Here are the nine Best Picture nominees for the 2020 Oscars, ranked from best to best. Hosted every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Oscar ballot is carefully selected by an expansive and expert voting body. Including the voices of over 8,000 active members, the Academy Awards have always made the distinct decision to only allow members to vote for categories in which they are qualified. Unlike a show such as the Golden Globes, which relies on the humorously small body of “foreign journalists” in the disloyal Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Oscars are generally regarded as the most astute and accurate representation of Hollywood’s finest productions.
That being said, that doesn’t mean that certain films, filmmakers, and artists – more than deserving of the heralded recognition – won’t be swept under the rug. Every year, the conversation about who gets snubbed at the Oscars becomes more and more frustrating, especially when movie stars often beckon themselves as champions for diversity. But this year, despite the remarkable achievements made by women in film, the Academy still failed to nominate any female directors; and in terms of its representation of people of color, while there was more than were on the white-washed BAFTA ballot, the disproportionate numbers are staggering.
The same can be said for this year’s Best Picture nominees. While many are deserving of the honor, 2019 felt like too powerful, too experimental, and too intriguing a year in filmmaking for some of the choices that popped up on the ballot to be there – though none are inherently bad movies. Here, ranked from worse to best, are the Oscar nominees for Best Picture.
9. Ford v Ferrari
Director James Mangold’s rip-roaring buddy adventure Ford v Ferrari is a movie that doesn’t get made too often anymore. A comparatively less chaotic production, whose action sequences rely more on the emotional impact of its characters than the whirlwind movement of its camera, the film contrasted the openness of the road with the binding nature of the destination. Ford v Ferrari tells the true story of the friendship between race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) and automotive designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), and the international competition between the Ford and Ferrari automobile companies. After being embarrassed by the Italian car year after year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans racing event, Ford decides to sign an open check to Shelby and Miles to help get the American vehicle to the top.
Perhaps the Academy looked favorably upon the film’s slightly-veiled observation of studio productions – with the upper management of the Ford Motor Company acting as a slightly distorted version of content-restricting Hollywood producers – but even so, Ford v Ferrari has the occasional nuts and bolts feel to it, and that’s something that can’t be ignored.
8. 1917
Sam Mendes’ 1917 is based on the wartime stories the director’s grandfather told him when he was a young kid. With co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Skyfall director Mendes formed the basis for his heavy-hitting addition to the awards season, following two young British soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) as they venture through enemy territory to try and prevent a fellow company from falling into a trap.
An astounding technical achievement, one that could very well earn master cinematographer Roger Deakins his second Academy Award, 1917 is the latest film to attempt the one-shot approach to a feature production. And to its credit, it may be the best example of such to date. But even so, the movie’s evident obsession with this technique often gets in the way of its story and the result feels like watching a video game, rather than playing one.
7. Jojo Rabbit
One of the most contentious and divisive films of the year, Taika Waititi’s anti-hate satire Jojo Rabbit is brilliantly over the top. The eccentric director’s followup to the Marvel-juggernaut Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo proved that the What We Do In The Shadows creator was given the thumbs up to do just about anything he wanted. And what did he want to do? Make a heartfelt comedy about a 10-year-old Nazi fanatic (Roman Griffin Davis) whose imaginary best friend is Adolf Hitler (Waititi).
Of course, throughout the film, Jojo experiences a major change of heart, one generated by the friendship he develops with the Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) hiding in between his walls. With an impeccable supporting cast, which also includes Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, and an Oscar-nominated turn from Scarlett Johansson, the film’s storytelling machine is incredibly powerful. Yes, sometimes the humor is a bit off key – fascism is not the easiest thing to joke about – and the accents aren’t always on point. But in the end, Jojo Rabbit is sweet, revealing, and above all else, intelligent.
6. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino’s most low-key production since Jackie Brown. Designed as an expansive ode to the glamor days of Hollywood, it is equal parts buddy comedy, nostalgia package, and historical thriller. Not without its own fair share of controversies since its release last summer, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is powered by several strong performances – most especially that of supporting actor Brad Pitt – and another well-versed Tarantino script. That being said, the film does have the tendency to be a bit too episodic, often stepping on its foot when it comes to advancing the story. But even if it does have its pacing problems, these quick sidetracks are all entertaining and memorable.
5. Joker
Speaking of divisive films, Todd Phillips’ addition to the comic book cinema canon, Joker, was about as incendiary a project as there was in 2019 – on and off the screen. But even so, after a strange run at various film festivals and an extended debate on the film’s merits, Joker received 11 Oscar nominations, more than any other movie this year.
If there was ever a comic book movie that deserves the rank of “cinema,” it would be Joker. A harrowing and brewing depiction of mental health, class politics, and anger, the film is a macabre masterpiece. It is also incredibly versatile, a film that finds ways to articulate itself through dance, satire, and comic book cameos. While it does perhaps make too strong of a crutch in Martin Scorsese’s loner lunatic films Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, it is Joker’s lead star, Joaquin Phoenix, who helps gather the film its own blistering voice.
4. Little Women
In a rather odd move, the Academy decided to offer Little Women a Best Picture nomination without giving its auteur and writer Greta Gerwig a nod for her directing. And that’s a shame because while the movie is a wonderfully meta adaptation of the classic novel, one deserving of its Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, the entire film is a delightful romp.
Following the ups and downs of the Marsh family, Little Women brings to the big screen much of what the Academy refused to acknowledge this year: strong women whose lives are not defined by their appearances, their romances, or their careers, but by their own choices.
3. Marriage Story
On the other end of the emotional spectrum is Marriage Story. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, and based on the filmmaker’s divorce with Hateful Eight star Jennifer Jason Leigh, the film tells the heart-splitting story of a marriage breaking up and a family doing their best to stay together. Spearheaded by captivating performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, Marriage Story pits the pair against one another in a surprisingly restrained manner. Films about divorce are too easily distracted by passion and anger; but in Marriage Story, the process is presented purely as a source of pain, showing how two, well-intending partners can suddenly become capable of things they had never imagined.
2. Parasite
Bong Joon-ho’s remarkable thriller Parasite is funny, intelligent, unpredictable, and, above all else, socially significant. Telling the story of a poor family who leeches off of the ignorance only money can buy, the film starts off as a humorous depiction of class warfare. Then, on the turn of a dime, Parasite switches and becomes a terrifying and brutal exclamation point on the topics it had once brought up so jokingly. Bong Joon-ho’s career has been defined thus far by its broad politics finding intricate ways to articulate themselves on the screen, but the Snowpiercer and Okja director really outdoes himself here.
1. The Irishman
Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half hours-long gangster epic The Irishman greeted the screen like an old friend last year. The film saw the return to genre glory of Scorsese alongside two of his greatest collaborators, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and exhibited not only why audiences loved their work in the past, but why these creators are some of the best in modern cinema. Telling the six-decade saga of mobster Frank Sheeran (De Niro), The Irishman, drenched in sorrow, regret, and loneliness, is also the perfect cap to the no-holds barred lifestyle Scorsese helped usher into the mainstream culture. And then, of course, there is the captivating performance of Joe Pesci to consider. There aren’t many praises for The Irishman that haven’t been sung already. But if the Oscars fails to award the Netflix production the way some of the other awards shows have as of late, it will be a grave misfortune.
More: Oscars: How To Watch The 2020 Best Picture Nominees
