Case for Best Picture: Vignettes by The Crimson’s Arts Board

With the 98th Academy Awards ceremony approaching tomorrow, members of The Crimson’s Arts Board make the case for which of the 10 nominated films will win the prestigious Best Picture title.

‘Bugonia’ (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

Yorgos Lanthimos is back in the Best Picture category for the third time after 2019 and 2024 with his film “Bugonia.” Absurd, unhinged, and remarkable for the same reasons as his and Emma Stone’s 2023 collaboration, “Poor Things,” this unforgettable film provokes a rare sensation. Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) kidnap their suburban, corporate town’s biomedical CEO, Michelle Fuller (Stone), convinced she is an alien responsible for their suffering — their dead bees, their dead-end jobs, and the death of Teddy’s mother. What follows is a collision between mismatched Americas: Teddy’s basement living and warehouse grates against Michelle’s floor-to-ceiling windows and corporate jargon, both trying to convince the other of a seemingly unbelievable reality.

As is signature to Lanthimos’s films, wide-angled lenses warp faces and turn landscapes into childlike playrooms. Among contemporary actresses, Stone is in a league of her own. Her off-balanced physicality and overly obsessive language commit her fully to this strange wavelength in ways no one else could. And if one needed any reminder of Plemons’s range, “Bugonia” delivers. He can bring both insecurity and commanding confidence into the same moment, playing a man-child who never learned to let go of his mother’s hand. Saturated reds and oranges, as well as a simmering score, compose the feverish atmosphere of “Bugonia.” In a year of masterful films, “Bugonia” stands out for its originality, performances, and surprisingly current sense of humor.

—Staff writer Liam J. Kralik can be reached at [email protected].

‘F1’ (dir. Joseph Kosinski)

Though a film slated to be less competitive in the category, Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” effectively stands out as a Best Picture contender. Following Sonny Hayes’s (Brad Pitt) journey to save a friend’s failing racing team, the film captures the Formula 1 world as realistically as it can — a laudable feat made possible through its partnership with Mercedes-Benz to simulate a true racing environment, using actual Formula 2 cars and filming at Grand Prix races for several shots.

“F1” also succeeds in being thoroughly entertaining. For the average viewer, the film seamlessly combines elements that simulate Formula 1’s nail-biting atmosphere while also incorporating the technicality of motorsport engineering — such as the key role of aerodynamics — which is often overlooked by casual fans.

Besides its strong visual and technical elements, “F1” benefits from a compelling cast, including Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, and Javier Bardem, who make up the struggling APXGP team. Their journey to rebuilding becomes especially engaging during Joshua Pearce (Idris) and Sonny’s frequent clashes. However, when Joshua undergoes a near-death accident, the audience finally glimpses a camaraderie between the two racers — something Pitt and Idris portray convincingly.

While “F1” may not be the créme de la créme of nominees at this year’s Oscars, the film certainly warrants praise for the parts it gets right.

—Staff writer Emily G. Fallas-Chacon can be reached at [email protected].

‘Frankenstein’ (dir. Guillermo del Toro)

Based on the classic 1818 gothic novel by Mary Shelley, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” follows the lives of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and his creation the Creature (Jacob Elordi) as they come to a head in a final, epic confrontation. With brilliant costume design by Kate Hawley, the film introduces new vibrancy to the gothic film genre without straying from its nature. Stunning patterns and intricate details reflect the depth and complexity of the story.

Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” brings new life to the Creature by telling the story through his perspective, masterfully crafting a father-son relationship that is complicated by desire, longing for love, and a quest for understanding. Tamara Deverell’s production design creates a visual world that is awe-inspiring in both grandeur and detail, adding to the gravitas and emotional weight of the film. The film’s prosthetics, hair, and makeup design — led by Mike Hill, Cliona Furey, and Jordan Samuel respectively— completely transform Elordi into Frankenstein’s creature, who convincingly plays an undead being. Mia Goth — who plays Frankenstein’s love interest Elizabeth as well as Victor’s mother Claire Frankenstein — is transfigured by convincing prosthetics and del Toro’s masterful direction.

The performances in “Frankenstein” excel, from Christoph Waltz’s unsettling desperation as arms manufacturer Harlander to Isaac’s visceral obsessiveness as Frankenstein. Through his physical and vocal transformation, Elordi captures a delicate combination of innocence and sadness as the Creature. In “Frankenstein,” del Toro successfully delivers a modern retelling of the classic monster tale.

— Staff writer Dzifa A. Ackuayi can be reached at [email protected].

‘Hamnet’ (dir. Chloé Zhao)

During rehearsal, William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) chastises a young actor (Noah Jupe), insisting, “You are simply mouthing the words.” Interestingly enough, this is the one accusation that couldn’t possibly be leveled against anyone in this film; rather, it is unnervingly evident that every line and action is drawn from the same, far more volatile place than rote recitation.

Raw, guttural, and penetrating, Mescal and Jessie Buckley — who plays William’s wife, Agnes — anchor the film with a suffocatingly convincing and distinctly human anguish. Brothers Noah and Jacobi Jupe — the latter playing William and Agnes’ son Hamnet — also expertly wield this instinct, marking themselves, early and unmistakably, as actors with remarkable command of their craft. Naturally so, Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” is, above all else, a film driven by its performances.

That is not to say that what surrounds them is any less exceptional — from the immersive cinematography to the haunting score, all elements sublimely elevate each performance. Nowhere is this union more transcendent than in the film’s final moments, in which Agnes reaches out toward the play’s Hamlet. Behind her, the crowd extends its hands as one — a wave of human longing, an image so provocative that it is religious, like a Pietà incarnate. And as the crowd reaches for Hamlet, they reach for Agnes as well: Her grief no longer isolated, now inseparable from the play and its lasting legacy.

Set four centuries ago yet still as urgent as ever, “Hamnet” is ultimately a meditation on tragedy, blame, and grief, and on the particular alchemy by which suffering becomes — and is absorbed as — art. That it arrives in a time starved for exactly this artistic conviction makes it worthy of Best Picture.

—Staff writer Melina Fonseca can be reached at [email protected].

‘Marty Supreme’ (dir. Josh Safdie)

“Marty Supreme” is a cautionary tale that structures itself as a success story. While most films that follow extreme success glorify their protagonist, “Marty Supreme” paints this kind of ambition as misguided and rash, condemning the underlying ego. The film follows Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a young table tennis prodigy chasing the World Championship title. Whether it’s Mauser’s ping-pong, Kay Stone’s (Gwyneth Paltrow) theater, or Milton Rockwell’s (Kevin O’Leary) marketing, inauthenticity always fails. It’s this quality that sets “Marty Supreme” apart from the vast majority of Hollywood films in which aggressive fights for success are worshiped no matter the cost.

Choices from casting to music perfect this message. Each character matches the actor’s existing public persona: Chalamet plays a man in search of greatness, Paltrow an aging Hollywood star, and O’Leary a morally gray businessman. The music similarly affirms the film’s themes. “Forever Young” by Alphaville plays over Mauser conceiving his child, foreshadowing that he will have to let go of his immature desires before the film ends. When the ending does come, the film closes with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, a song that highlights the humanity in Mauser’s yearning and defeat.

Ultimately, in a world that often showcases unrealistic triumphs, “Marty Supreme” offers an important contrast.

—Staff writer Anat Goldstein can be reached at [email protected].

‘One Battle After Another’ (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

For better or for worse, no film stands a chance against “One Battle After Another,” auteur Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th feature film. Loosely based on the 1990 novel “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon, the film follows a laughably incompetent, perpetually stoned ex-revolutionary Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) who must spring back into action to protect his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) from the menacing Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Shot by Michael Bauman on 35 mm film using VistaVision cameras, “One Battle After Another” is both visually breathtaking and thrillingly action-packed. Its best sequence — a hilly, sun-scorched desert car chase — pays affectionate homage to the 1968 Steve McQueen classic “Bullitt.”

As Lockjaw, Penn delivers a performance more than worthy of a third Oscar, while Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, and Regina Hall all impress in supporting roles. However, it is newcomer Infiniti who steals the show. As Willa, she grounds the film’s pointed yet ultimately palatable critique on extremism in something tender and human, becoming its emotional center. “One Battle After Another” is this year’s best picture, and it is not even close to Anderson’s finest work.

—Staff writer Capri S. Wayne can be reached at [email protected].

​​‘Sentimental Value’ (dir. Joachim Trier)

With “Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier has cemented himself as one of the greatest directors working today. The film, also nominated for Best International Feature, is a strikingly emotional, beautifully structured portrait of a broken family, centering on the relationship between two sisters — stage actress Nora (Renate Reinsve) and historian Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) — and their father, film director Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård). After years of estrangement, Gustav reenters the sisters’s lives with a new screenplay drawn from the family’s painful past. When Nora refuses to play the lead role, Gustav casts a young American actress, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), in her place.

The Borg family’s house is essential to the film, becoming a character of its own — a quiet witness to the grief, love, and turmoil its inhabitants have experienced. Gustav and his daughters share several touching moments — such as a quiet smoke break with Nora — but the director is often narcissistic, pretentious, and hard to like.

“Sentimental Value” is a film about the fragility of reconciliation — how art, memory, and history intertwine in equally hurtful and healing ways. Trier treats each character with remarkable patience and empathy, resulting in a deeply moving piece of art. Combined with its nuanced script and outstanding soundtrack, “Sentimental Value” is certainly in a league of its own.

— Staff writer Capri S. Wayne can be reached at [email protected].

‘Sinners’ (dir. Ryan Coogler)

Originally marketed as a high-stakes vampire thriller, “Sinners” has proven to be much more than that, cementing its place in motion picture history. Starring Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack, the film follows the brothers as they open a juke joint in their hometown in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, which eventually becomes the target of a group of vampiric Klansmen. The most pivotal moment of the movie is a dance montage inside the juke joint, blending together ancient and modern dance traditions rooted in the Black diaspora. From traditional African tribal dances and ballet to swing and contemporary street dancing, this scene connects Black joy across countries and centuries.

“Sinners” skillfully fuses the horror genre with historically grounded elements of the American South in 1932, while still managing to confront important questions about justice and accountability that are relevant today. It deserves to win Best Picture because it does what the best Academy winners always do: It stays with the audience. Long after the credits roll, the story of a tight-knit community in the Mississippi Delta will linger in one’s mind.

—Staff writer Audrey A. Chalfie can be reached at [email protected].

‘The Secret Agent’ (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” set in 1977 Recife during Brazil’s military dictatorship, follows Armando (Wagner Moura), a former professor and research scientist forced into hiding after exposing corruption tied to the regime. Living under a false name, he reunites with his young son while evading police intimidation and hired killers. The film later shifts to the present, where university archivists attempt to reconstruct his erased story.

With four nominations, including Best International Feature, the film consciously channels the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, a period of American cinema defined by moral ambiguity, paranoia thrillers, and a distrust of institutions. Mendonça Filho explicitly blends a 1970s political thriller with themes of personal memory, evoking the era’s gritty textures and conspiratorial tension. Its sun-bleached streets, corrupt police, and elliptical storytelling recall the fatalism and political skepticism that shaped the era.

Yet “The Secret Agent” transcends homage by insisting that memory itself is political and corruptible. The narrative is framed through archival tapes and transcription projects that reveal how authoritarian power has manipulated Armando’s historical record. Without preservation, his story would vanish entirely.

In the end, humanity remains central. Through Moura’s layered performance and the grounding resilience of Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), who shelters dissidents, the film argues that remembrance is more than an act of resistance — it is proof of love.

—Staff writer Erlisa Demneri can be reached at [email protected].

‘Train Dreams’ (dir. Clint Bentley)

Walking out of “Train Dreams,” one cannot help but feel as though the world just got a bit more beautiful. The film gently seeps into the viewer, following the rather ordinary life of a logger and railroad worker, Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), in the early to mid-20th century as he loves, grieves, and seeks meaning in an endlessly changing and violent world.

“Train Dreams” in no way sets out to say anything terribly complicated, but in its simplicity, it creates a world in which even the most microscopic moments mean everything. Each shot more vast and mesmerizing than the last, the result is a collection of expansive, natural scenes. This choice never feels unintentional, instead demanding viewers sit with the stillness, accept it, and acknowledge that this quiet might actually be the whole point.

The film presents an alternative escape from life — one that sinks viewers deeper into it, and opens them up to the understanding that beauty is in all the places we might not think to look. “Train Dreams” grabs hold of its audience in a way few movies can, withholding its grandeur until after the credits have rolled, when one begins finding traces of its magnificence everywhere they look.

—Staff writer Ariana N. Barillas Santizo can be reached at [email protected].