The 97th Academy Awards are this weekend – and is it fair to say this has been a relatively tame awards season? Sure, there’s been controversy: Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s racist and sexist posts resurfaced on X, the ongoing discourse around Sean Baker, from not using intimacy coordinators on Anora to who he follows on social media (including an account called IDFBabes), and the fact that The Brutalist could win Best Picture despite using generative AI. But other than all that, it’s been smooth sailing, baby.

Here at Dazed, when the nominations were announced, some made perfect sense – Jeremy Strong for Best Supporting Actor as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice? Hell yeah. Nickel Boys for Best Picture? Absolutely. Others, not so much. But beyond what made the cut, we were more disappointed by what didn’t.

Below is our list of films, actors, and scores we believe should have been nominated for this year’s Academy Awards.

BABYGIRL 

Halina Reijn’s Babygirl is not a particularly good film, in my opinion. It felt like A24’s take on 50 Shades of Grey, full of interesting, barely explored themes. While Romy (Nicole Kidman) was hungry for Samuel (Harris Dickinson), and vice versa, I was left starving for more than what was offered. That being said, Kidman delivered a performance so gut-wrenching I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I watched it in early January. She was desperate, pathetic and vulnerable to the point that my stomach turned in the cinema. In her Substack essay The Desire for a ‘Normal’ Sex Life, Amanda Montei wrote that some of the film’s best moments were the close-ups of Kidman’s face “contorting in jouissance, as she suffers with what her desires might say about her, or might mean for her life”. Babygirl isn’t Oscar-worthy, but Kidman’s performance is. Is it crazy to say she should have been nominated for Best Actress? I don’t think so! (HJ)

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT 

Directed by Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light follows Prabha and Anu, two nurses living together in Mumbai. Prabha is lonely and headstrong, missing her husband, who lives in Germany and refuses to visit her. Anu, full of life, is secretly dating a Muslim man named Shiaz (who, for the record, is the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life). The film is deeply romantic and otherworldly, telling a mesmerising story about the illusions we create for ourselves in cities like London, New York or Mumbai, places that house both the richest and the poorest people in the world. Sometimes, those illusions serve us; other times, they blind us. And not to be that person, but the cinematography? Incredible. It’s a crime that it isn’t nominated for Best Picture. I cannot recommend it enough. (HJ)

CHALLENGERS / QUEER

Luca Guadagnino received zero nominations this year, despite releasing two critically acclaimed films in Challengers and Queer. In my opinion, one of these is much better than the other (although Daniel Craig’s portrayal of a washed-up American expatriate in Mexico City wouldn’t be out of place in the Best Actor race either). While on the surface, it might seem pretty far from Guadagnino classics like Call Me By Your Name, Challengers takes all of the director’s most interesting themes – the gamelike nature of love, the messiness of desire, the fluid relationship between body, mind, and soul – and amps them up to a frenzy befitting Centre Court. If this doesn’t make it deserving of a Best Director nom or a nod for screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, then the climactic tennis match alone should have earned cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom a shot at the big prize. And the soundtrack! Justice for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross! (TW)

SMILE 2

I struggle to have any strong feelings about the Oscars this year, although I agree with Thom that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deserve to be in the running for Best Score. If I were in charge, Naomi Scott would win Best Actress for her heartbreaking, mercurial performance as cursed popstar Skye Riley in Smile 2, but sadly, the blue-blooded snobs at the Academy would never go in for anything so vulgar as a horror sequel. (JG)

HARD TRUTHS

Of the people who could plausibly have been nominated but weren’t, I think the biggest injustice is Marianne Jean-Baptiste, whose lead performance as the world’s most annoying woman in Hard Truths is a masterful character study – hilarious but also raw, abrasive and painful. (JG)

BETTER MAN

Now, I know Better Man has been nominated for Best Visual Effects, but it should be nominated for Best Picture. Everyone mocked Robbie Williams and director Michael Gracey for deciding to depict Williams as an anthropomorphic chimpanzee, but I applaud them for their bravery and willingness to experiment! As our senior editor Dominique Sisley wrote in her article David Lynch and the shrinking value of imagination, the film industry in its current state is defined “by its banality”. Truly imaginative work that “redefines or reimagines our ideas about life or existence” is rare. This may not have been what she had in mind, but it is exactly what Better Man offered me this year, and only the real ones appreciated it. (HJ)  

DIDI

I’m a sucker for a coming-of-age movie, so I could be biased with this one, but Sean Wang’s Didi deserves its moment. Each character in the film is interesting and dynamic enough for their own film, but the lead, Chris Wang, is particularly a relatable 13-year-old. The film captures how it felt to be a teenager in the 2000s without falling into tired cliches. It even unlocked memories of AIM and Myspace messages for me (possibly outing my age here) and wove together familial dynamics with the perfect balance of love, miscommunication and dysfunction. Best of all, there’s hope at the end of the movie because you know Chris will, like you did, eventually figure it all out. (LP)

KNEECAP  

Name a film that is a coming-of-age story at both the individual and national level; one that tackles the notoriously thorny topic of independence for the North of Ireland and still emerges as a wholly uncontentious testament to indigenous language rights; one that weaves original music seamlessly throughout its storytelling… and is all based on real events? Now, I’m not saying that Kneecap should win the award for Best International Feature Film – I’ll leave that up to you – but I am saying that it is exactly the sort of film that that category is supposed to celebrate. To not have a seat at the table at all? That’s a massive shame. (SPM)

MONKEY MAN

I didn’t even realise Monkey Man was eligible for this year’s Oscars until a friend told me, and now I’m furious. I know the Academy doesn’t favour action films, but Monkey Man was one of the most exciting releases of 2024. Mercilessly violent and genuinely thrilling, it kept me on my toes from start to finish. And the inclusion of the hijra community (transgender, intersex and eunuch people), who are shunned in the film’s world but ultimately get to take revenge? Utterly delicious. Watching them beat their oppressors to a pulp was so satisfying. Also, this was Dev Patel’s directorial debut. Give him all the awards! (HJ)

MY OLD ASS

Directed by actress Megan Park, My Old Ass might seem like an odd choice for this list, but it was, hands down, my favourite film of 2024. The story follows Elliot (Maisey Stella) as she turns 18, takes shrooms, and, while high, meets an older version of herself. Her future self offers a lot of advice but repeatedly stresses that she must stay away from a boy named Chad. The film is hilarious, heartwarming, and beautifully shot, with the vast Canadian landscape as its backdrop. At its core, it’s about bravery – not in a cliché, conquer your fears way, but in a way that reminds you of the boldness of youth and the importance of truly living despite all the pain in the world. I wholeheartedly believe Park deserves a Best Original Screenplay nomination. (HJ)

MARIA / ANGELINA JOLIE

While I didn’t particularly love Maria, Angelina Jolie’s turn as the legendary late soprano Maria Callas was easily one of the most powerful performances of the year (along with Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Nicole Kidman, who were also snubbed). When she sits outside a Parisian cafe, seeking “adulation” and snapping at passers-by? When she howls her soul out of her apartment window, collapsing into a lifeless puddle of flesh and tears? I will never forget. It was a shock when Jolie wasn’t included in many of the Hollywood award shortlists this year, with many theorising that it might have something to do with her stance on Palestine (she dared to publically express empathy for Gaza’s civilians, making calls for humanitarian aid and a ceasefire long before it was ‘acceptable’ to do so in the mainstream Western media). The TRUE best actress, Angie you will always be our winner. (DS)