2024 Oscars Best Picture: what are the 10 nominated movies for the Academy Awards?

The first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture was ‘Wings’. Back then, the award wasn’t named as such—it was called Outstanding Picture. Directed by William Wellman, this silent film classic, set during World War I, catapulted a young Gary Cooper into Hollywood stardom.

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Ninety-six years have passed, and, casting a romantic gaze towards the facade of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the industry has changed, in some ways immensely and in others minimally. It’s from this venue that the world will learn which film takes home the coveted statue. The nominees are ten...and diverse.

‘Oppenheimer’

Christopher Nolan’s film heads into Oscar night as the favorite, bolstered by nominations in 13 categories. It offers a three-hour journey into the intricacies of the Manhattan Project through the life of physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer, portrayed by the stellar Cillian Murphy. The film is a debate on nuclear weapons’ creation and use, and a perfect depiction of last century’s geopolitical blocks.

‘Anatomy of a Fall’

Reflecting the resurgence of the French film industry in recent years, director Justine Triet represents a new wave of filmmakers. The story dives into the life of Sandra, a German writer living with her husband, Samuel, and their blind son, Daniel, in the Alps. Samuel’s death changes her life forever, entangling her in a legal plot that seemed impossible in their secluded mountain home.

‘Barbie’

Though its nomination is an achievement, Greta Gerwig’s film has been, for many, the year’s disappointment. The absence of the filmmaker in the Best Director category, as well as Margot Robbie in Best Actress, suggests winning the statue is nearly impossible. The movie explores human values through Barbie’s journey towards female empowerment, marked by challenging questions after venturing into the real world from the perfect Barbieland.

‘The Holdovers’

Alexander Payne masterfully directs a film that revives a seemingly extinct cinema experience over the last half-decade: leaving viewers contemplative long after they’ve left the theater. Set in a New England boarding school in the early ‘70s, it stars Paul Hunham as a grumpy professor who stays over Christmas break to accompany a group of students with nowhere else to go.

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Another entry from the usual suspect. With this year’s nomination, Martin Scorsese is just one Best Director nomination away from tying the iconic William Wyler. This crime drama echoes the last vestiges of Old America, where members of the Osage tribe are found dead in northeastern Oklahoma, sparking an FBI investigation led by a young J. Edgar Hoover.

‘Maestro’

One of this year’s sleeper hits. It’s becoming increasingly difficult (though see also: Oppenheimer) to find a good biopic—one that tells the life story of a well-known individual—so those who saw Bradley Cooper take on such a role probably weren’t expecting much. However, the film excels as a complex portrait of Leonard Bernstein, America’s most famous conductor, and his soulful integration of symphonic works and popular Broadway tunes.

‘American Fiction’

Another dramedy confirming the genre’s resurgence. Cord Jefferson’s film tells the story of a frustrated novelist who, tired of the elite profiting from black humor, decides to take this controversial entertainment to another level. He soon becomes the very thing he critiqued.

‘Past Lives’

There always has to be romantic drama. Celine Song dons both director and writer hats to explore the intricate dynamics that both connect and separate the past and present. The future remains uncertain, naturally. The plot follows Nora and Hae Sung, childhood friends with a deep bond, who are separated and face internal conflict and a beautiful external romance upon reuniting.

‘The Zone of Interest’

Every so often there comes another standout movie set during World War II. This year, Jonathan Glazer’s film carries this prestigious and challenging— yet almost routine—mantle. A full-on drama where the whispers of the Holocaust are heard: Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss and his wife, Hedwig, embark on a seemingly beautiful and familial—yet inherently disturbing—endeavor to create a dream life in a house with a garden near the concentration camp.

‘Poor Things’

A peculiar film. Freaky, in the sense of old freak shows. Based on the novel by Scottish author Alasdair Gray, Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos brings to the screen a story that is, in the truest and most original sense, romantic. It follows Bella Baxter, a young woman hungry for the world who runs away with a lawyer on an odyssey wrapped in the airs of freedom.

What sets Bella apart is her unusual origin: revived by a doctor using a child’s brain. This story is, in essence, a modern reimagining of Frankenstein; a journey to perhaps understand the essence of humanity.