Studying Time: 4 minutes
The nominees for the 97th Academy Awards had been introduced right now.
And as regular, the listing contained some main surprises.
Some large names had been snubbed, whereas different main abilities acquired their very first nominations.
However the largest shocker of all might need been absolutely the dominance of Emilia Perez.
Emilia Perez Is Set to Win Massive on the Oscars
The French-produced Netflix movie scored a whopping 13 nominations, making it tied for the second-most nods of all time.
(It’s a several-way tie that features such cinematic heavy-hitters as Gone With the Wind, Forrest Gump, and Oppenheimer.)
The movie additionally acquired extra noms than another 2024 movie by a substantial margin. The Brutalist and Depraved tied for second most nominations with 10 every.
So excellent news, proper? Essentially the most nominated movie of the 12 months is an lively musical that options such beloved stars as Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.
And it’s accessible on a streaming service you most likely already subscribe to! What might be higher?
Nicely, we hate to rain in your cinephile parade, however Emilia Perez has turn out to be form of a lightning rod for controversy in current months, and never for the explanations you may anticipate.
The movie tells the story of Manitas Del Monte, the fictional head of a Mexican drug cartel who undergoes gender-affirming surgical procedure to turn out to be the title character.
Clearly, that’s not the form of premise one hears day by day, and Emilia Perez showcases tales which can be seldom seen in mainstream cinema.
However the movie’s critics say it’s not doing so responsibly. In any respect.
The (Many) Criticisms of Emilia Perez
For starters, French director Jacques Audiard has been extensively criticized for hiring a largely non-Mexican solid and crew, together with a number of actors (together with Selena) who are usually not fluent in Spanish.
Audiard does not converse Spanish himself, and when addressing issues that he selected to not movie in Mexico — and even to review Mexican tradition earlier than embarking on this mission — he’s come off as glib and dismissive.
“Did Shakespeare need to go all the way to Verona to write a story about that place?” Audiard as soon as requested his critics.)
Given its storyline — which facilities plenty of hot-button social points — you may assume that the movie has been focused by conservative teams who take subject with the its trans protagonist and drug-money-fueled storylines.
However in an ironic twist worthy of an Oscar-winning screenplay, the loudest complaints about Emilia Perez have largely come from the progressive finish of the political spectrum.
(In equity, that is likely to be a results of the truth that conservatives had been much less prone to be aware of the ultra-niche movie, a state of affairs that will change on account of right now’s nominations.)
Those that may usually be inclined to reward the film for its distinguished illustration of a trans character have as a substitute been mentioning that 1. Mentioned portrayal will not be terribly nuanced or delicate, and a pair of. I Noticed the TV Glow — a movie that supplied a way more compassionate and insightful tackle the trans expertise — was snubbed by the Academy totally.
GLAAD slammed the movie as “a profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman”.
“Emilia Perez is a regressive movie that thinks it’s woke. It will probably win an Oscar,” Vox lamented earlier than evaluating the movie to Crash, one other derided (and now largely forgotten) Oscar darling that scored large by enjoying on left-leaning sympathies.
“I’m sorry, but EMILIA PEREZ getting 13 Oscar nominations is instantly one of the funniest things that has ever happened at the Oscars,” critic Sonny Bunch wrote on X (previously Twitter).
“I can’t even wrap my head around ‘Emilia Pérez’ getting THIRTEEN (13!!!) #Oscars nominations. Quite possibly the worst movie ever (mid-scores from audiences & critics) to get double digit nominations. Baffling,” echoed podcast host Jeff D. Lowe.
Lowe added a clip of one of many movie’s much-mocked musical sequences.
It serves as a reminder that along with the criticism it’s acquired from the Left, Emilia Perez will not be a movie that’s prone to attraction to the extra centrist denizens of Center America, both.
In different phrases, a giant evening Audiard and his solid may result in some very low scores for this 12 months’s Oscars telecast.
