TThese Bafta nominations have given us the traditional buffet of snubs that industry observers must frown upon. Nothing at all for Luca Guadagnino’s terrific Queer drama – his exuberant debut role as Daniel Craig went unmentioned. Nothing for the very moving Irish film Small Things Like These and therefore no Bafta nod for the exceptional performance (without doubt the best of his career) by Cillian Murphy. The appetite for Yorgos Lanthimos films with Emma Stone seems to be at a maximum. Nothing for their film Kinds of Kindness.
But a much-feared possible exclusion fortunately did not materialize: Marianne Jean-Baptiste was nominated for best actress for her superb performance in Mike Leigh’s searing study of depression, Hard Truths, but no nomination for Leigh. -even as a director.
Among the contenders, these Bafta nominations look like another giant coup for German director Edward Berger, whose World War I drama All Quiet on the Western Front won a landslide two years ago at the Bafta. He has now directed the high-stakes, high-camp Vatican intrigue drama, Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes as the troubled cardinal who suspects a malicious plot behind the fight to elect a new pontiff – adapted by Peter Straughan from the best-selling seller by Robert Harris. Conclave leads the pack with 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Fiennes and Best Supporting Actress for Isabella Rossellini as the enigmatic nun who may hold the key to All. It’s a creamy, elegant film, wonderfully watchable, with that unchallenging addictive quality. None of these qualities are to be despised.
Behind Conclave, we should perhaps notice a film with six nominations, behind the others, and yet an astonishing outsider story: it is the continuing triumph of Kneecap, the story of the Irish hip-hop trio who galvanized the new musical language of republicanism and play out their own origin story here with boundless energy. I have to admit that I’m slightly alienated from the Guy Ritchie atmosphere of the film itself, but there’s no doubt that it captured the imagination of voters and perhaps even adapted to a new vibe post-Brexit on republicanism. Whatever happens, and however many nominations convert, I think Kneecap may have already won this year’s Baftas.
Jacques Audiard’s gripping and slightly confusing Emilia Pérez, a musical crime melodrama about a trans cartel gangster in Mexico, continues on its majestic and eccentric path with 11 nominations, hitting the debate sweet spot with voter awards that recommend films to each other. It’s a film whose final assertion of highly emotional seriousness I’ve never quite been able to agree with and it has found a backlash in heartbreaking social media discourse from those opposed to the approach Audiard’s allegedly insulting and inauthentic attitude toward Mexico, a complaint that perhaps overlooks the film’s element of ironic fiction.
Brady Corbet’s stunning epic The Brutalist, about a Hungarian Holocaust survivor and modernist architect in post-war America, scores nine nominations, including a leading actor nod for Adrien Brody and his lean and driven performance; Anora, Sean Baker’s incredible story about a ballerina and her Russian oligarch heir fiancé, has seven nominations – a wonderfully provocative lead actress performance from Mikey Madison there – as well as seven for the spectacular Dune: Part Two , putting it to rest, for now. , mutters that this dream desert adventure may be a little sleepy.
Timothée Chalamet’s glorious Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, has six. Chalamet might win Best Actor for this winsome performance, but don’t bet against Hugh Grant for his twinkling-eyed monster in the horror satire Heretic. Five nominations also for the vampire revival Nosferatu by Robert Eggers (already a big box office success) and also for the feminist body horror The Substance by Coralie Fargeat which has already earned Demi Moore a Golden Globe for her successful comeback. Saoirse Ronan could still win, however, for her excellent performance in addiction recovery drama The Outrun.
Elsewhere, I have a feeling Jeremy Strong will convert his Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing Roy Cohn, the unspeakable attack dog lawyer and mentor to young Donald Trump, in The Apprentice, opposite Sebastian Stan as the needy and insecure Trump himself.
Traditionally, the outstanding British debut category is seen as the heart and soul of the Baftas – another opportunity for Kneecap, obviously – but I wonder if that might go to Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, about a widow who takes over her late husband’s job. as a police inspector in India and investigates a murder. It’s another intriguing list, and I expect Conclave, Fiennes, Berger and Rossellini to give a secular version of a papal blessing on the evening.
