On January 22nd we will find out which films and all the other categories will be nominated for an Oscar. This has been a great year for film. Grown up, thought provoking and sometimes absurd to make a point. I have seen six of them. No special effects, no super heroes, just films that will touch you and make you think, while having a really good time
Six Oscar Contenders Already Sparking the Conversation
As awards season speculation heats up, a handful of films are emerging as serious Academy Award contenders – not just for their pedigree, but for the distinct voices and risks behind them. From intimate family drama to audacious genre re-invention, these six films are already shaping the cinematic year.
Sentimental Value
Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is a quietly devastating meditation on memory, family, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Anchored by deeply restrained performances, the film explores generational trauma without melodrama, trusting silence and subtle gestures more than exposition. Trier’s direction is elegant and patient, allowing emotions to surface organically rather than forcing catharsis. It’s the kind of film that lingers after the credits roll, asking viewers to reconsider their own personal histories. If the academy rewards emotional intelligence over spectacle, Sentimental Value could resonate strongly.
Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme is a swaggering, character-driven sports drama that transcends its biopic trappings. Josh Safdie injects the film with kinetic energy, transforming a familiar rise-and-fall narrative into something raw and unpredictable. The central performance is electric – confident without being showy, and the film’s restless pacing mirrors the obsession driving its protagonist. Beneath the bravado, Marty Supreme is about ambition as both fuel and poison, capturing the intoxicating rush of success and its inevitable costs. It’s bold, abrasive, and unmistakably alive.
One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is a sprawling, deceptively playful epic that balances political anxiety with human intimacy. The film moves with a loose, improvisational rhythm, yet every moment feels meticulously calibrated. Anderson examines cycles of conflict—personal, ideological, and generational—without offering easy conclusions. The ensemble cast brings warmth and unpredictability, grounding the film’s larger themes in lived-in relationships. At once cerebral and emotionally generous, One Battle After Another feels like a filmmaker at ease with ambiguity, trusting the audience to meet him halfway.
Bugonia
Yorgos Lanthimos returns with Bugonia, a surrealist satire that weaponizes absurdity against modern paranoia and power structures. The film thrives on discomfort, using deadpan performances and rigid framing to highlight the fragility of social norms. What begins as an eccentric premise gradually morphs into something more unsettling, questioning who gets labeled irrational, and who gets believed. Lanthimos’ trademark detachment is on full display, but there’s an unexpected undercurrent of empathy beneath the film’s icy exterior. Bugonia may divide audiences, but its audacity makes it impossible to ignore.
Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating Frankenstein is a lush, mournful re-interpretation of the classic myth, emphasizing sorrow over horror. Del Toro leans into the creature’s emotional isolation, crafting a gothic fairy tale steeped in longing and moral complexity. The production design is sumptuous without overwhelming the story, and the film’s deliberate pacing allows its themes – creation, responsibility, and abandonment – to breathe. Rather than reinventing the story, Del Toro refines it, delivering a version that feels reverent yet deeply personal. It’s a film that wears its heart, scars and all, on its sleeve.
Sinners
Sinners arrives as a gritty, genre-blurring thriller that refuses moral simplicity. The film explores themes of guilt, faith, and redemption through a tightly wound narrative that builds tension through atmosphere rather than shock. Performances are raw and grounded, making even the darkest moments feel uncomfortably real. What sets Sinners apart is its refusal to judge its characters outright. Instead, it invites viewers to sit with moral ambiguity. It’s a confident, mature film that understands restraint can be more powerful than spectacle.
Together, these films showcase a year where ambition, risk, and personal vision are driving awards-season buzz. Whether the academy embraces subtlety, strangeness, or emotional scale, this slate suggests a refreshingly diverse cinematic conversation.