The Storylines:
As has been in the case in the last few seasons, Season 15 shows that it is really difficult to diagnose the GRA race early on in the season. This nominations slate is filled with releases from the second half of the season, as each of the last three rounds saw a prominent contender in a lot of races (And the Birds Rained Down, Kurt & Courtney: All Apologies, Misfit). Misfit and Of Rocks and Sand are the biggest winners in regards to nominations, which makes this a big season for films shot in the West. And the Birds Rained Down was not far behind and was one Harvey Keitel nomination away from being tied with those films at 8. This is does mean that this was one of the more evenly spread GRAs in a while, as it's the first time since Season 10 with no films having 9 or more nominations. So it remains to be seen who/if will be the dominant force at this GRAs.
There is something that I mentioned in my mid-season report that I feel has held true: this has been the strongest collection of Best Actress contenders in a long time. This is a topic that often comes up in these posts but usually it is the lack of depth, unfortunately. This season has seen this problem rectified in a bold way. In that post, I mentioned five names as legit contenders: Brie Larson, Margot Robbie, Aubrey Plaza, Lily James, and Jennifer Lawrence (and I woefully forgot to include Elisabeth Moss, who easily could've been included as well). Of those six names, only ONE was nominated as Charlotte Rampling, Riley Keough, and Christina Hendricks all came from those last few rounds. And Rebecca Ferguson in Lady Red could easily been included as a tenth contender (and just as good as Karen Gillan's Red Sonja performance from last season, which was nominated). You simply love to see it.
In that same post, I mentioned how Best Actor was surprisingly slim. I'd still say that is true as there were only five or six possible options. Luckily, this season had a lot of films that acted as acting showcases and those ended up filling some of these categories. It was talked about often in the LRF community that the Best Supporting Actress category was particularly weak, which makes Isabelle Huppert a runaway favorite at this point. However, the Best Supporting Actor is great per usual, with four legit contenders. Will the two from Of Rocks and Sands split votes? It is tough to say and will be interesting to see.
Overall, it is fair to say that this nominations slate is relatively quiet. Don't get me wrong, there is certainly star power to be found throughout this list. However, going in to the season, we knew we had films from the likes of Tarantino, PTA, Burton, Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Ari Aster on the slate and those films are hard to find here. It is hard to look that slate of Best Picture nominees and say that that is not an intriguing group of films. But that's just the beauty of Last Resort Films!
The Surprises & Snubs:
Suprise/Snub: A Reputation - I could have easily put this in the Storylines section but it felt like it needed to be here. When this film was released in Round 5, there people in online communities hailing it as the "odds-on favorite" and "hard to be topped", while some doubted that "we will see anything better this season". So come the announcements of nominees, only seeing the name of this film three times was a downright shock. What exactly happened here? Has the subject matter already made the film feel dated, as one critic said? Is it recency bias playing against its favor? Perhaps, but a 5th Round release is not exactly a death trap. I mentioned in my own mid-season post that it looked to be the first real contender of the season (with Baumbach as a lock, which did turn out true). Given her reputation at the studio, Larson missing out is certainly a surprise but we've already outlined the tough field she was a part of. In that post, I mentioned how Brendan Fraser was the best part of the movie so it was a bummer to see him miss out. As with Christina Hendricks in Misfit (and last season with Born in Brooklyn), I think an argument could have been made for Fraser to be put in Supporting but I'm not sure if he would have gotten in there either.
Surprise: Lili Reinhart - A weak field plus the last release of the season means good things for Lili Reinhart. She has little chance at winning but seeing her name pop up was certainly a surprise - especially as this was something of a comedic performance in a superhero film.
Snub: David Robert Mitchell - The director of Kurt and Courtney is becoming a favorite at LRF after coming on to the scene super strong with Death Dream. He had tough competition this season as he and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu were the two who missed out here.
Surprise: Crimson - It's strange. As I started hearing the nominees, I was ready to book this as a snub. No Best Starring Couple? Production Design? Most Wanted Sequel? (Which it wasn't a choice for but that's just wishful thinking on my part!). But then the nominations kept coming: Villain, Original Story, Best Actress, Best Picture. Not bad for a film released so early in the season.
Snub: Denzel Washington - This could easily be a surprise as well. Denzel's first performance at the studio in a film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Like GRA catnip, right? The film's lukewarm reception likely hurt his chances here despite his marquee name (the four nominees came from films with Metascores of 80 and above). I do think he was the strongest part of this film (while the characters played by John Goodman and Joaquin Phoenix were a little cartoony).
Previous Winners:
Christina Hendricks - Back again after being in this same spot last season. This marks her fourth nomination as Best Actress, after having won for The Question: The End in Season 7. After a little break from the studio, Hendricks is establishing her place as the most heralded actress in LRF history.
Margot Robbie - One of the biggest movie stars in the world returns to the studio with another GRA nomination. Last time she was seen, she won Best Supporting Actress in Season 9 for Calamity.
Sam Rockwell - Rockwell won Best Supporting Actor in Season 5 for his memorable turn as Stan Hollyfield in Cosa Nostra. He was nominated for Best Actor in Season 9 for Nevada, Iowa but lost to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Best Original Story - Again, like last season, every nominee in this strong category is made up of former winners. In fact, all of the writers here are multi-time winners of the award. James Morgan won in Season 2 and Season 11. From seasons 6-10, Chad Taylor won 4 of the 5 awards but had not won it since. The last two seasons, the award has been won back-to-back by John Malone and Jimmy Ellis. While they are aren't paired together here, they both have a shot at tying Taylor's record of three-in-a-row.
Previous Nominees:
Joaquin Phoenix - Phoenix has worked with Chad Taylor three times and all three times has yielded him a GRA nomination. The first was Chad's debut in Home Again and the second being his small-but-memorable turn as Jerry Garcia in Trip.
Mahershala Ali - While this is first time being nominated in one of the main awards, he previously was nominated for his double turn in Martian Manhunter (for which he was nominated Best Villain).
Hayley Atwell - Atwell, nominated here for The Killings, was previously nominated in Season 12 for Ypsilanti.
The Newcomers:
Best Director - Yes, all four nominees here are first timers. Baumbach and Van Sant are here for their first films at the studio. Taylor Sheridan previously worked here in Season 9 with Tenth Circle. But by far the biggest headline here is Jean-Marc Valée. Jean-Marc has made 6 films at the studio, all having 66 Metascore or higher but he has never been nominated for Best Director. I was surprised myself as I was ready to put him in the Previous Nominees or even Previous Winners section.
Meirad Tako - It's always great to see a new name pop up in the writing categories and that is the case here. Tako gets nominated with his 16th release for the studio, which must make Hotel California one of his most notable films after its surprise box office success as well.
A Lot of Actors and Actresses - Honestly, there are so many first-time nominees here that it is too long to list. The one that merits specific shoutout is Mark Strong, nominated for Best Villain after being one of the most prolific actors at the studio.
Season 16 Preview:
As with last season, I will finish this by briefly previewing our next season. After the successful X-Men, Season 16 starts off with a bang with the next entry into the Marvel universe: The Fantastic Four. So far we really just know about the team itself and not much else so it will be curious to see what this film looks like. Given the previous success of the Ellis-Malone partnership, Bunker 17 is certainly one to keep an eye on. Can Alex Conn piggyback off of the success of Kurt and Courtney with another music biopic? Judging from discussions in the LRF community, it sounds like Morrissey and Marr won't be his last either. An Alfred Hitchcock remake starring Margot Robbie is sure to turn some heads and could give us an early contender for Best Actress. The rest of the season is a bit of a mystery. Chad Taylor has teased an adaptation of the musical Oklahoma! but no production details have been released. It does look like there will be multiple video game, DC and Marvel adaptations in the season, as well. I look forward to checking in again at the mid-season point for The Trades!
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