Precursor: 34th Spirit Awards Nominations (2018)

You can always see from the nominations what films were eligible and are head-scratchingly omitted. Take for example that BlacKkKlansman was nominated for Best Supporting Male (Adam Driver), but nowhere else. That could spell trouble for Oscar. The same is true of the mediocre support for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which picked up a nod for Supporting Actor contender Richard E. Grant and only one other award, not including Melissa McCarthy or in Best Feature. Those were the only two major Oscar contenders that had a meager showing. Other films, like If Beale Street Could Talk and Eighth Grade were very well represented while films that were on the periphery such as First Reformed, Leave No Trace, and You Were Never Really Here got sizable nominations.

While these are interesting glimpses into the potential thoughts of independent-minded Oscar voters, they are compelling on their own merits. One laudatory result is that for the first time in the organization’s 34-year history, more women are nominated for Best Director than men: 3 of 5: Debra Granik, Tamara Jenkins, and Lynne Ramsay.

Nomination Tallies

(5) We the Animals
(4) Eighth Grade, First Reformed, You Were Never Really Here
(3) If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace, Private Life, Socrates, The Tale, Wildlife

The Nominations

Best Feature

Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here

Best First Feature

Hereditary
Sorry to Bother You
The Tale
We the Animals
Wildlife

John Cassavetes Award

A Bread Factory
En El Septimo Dia
Never Goin’ Back
Socrates
Thunder Road

Best Director

First Reformed – Paul Schrader
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
Leave No Trace – Debra Granik
Private Life – Tamara Jenkins
You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay

Best Female Lead

Glenn Close – The Wife
Toni Collette – Hereditary
Elsie Fisher – Eighth Grade
Regina Hall – Support the Girls
Helena Howard – Madeline’s Madeline
Carey Mulligan – Wildlife

Best Male Lead

John Cho – Searching
Daveed Diggs – Blindspotting
Ethan Hawke – First Reformed
Christian Malheiros – Socrates
Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Female

Kayli Carter – Private Life
Tyne Daly – A Bread Factory
Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie – Leave No Trace
J. Smith-Cameron – Nancy

Best Supporting Male

Raul Castillo – We the Animals
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Josh Hamilton – Eighth Grade
John David Washington – Monsters and Men