabelmans—John Williams.

Honorable mention: Blonde—Nick Cave and Warren Ellis; Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—Danny Elfman.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans

WILL WIN
It’s Babylon time. Elvis has a shot, but I don’t see anything surpassing the haunted mansions of Damien Chazelle’s old-Hollywood epic.

SHOULD WIN
And rightly so.

MOVIEMANIFESTO’S BALLOT
Babylon
Crimes of the Future
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Don’t Worry Darling
Glass Onion

I’m not a fan of Crimes of the Future, but its production design is perversely, tactilely grotesque. The Doctor Strange sequel brings true style to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is hard to do these days. Don’t Worry Darling has its narrative problems, but its evocation of 1950s utopia is magnificent. I want to live in the Glass Onion.

MovieManifesto’s winner: Don’t Worry Darling.

Honorable mention: Amsterdam; The Menu (welcome to Hawthorn!); The Northman.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick

WILL WIN
Avatar: The Way of Water. Move along.

SHOULD WIN
Sorry folks, but James Cameron is just better at this stuff than anyone else.

SHOULD BE HERE
Nope. I’m not sure that the alien effects in Jordan Peele’s horror-western are all that spectacular, but they’re interesting, which is more important.

MovieManifesto’s winner: Avatar: The Way of Water.

Coming tomorrow: the supporting actors and the screenplays.