The 92nd Academy Awards- The Oscars- Directing Nominees
We have previously gone over the nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Animated Feature Film, Best Cinematography, and most recently, Best Costume Design. Moving forward we will now be going over the nominees for Best Directing and the movies that got them nominated.
The first director on our list of nominees is Martin Scorsese for his directing work on The Irishman. As an old man, World War II vet Frank Sheeran reflects on his life as a hustler and mob hitman, working alongside many notorious figures, including Jimmy Hoffa, the subject of one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history. Scorsese is a director known for many Box Office successes and this movie is one that adds yet another loved movie to his repertoire.
The next director on our list is Todd Phillips for his directing for the movie Joker. In Gotham’s fractured society, a young man longs to be a stand-up comic, but finds the joke is always on him. Caught in a cycle of apathy, cruelty and ultimately, betrayal, the comedian makes one bad decision after another, bringing about a chain reaction of escalating events. Phillips is a director who has made a few different movies that have been loved before, and now he’s done one that may end up taking home a few awards.
Following that, we have director Sam Mendes who is responsible for directing the movie 1917. During World War I, two British soldiers are sent on a dangerous mission to stop an attack by the British 7th Division that will result in a massacre by the Germans. Their assignment takes on extra urgency as one of the young soldiers’ brothers is fighting in that Division. Mendes had taken stories from his grandfather and created a compelling narrative that has managed to make it a nominated film.
Then, the next director shouldn’t really be much of a surprise, but it is Quentin Tarantino for his directing of Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. In Los Angeles in 1969, aging TV star Rick Dalton and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth struggle to make their way around an industry and a city they hardly recognize anymore. Tarantino did everything to ensure he had control over all directing decisions, and it can be seen very easily in the final product.
Lastly, the final directing nominee is Bong Joon Ho for his work on the film Parasite which surprised a lot of people. Greed, class discrimination and a mysterious interloper threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. Parasite was a hit that nobody expected to see this year. That just shows how well done it was, and how he ended up as a nominee.
