“Oh, all those nice toilets!” You decide who should win the Oscars

Anyone remember the last Oscars? No? Okay, Lady Gaga showed up without makeup, Hugh Grant described himself as having a “scrotum” and Tom Cruise wasn’t there, although “Top Gun: Maverick” won something for already racing over a cliff while filming “Mission Impossible 8 ‘. had to.

A total of seven Oscars went to the completely insane (the tax authorities in the form of Jamie Lee Curtis were to blame!) family horror ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ with Michelle Yeoh and a completely distraught Ke Huy Quan. ‘Nothing New in the West’ won four more Oscars. Nothing went to the much nominated “The Banshees of Inisherin”, “The Fabelmans” and “Tár”.

And this year? It’s going to be big! Rarely have so many films with such a large audience been nominated at the same time. So both sides of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. And such extraordinary works as “The Zone of Interest”, “Poor Things” and “Anatomie d’une chute”. And interpersonally moving things like “Killers of the Flower Moon”, “Past Lives” and “The Holdovers”. A great vintage. The show itself is largely – if the trailer is to be believed – a love letter to ‘Everything Everywhere Barbieland’.

And here are our predictions. And your chance to play a bit of Academy too.

“Oppenheimer” wins and wins and wins, winning 305 awards so far, coming up empty-handed 381 more times, winning best picture at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critics Choice Awards and more. A real success. With 518,000 visitors (200,000 behind “Barbie”) in Switzerland, it is also a crowd favorite here. Over the past twenty years, extremely popular films have won the main category several times. In 2019 there was the “Green Book” (364,000 entries in Switzerland), in 2011 “The King’s Speech” (437,000 entries), in 2009 “Slumdog Millionaire” (467,000 entries) and in 2004 the third “The Lord of the Rings” share with a whopping 921,000 entries.

Assuming the Academy agrees not to award the top two awards to “Oppenheimer” because he is up for an acting Oscar or two, the field is wide open. Except Scorsese – he’s made a good, historically important and moving film with a brilliant cast, but artistically he’s far behind the others. If the Academy had any real balls, it would have nominated Queen Greta Gerwig for “Barbie” instead. In fact, besides Nolan, the chances are probably best for France’s Justine Triet; the American juries love her, her “Anatomie d’une chute” and its star Sandra Hülser.

Margot Robbie belongs on this list, and no goat manipulated by Emma Stone in ‘Poor Things’ can lick that away. You would actually want to give the statue to each of the five nominees, but the chance is of course that Emma Stone or Lily Gladstone will receive it.

Stone plays Bella Baxter, a Frankensteinian creation in a Victorian steampunk vision, completely unleashed, without any inhibition, convention or shame. Gladstone, on the other hand, gives her Mollie, a member of the Osage community in Oklahoma who became wealthy through oil, dignity, a calm sensuality and deep, melancholic resignation. She would also be the first indigenous actress to win an Oscar. Whether Stone or Glassstone, both are incredibly worth seeing. But that also applies to the German Sandra Hülser.

In any case, Paul Mescal is clearly in favor of Hülser, who in addition to “Anatomie d’une chute” can also be seen in “The Zone of Interest”, which was also nominated.

In this category it’s clearer than ever: there can’t be anyone else than Cillian Murphy in the role of atomic bomb inventor Robert Oppenheimer, that’s all. There are rumors that Paul Giamatti as the grumpy boarding school teacher, who has to teach others that he actually has a heart of gold and is a kind soul, also has a chance. But that would be downright unfair.

“Barbie” will not win the Oscar for Best Picture. But definitely one for best song – either “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson or “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish. But since Eilish has already won an Oscar for her Bond song ‘No Time to Die’, the Ronson/Ryan Gosling duo’s chances are more than intact. There probably won’t be any more Oscars for the most successful and beloved film of 2023.

America Ferrera would have deserved it a thousand times over just for her captivating monologue. Or – even though we don’t want to win any more awards at “Oppenheimer” – the magnificently mature Emily Blunt as Mrs. Oppenheimer. The Oscar in this category, like all other awards this season, goes to Da’Vine Joy Randolph – which is true, she is by far the best thing about ‘The Holdovers’ and gives the feel-good film with a lot of emphasis on ‘feeling’ and ‘good ‘ the necessary laconic substantiation. But America Ferrera would be really great…

Okay, Mark Ruffalo would also be a viable alternative. But the bets are of course on Robert Downey Jr., who Nolan finally trusts on “Oppenheimer” to do something more serious and reserved than the intelligent slapstick the actor usually routinely delivers. For Nolan, he plays Oppenheimer’s toughest enemy, the head of the Atomic Energy Agency, Lewis Strauss, who inflicts on Oppenheimer all the deceit of the McCarthy era. An acting dream. But so does Ryan Gosling as Ken. What a comic delight.

Jonathan Glazer’s chilling Auschwitz horror “The Zone of Interest” is perhaps the most important film currently in theaters. In fact, only he can win the ‘International Film’ category. If it were up to our Patrick Toggweiler (well, he hasn’t seen Glazer yet, but loves his film ‘Under the Skin’ with Scarlett Johansson as a man-killing alien in Scotland), the winner would be Wim Wenders’ film. meditation on a Japanese toilet.Cleaner in “Perfect Days”. Quote Toggi: “Oh, just all those beautiful toilet models!”

It is quite possible that, in addition to ‘Barbie’, ‘Poor Things’ will also be one of the big losers at this year’s Oscars. Robbie Ryan does fantastic and imaginative work in ‘Poor Things’, but there is only one Hoyte van Hoytema. The Dutchman, who was born in Horgen in 1971, first came to our attention in 2008 with the special Swedish vampire film ‘Låt den rätte komma in’ by Tomas Alfredson. And since ‘Interstellar’ he has been the man with the right eye for Christopher Nolan’s epic visions.

The 39-year-old Swede Ludwig Göransson won an Oscar in 2019 for the music of ‘Black Panther’. He also produced hits for Alicia Keys and Rihanna and has collaborated with Christopher Nolan since “Tenet.” He is also one of the unstoppable “Oppenheimer” prize winners.

Of course, John Williams (92) always says, Spielberg’s resident composer has been nominated almost every year since 1968, he has won an Oscar five times, but not another 49 times, he is the only record holder among film composers. Unfortunately, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is an unmitigated disaster that even Williams won’t be able to save.

The question is whether the Academy will not switch to the 29-year-old Brit Jerskin Fendrix and his interestingly biting ‘Poor Things’ score – Fendrix immediately received a nomination with his film music debut and will soon be one of the big names in the film world. Company.

The 96th Oscars ceremony will take place on the night of March 10 to 11. The award show with presenter Jimmy Kimmel now starts an hour earlier than usual, namely at 1 a.m. Can be seen on SRF 2 or Pro7. Of course we are there for you.