Each year, as many of you who follow this blog might know, I make my Oscar predictions. I’m normally pretty good, with a strike rate usually in the mid 90% range.

Living in Mudgee as I do, where there is no cinema, it’s difficult getting to see movies. And for a good deal of 2023 I was overseas, shooting my own movie – The Way, My Way.

That said, I have seen a good many – and I read the trades each day – The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, IndieWire, Variety, Screen Daily – enough to keep on top of things.

There are some totally outrageous films in the Oscar short list this year. They are:

• Barbie
• Poor Things
• Saltburn
• Zone of Interest

Now, I walked out of Poor Things after about thirty minutes. I thought it was pretentious. I wasn’t engaged at all with any of the characters. I acknowledged that Emma Stone was working her chops off for an Oscar, which she most probably will win, and I was in awe of the production design etc – but the story didn’t hold me, nor did I find any of the characters in any way relatable. It was just a highly talented filmmaker strutting his stuff… and that’s not enough to keep me in a cinema.

Barbie I thought was outrageous in a good way. I was engaged from the get-go, I thought it said some important and profound things about gender politics and male toxicity, and the style and direction of the film was totally original. And the script was amazing.

I was shocked when Greta Gerwig missed out on a Best Director nomination, equally Margot Robbie for Best Actress. That staggered me.

Saltburn I also loved, again for its boldness. Once again, a totally outrageous film that smacked you in the face constantly with its bracing storytelling and images.

And then there’s The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s supremely clever take on Auschwitz. An exquisite use of cinema. Use of sound, use of nuance, use of restraint. For me, hands down, the best film of the year. Along with Anatomy of a Fall – both starring Sandra Hüller, giving extraordinary performances in each film. A tie for me for best film.

Coming close behind is American Fiction – a beautiful performance by Jeffrey Wright, and a very smart script.

I saw Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer on its opening day. I was utterly underwhelmed. It’s not that I hated the film, I just thought Nolan could have done so much better. I was expecting cinema – instead I got talking heads most of the time.

Why shoot on 70mm film?

And for me, the four act structure didn’t work at all. The film ended with the detonation, which by the way was exceptional cinema. But the 40 mins or so after that was just an all-too-obvious Oscar grab for Robert Downey Jr – who was amazing and will no doubt get the Oscar – but it didn’t serve the film. Which was way too long. But hey, it’s made over $1b at the box office and will snag all the major Academy Awards this year – so what do I know?

Talking about super long films – Killers of the Flower Moon really tested the bladder. Said to be Scorsese’s “masterpiece” by Spielberg, it doesn’t come close to Raging Bull. Not by a mile.

Back to the Oscars.
Okay, so here are my predictions. This is my list:

Best Picture
Oppenheimer

Best Director
Christopher Nolan

Best Actor
Cillian Murphy

Best Actress
Emma Stone

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr

Best Supporting Actress
America Ferrera

Best Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay
Oppenheimer

Best International Film
The Zone of Interest

Best Cinematography
Oppenheimer

Best Film Editing
Oppenheimer

Best Sound:
Oppenheimer

Best Production Design
Barbie

Visual Effects
The Creator

Original Score
Poor Things

Original Song
Barbie

Best Costume Design
Barbie

Best Makeup & Hair
Maestro

Best Documentary
Bobi Wine

Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron

So on Sunday night US time, Monday late morning Australian time, we’ll know the results. We’ll find out whether the film that underwhelmed me the most gets the majority of gongs, or whether some of these very brave and outrageous films snag a few.

All up, 2023 was a really good year for bold cinema.