These Are the 5 Great Absentees of the Oscar 2023 Nominees

The morning of the Oscar nominations announcement always brings surprises. Any Oscar fan knows that a good number of films will be left out and hopes that their favorites are not among those absent. Some of the most controversial films of the year like "Blonde" and "Babylon" barely made the list with one and three nominations respectively. There are also plenty of critical favorites and blockbusters that won't be able to add "Academy Award Nominee" to their Blu-ray box.

Here are five of the best movies of the year, which seemed like safe bets, but in the end they were completely ignored by the members of the Academy.

"Decision to Leave"

Park Chan-wook is one of the great filmmakers of the 21st century and a modern master of the thriller. After being ignored by the Academy with works such as "Oldboy" (2003) and "The Handmaiden" (2017), the recent success of international productions such as "Roma" (2018), "Parasites" (2019) and "Drive My Car" (2021) raised hopes that his acclaimed romantic mystery "Decision to Leave" could garner multiple nominations. In addition to international film, nominations for this movie were expected, especially in photography and direction. This movie is about a detective who becomes obsessed with a woman he suspects has murdered her husband. The surprise of his absence adds to the disappointment of realizing that there is still a long way to go before the Academy overcomes the three-centimeter barrier of subtitles and recognizes more than one international film per year.

"Moonage Dream"

Using never-before-seen footage from David Bowie's personal archives, director Brett Morgen spent five years building an immersive cinematic experience to celebrate the groundbreaking and astonishing career that made Bowie one of the greatest artists of his generation. Initially, it was considered the favorite for best documentary for its shortlist for best sound, a rare achievement for a nonfiction film. But, in the end, it was left out despite being the highest-grossing documentary film of 2022.

"Nope!"

After the commercial and critical success of his first film, “Get Out” (2017), which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Jordan Peele became one of the most popular directors in Hollywood. With "Nope!", his third feature film, he embarks on a full-scale horror adventure. In it, a man and his sister face a sinister threat lurking in the sky. The film was praised for its concept, performances, visual effects, and sound design. It was one of the most successful original films at the North American box office, but even this, coupled with Peele's Academy Award-winning status, did not help overcome the Academy's usual contempt for horror films.

Also read: The 7 Most Nominated Films For The Oscars, How To See Them?

"Till"

Danielle Deadwyler's performance as Mamie Till, Emmett Till's mother, has been praised as one of the best of the year. The film chronicles the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, a case that became a symbol of the brutality of racism in the United States. Deadwyler was nominated multiple times throughout the season, winning the Gotham Award for Best Lead Performance. Her omission from the Oscar shortlist was criticized by the film's director Chinonye Chukwu in an Instagram post in which she wrote: "'We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating a blatant misogyny towards black women". In the 95 years of the Oscars, Halle Berry is the only black woman to have won the best actress award.

"She said"

It is undeniable that the Oscars played a significant role in Harvey Weinstein's rise to power. There was always intrigue over how the tape of the New York Times investigation that revealed Weinstein's sexual assault and harassment cases would be treated. Although it was a box office flop, the film was well received by critics and earned nominations at major awards, including the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and the Critics Choice Awards (CCA) for Adapted Screenplay. There's no way to be certain that its subject was the cause of its omission, but it should be noted that it's among the season's female-directed movies that were overlooked by Academy voters.