Rafu Wire Service and Staff Reports
The nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, announced Tuesday, included some Asian representation but almost none in the major categories.
The announcements were made by actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 96th Oscars will be presented March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood in a ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
Best Picture: “Past Lives,” produced by David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, was nominated along with “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Barbie,” “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things” and “The Zone of Interest.”
This the only one of the 23 categories with 10 nominees. All the others have five apiece.
In “Past Lives,” Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited in the U.S. for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
Writing (Original Screenplay): Celine Song was nominated for “Past Lives” along with the writers of “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro” and “May December.”
Song was not nominated for best director and Lee and Yoo were not nominated in the acting categories. Song, Lee and Yoo have been nominated for numerous awards, including Golden Globes, Critics Choice, Independent Spirit and BAFTA.
Charles Melton, who played Joe Yoo in “May December,” was not nominated for an Oscar after receiving Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Independent Spirit nominations for best supporting actor.
Makeup and Hair Styling: Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell were nominated for “Maestro.” Also nominated were “Golda,” “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things” and “Society of the Snow.” “Maestro” chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).
Kazu Hiro won Oscars in 2018 for “Darkest Hour,” in which Gary Oldman played Winston Churchill, and 2020 for “Bombshell,” in which a group of women take on Fox News head Roger Ailes (John Lithgow). He was nominated in 2007 for “Click,” starring Adam Sandler, and 2008 for “Norbit,” starring Eddie Murphy.
“Oppenheimer” snagged a leading 13 nominations. “Poor Things” was next with 11 nods, followed by “Killers of the Flower Moon” with 10 and “Barbie” with eight.
Visual Effects: Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima were nominated for “Godzilla Minus One.” Also nominated: “The Creator,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1” and “Napoleon.”
This is the Godzilla franchise’s first-ever Oscar nomination. Directed and written by Yamazaki, Toho’s 33rd Godzilla film, set in postwar Japan, is a homage to the first film, which was released in 1954.
International Feature Film: “Perfect Days” (Japan) was nominated along with “Io Capitano” (Italy), “Society of the Snow” (Spain), “The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany) and “The Zone of Interest” (U.K.).
“Perfect Days,” directed by Wim Wenders, stars Koji Yakusho as Hirayama, a janitor who drives between jobs listening to rock music. More about Hirayama is gradually revealed through a series of encounters. Yakusho received the best actor award for “Perfect Days” at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Animated Feature Film: Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” and Peter Sohn’s “Elemental” were nominated along with “Nimona,” “Robot Dreams” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
In “The Boy and the Heron,” Miyazaki’s first feature in a decade, a young boy yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
Miyazaki won the Oscar for animated feature in 2003 for “Spirited Away.” He was nominated in 2006 for “Howl’s Moving Castle” and in 2014 for “The Wind Rises,” and received an honorary Oscar in 2015.
Disney-Pixar’s “Elemental” follows Ember and Wade in a city where residents made of fire, water, earth and air live together. Director Sohn based the story on his experiences as a child of Korean immigrants.
Animated Short Film: “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” by Dave Mullins and Brad Booker was nominated along with “Letter to a Pig,” “Ninety-five Senses,” “Our Uniform” and “Pachyderme.”
In “War Is Over,” based on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 peace anthem “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and produced in partnership with Ono and Sean Ono Lennon, World War I soldiers on opposite sides play a game of chess against each other with a heroic pigeon delivering messages across the battlefield.
Live Action Short Film: “Red, White and Blue” by Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane was nominated along with “The After,” “Invincible,” “Knight of Fortune” and “The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar.”
In “Red, White and Blue,” Rachel (Brittany Snow) is a single parent living paycheck to paycheck. When an unexpected pregnancy threatens to unravel her already precarious position, she’s forced to cross state lines in search of an abortion.
Documentary Feature Film: “To Kill a Tiger” by Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim was nominated along with “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Four Daughters” and “20 Days in Mariupol.”
In “To Kill a Tiger,” Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Documentary Short Film: “Island in Between” by S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien and “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” by Sean Wang and Sam Davis were nominated along with “The ABCs of Book Banning,” “The Barber of Little Rock” and “The Last Repair Shop.”
“Island in Between” reflects on director Chiang’s relationship with Taiwan, the U.S. and China from the islands of Kinmen, just a few miles from the Chinese mainland.
“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” is a personal love letter from director Wang to a grandma super team that dances, stretches, and farts their sorrows away.
For a complete list of nominees, go to: www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2024
Note: one of the co-directors of Barber of Little Rock is Christine Turner, whose mother is Chinese and whose father is African American. She grew in San Francisco and still lives there.