Malayalam survival drama 2018 - Everyone is a Hero, which was India's official entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category, is out of the Oscars race. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday, December 22, announced the shortlists in 10 categories for the upcoming 96th Oscars ceremony, where Margot Robbie-starrer Barbie received maximum nods.
Directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, 2018 - Everyone is a Hero is based on the unprecedented rains and floods that hit Kerala in 2018. It was chosen as it addresses a global issue and depicts the harrowing realities of what a natural calamity is for common people. The film stars Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Aparna Balamurali, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain and Lal. It was the fourth Malayalam film to be picked as India’s official entry for the Oscars, after Mohanlal’s Guru (1997), the thriller drama Adaminte Makan Abu (2011) and the much talked about Lijo Jose Pellissery movie Jallikattu (2019). However, none of these films had received nominations.
Overall, Greta Gerwig’s meta-comedy Barbie had the most mentions including sound, original song for its three submissions from Billie Eilish (‘What I Was Made For?’), Dua Lipa (‘Dance the Night’) and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (‘I’m Just Ken’), and original score, from the latter duo, reports Variety. The big miss for Barbie was in makeup and hairstyling, which was the category that yielded the most surprises.
Read: Barbie review: Greta Gerwig’s film is sparkly and funny with less bite
Two other expected contenders for the makeup and hairstyling category, The Color Purple, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, also failed to make it. However, A24’s surrealist Beau is Afraid and Universal Pictures’ horror summer film The Last Voyage of the Demeter were selected.
In the music categories are compositions from Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Ludwig Goransson (Oppenheimer) and the late Robbie Robertson (Killers of the Flower Moon). We also have a fair amount of veterans including Thomas Newman (Elemental) and John Williams (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny).
As per Variety, other movies with strong showings include Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon with four mentions overall including original song and JA Bayona’s Society of the Snow, which could emulate the path of last year’s surprise juggernaut All Quiet on the Western Front, which went on to win four Oscars. On board is also the much acclaimed film set in Nazi Germany, The Zone of Interest from the UK.
The international feature race didn’t see many jaw-dropping snubs aside from Romania’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World and Chile’s The Settlers not being named.
The Oscar nomination period will run from January 11 to January 16, with the official nominees named on January 23.