So, My (Unofficial) 2021 Oscars Ballot.

This is an abbreviated version of the Oscars ballot I dived into on my brand new podcast - One Balloon, White. For my full thoughts and explanations please check it out wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Well, it's April, and the Academy Awards are finally here. Just like last year, I'm using this feed to fill out the ballot the Academy would never give me. As you may remember, I predicted Parasite's deserved upset for best picture last year. Though I don't think there's going to be any crazy upsets this year, I do want my thoughts on a written record, so we can go back in a few years and marvel at my takes from a year we'd all care to forget.

That being said, here are my picks and a few thoughts (once again) for the deserved winners of the big twelve awards. Root for these wins tonight, even though I know you won't be watching. 

Best Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt - Mank

It's come to my attention that cinematography is apparently more than something "looking pretty." To which I say, look up at Amanda Seyfried in beautiful black-and-white there. Is that not pretty?? Maybe next year I'll hold this category to a higher standard, but in the meantime...

 Best Writing Adapted Screenplay: Florian Zeller - The Father

The Father - a profound, terrifying, and visceral experience about losing one's memory. Few scripts in the last year that were written for the stage have been adapted to the screen in such a transformative way. Anthony Hopkins' performance is probably his best since Silence of the Lambs and Olivia Colman is excellent as always, but it's the writing here that makes this movie so damn affecting.

Best Writing Original Screenplay: Lee Issac Chung - Minari

I genuinely hope Minari brings home as many awards as possible. I'm so, so worried it won't bring home much of anything. But if there was ever an award it deserves, it's for the work Lee Issac Chung put in telling his story of family, loss, and farming in Arkansas. It would be the most wholesome win, especially since the Academy is too cowardly to nominate Alan S. Kim for his darling performance.

Best Director: Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

Chloé Zhao has won damn near every award that she's been nominated for, and if that buck were to stop at the Academy Awards, it'd be a travesty. This win would solidify her as the most decorated filmmaker in a single award season, and it would be only the second Oscar given to a woman for best directing. If she loses this to anyone else - especially Aaron Sorkin - I will personally go set Union Station on fire. 

Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Unfortunately, I believe every other nominee has a greater chance of winning this award than Maria Bakalova, but she made the top of my ballot. Anyone that gets sexually harassed - and borderline assaulted - by Rudy Giuliani deserves a hell of a lot more than a little gold statue. 

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya - Judas & The Black Messiah

"I'm gonna die for the people, 'cause I live for the people! I live for the people 'cause I love the people!" Just give this man the damn award already. He is very steadily becoming the actor of this generation. This should be the first of many.

Best Lead Actress: Vanessa Kirby - Pieces of a Woman

This should be given to her (and I know it damn well won't be) for the first thirty minutes of this movie alone. Not only is she carrying every other aspect of this film after that, the work she puts in to the single-take birth scene is breathtaking. You're telling me if Christian Wood carried this current Rockets team (15-46) to the playoffs, he would be MVP, but Vanessa Kirby who carries this abominably written movie isn't?! Okay. 

Best Lead Actor: Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Is this gonna be a career achievement Oscar? Yes. And you know what? I'm glad. Chadwick Boseman, who passed away unexpectedly last August, has long been a personal favorite of mine. Over the last decade, Boseman has also become the personal favorite of most movie-goers on planet Earth. He's Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Black Panther. In seven years, he left a larger imprint on global culture than most actors have in their entire careers. So, again, is this gonna be a career achievement Oscar? Yes. And it's the least we can give him for all that he gave us.

Best Documentary: Time

How many times do I have to point out that this is the best documentary of the last year? It's stuck with me in ways few films have, becoming increasingly relevant with each passing day. Until the United States justice system is torn down, racism is scrubbed from the floorboards, and reparations are given to people of color who have long suffered injustices in the name of "justice" this documentary will be relevant. And yet, that will likely never happen. Just as how this will likely not win tonight, instead losing to a dude who fucked an octopus. 

Best Animated Feature Film: Soul

The obligatory Oscar given to any Pixar movie that makes magic twinkle in the eyes of little children and tears fall from the eyes of their parents. I'd love to see a Wolfwalkers win here tonight, but that seems entirely unlikely. I'll be happy with Soul getting the nod instead though. It's well deserved, and - like most Pixar classics - this film will almost certainly stand the test of time.

Best International Feature Film: Quo Vadis, Aida?

Let me preface this by saying that I know Another Round will win this award. I love Another Round. It made my Top 10 of last year. However, I had yet to see Quo Vadis, Aida? when I made that list. This gem out of Bosnia rehashes the 1995 Bosnian genocide from the perspective of a translator working to keep families together and her own family safe. It is as heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and nail-biting a movie I have seen all year. It instantly climbed onto my list of all-time favorites, and became my own personal choice for best international feature film. If you haven't seen it, please (prepare yourself and) watch it. It is a masterwork. 

Best Picture: Nomadland

My favorite movie of 2020? Absolutely not. My favorite movie nominated for best picture? Nope. The best movie of 2020? Almost certainly. Unless God himself comes down and ordains a Trial of the Chicago Seven win, I can't see anything stopping Nomadland from taking home the top prize. And I'm okay with that. A slow, somber, and picturesque film about a woman living her widowing days out of her van, traveling around the United States in search of community, might be the most fitting best picture winner we could ask for after we all just spent the last year of our lives locked inside, grieving the losses of our own ordinary lives. Nomadland, I respect you and I commend you - now please, win this damn award. I'll see you down the road.