From left: All Quiet on the Western Front; Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Cate Blanchett in Tár; Micheal Ward in Empire of Light
Wow. That was bold. Bafta is back with a bang, and sporting a bullish nominations list that has flushed out all the dubious big-name titles that have clogged up the season so far. Gone from the serious competition are Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water and even Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Instead there are a whopping 14 nominations for an exceptional German-language war movie, All Quiet on the Western Front. The front-runner The Banshees of Inisherin remains effectively in pole position with ten nominations (a number of the Western Front nods are in the “technical categories”), yet elsewhere corrections to the season, including a best actress nomination for the brilliant and previously ignored Danielle Deadwyler in Till, suggest that the reformed, reorganised Bafta awards system has, after two years of dud lists and joke nominations, finally found its feet.
The rejection of Spielberg is especially steely. The veteran director has been a staple on this year’s awards circuit, and locking him out of those Bafta categories is audacious, especially in the light of the recent success of The Fabelmans at the Golden Globes. There, Spielberg gave a heartfelt acceptance speech about the personal nature of the movie, and it seemed reasonable to think we might hear it again at the Baftas and the Oscars. Yet The Fabelmans is simply not a great film, so its absence from the heavyweight categories is a gutsy move that may yet influence its Oscar chances. Spielberg has been nominated for a best original screenplay Bafta with his co-writer, Tony Kushner. It seems tokenistic at best, and possibly just a lure to get the Hollywood great over here on the night.
Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin. ALAMY
The other shock news from the nominations is the unexpectedly Celtic nature of the best actor category. Everyone expected the Dubliner Colin Farrell to receive a nod for The Banshees of Inisherin, but the Kildare-born Normal People actor Paul Mescal’s appearance on the list was less assured. His movie, Aftersun, about a father bonding with his daughter at a Turkish holiday resort, is an 11th-hour entry into the race. With this nomination, combined with nods on the US Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and Independent Spirit lists, it looks like Mescal is suddenly a threat to Farrell’s pre-eminence. And still, in the words of the Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket, “There’s more!” Daryl McCormack, who grew up in Tipperary, also has a best actor nomination, for playing a male escort in the Emma Thompson dramedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Although ingenuous and charming, his was certainly not a standout performance. Must be something to do with the luck of . .
Other nice surprises were a best supporting actor nomination for Eddie Redmayne’s underappreciated turn in the Netflix thriller The Good Nurse, as well as Gina Prince-Bythewood’s best director nomination for the all-female action flick The Woman King. Cate Blanchett also received another best actress nomination for Tár. It was the one inevitable of the list (as it will be the inevitable award on the night), and a reminder that Bafta seems, this year at least, to be mostly drawn to quality.
See the full list of nominations below!
BEST FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Corsage
Decision to Leave
The Quiet Girl
DOCUMENTARY
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Moonage Daydream
Navalny
DIRECTOR
All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger
The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh
Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Tár, Todd Field
The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood
Ana de Armas in Blonde, AP
LEADING ACTRESS
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Austin Butler in Elvis
LEADING ACTOR
Austin Butler, Elvis
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daryl McCormack, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once, ALAMY
Supporting actress
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Dolly de Leon, Triangle of Sadness
Carey Mulligan, She Said
Supporting actor
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Albrecht Schuch, All Quiet on the Western Front
Micheal Ward, Empire of Light