The Look’s Favorite Oscar Nominations

The 2022 Oscars are soon approaching, but if you haven’t watched any nominated movies yet don’t worry because The Look’s got you covered.

The Oscars take place Sunday, March 27, and will be hosted by Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, and Amy Schumer. This year’s nominations range from western to sci-fi to musicals and many more. The top nominations are “Power of the Dog” with 12 nominations, “Dune” with nine, and “Belfast” with seven.

But here are The Look’s favorite Oscar-nominated movies that are a must-watch:

CODA

“CODA” is competing against some top-nominated films for best actor in supporting roles, best picture, and adapted screenplay. But don’t let those nominees fool you because this film is exceptional.

The screenplay is about a 17-year-old young lady named Ruby (played by Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing person in her deaf family. She struggles to balance her new discovered love of singing in her school choir and helping her family with their fisherman business. This leads her to choose between her family and her passion for singing.

The whole cast did an amazing job portraying their characters – from Emilia Jones herself, Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur, who played the parents, and Eugenio Derbez who played Ruby’s choir teacher.

Overall, this movie is heartwarming, yet funny and shines a light on deafness that will have you moved.

Drive My Car

“Drive My Car” is a Japanese foreign film that is drama-filled and will have you on an emotional roller coaster, in a good way.

The film is about a middle-aged widowed actor (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is directing a play in Japan to try to move on from his tragic loss. While working in Japan he is required to have a chauffeur and gets assigned to a 23-year-old woman. Despite his initial hesitation, they slowly start developing a special relationship with one another.

The director of the film, Ryusuke Hamaguchi did a fantastic job capturing the emotion of the story, while also capturing breathtaking cinematography shots of scenery and scenes.

Overall, this film is one of those movies you don’t want to miss.

Encanto

If you haven’t seen “Encanto” yet, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

This Disney movie is about a Colombian family named the Madrigals. The children of the family receive unique gifts catered to them by the magic of Encanto, except for one child – Mirabel – who didn’t receive a gift. However, when Encanto starts losing its magical powers, Mirabel is the last hope to save the magic.

The film’s execution of music and animations will leave you in awe and will hopefully get recognized for the film’s astonishing work with three nominations for best original song, best music score and best-animated feature film.

King Richard

“King Richard” is one of the top nominated picks, with six nominations.

This film is about Richard Williams (played by Will Smith), father of Venus and Serena, who have planned their whole life around becoming famous tennis players.

The movie will take you through the story of how the Williams family defied all odds of the community’s doubts that the Williams sisters would become successful tennis players.

The performances from the whole cast were amazing, especially Aunjanue Ellis who played the sisters’ mother.

If you are a fan of Serena and Venus, this is definitely a must-watch.

Tik Tik Boom

“Tik Tik Boom” is only nominated for two awards: best actor in a leading role and best film editing. However, the performances and songs in this film are amazing.

This film is based on playwright Jonathan Larson and tells the story of Jonathan (played by Andrew Garfield) being an up-and-coming composer in New York City trying to make it into Broadway while also balancing love and friendship.

At first, you might be skeptical, but it warms up to be a moving film that talks about the struggles of becoming big in New York City and similarly, touches on difficult topics such as the AIDS epidemic.

One of my favorite performances was from Robin de Jesús who played Jonathan’s best friend. De Jesús is one of the most underrated characters in the movie, but his performances throughout will have you emotional.

Destiny Esparza — April 11th, 2022