‘You’ll believe a radioactive dinosaur can shoot fire’: readers’ picks for the 2024 Oscars
‘She made every scene she was in richer’
My pick for best supporting actress is Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers. Her performance alone elevated that film above all of Alexander Payne’s other remarkable films. As a Black woman actor playing a devastated single mother who’s just lost her only son in the Vietnam war, she was the tuning fork for a film that would have otherwise just been another enjoyable poke at the problems of rich, privileged people. She made every scene she was in richer, more meaningful, more real. She deserves that Oscar. Andrea Brunholzl, 58, Costa Mesa, California, US
‘Frank about the cannibalism, without sensationalising it’
I strongly believe that Society of the Snow deserves the Academy Award for best international film. It’s a beautiful movie about the strength of the bond among the young men on the plane that kept them going. The movie was perfect to me, so touching and gripping. And it manages to be frank about the infamous cannibalism without being disgusting or sensationalising it. In fact, it intensified my respect for the young men. Edna Schwartz, Brooklyn, New York
‘Murphy was the class act. Then along comes Downey Jr’
Robert Downey Jr for Oppenheimer. And why? Cillian Murphy was the class act we were transfixed with, with those blue eyes, glacial cheekbones. Trying to figure out who this complex character Oppenheimer really was. Then along comes Downey Jr. This onion of a character. Boring, plain, innocuous and peripheral. But layer by layer he is peeled, before he is finally open on the chopping board, revealed as a conniving manipulator behind the scenes. His performance as a person of constrained anger and warped envy, with his face twisting with ire, it is a revelation. Anonymous, 61, Luton
‘Compelling even while delivering clunky dialogue’
Colman Domingo is my choice for best actor in Rustin. I wasn’t familiar with him prior to watching the film, which I wanted to see primarily because Rustin was a fascinating person. What I hadn’t anticipated was being blown away by the sheer magnetism, charisma and lived experience Domingo brought to the role. I don’t think it is a great film, unfortunately, but he was utterly believable and compelling even while delivering some quite clunky dialogue. There are other good actors in the film, but they were far less believable. They seemed to be in another “worthy” film, whereas he was acting his way out of such a straitjacket. I’m going to seek out his other films. Cindy Stubbs, Glasgow
‘Why have more people not heard of it?’
Nimona, for best animated feature.This was my top film of last year – an absolute smasher of a script, incredible world-building and a story that embraces tolerance, love and honesty. The animation is stunning and voice cast nailed it. Released on Netflix and nominated for loads of awards - why have more people not seen or heard of it? Suse, 43, Epping
‘I was so happy to see her finally recognised’
I would love to see Danielle Brooks win best supporting actress. I know she’s considered the long shot in her category and The Color Purple hasn’t been nominated for anything else, but she was an absolute star in Orange Is the New Black for years, and I always wanted to see her win something for that. Combining comedy skills and heartbreaking emotional work, she really was the heart of that show. I was so happy to see her finally recognised for such a huge individual award this year. Mary, 24, North East
‘Godzilla Minus One deserved more nominations’
Godzilla Minus One deserves the best visual effects Oscar. What they achieved is exceptional, and not only considering the small budget. The first atomic breath scene ironically took my breath away. And in the final act, I kept asking myself, how did they do this? Did they literally film naval warfare with a monster in the ocean? To quote Superman’s tagline, you will believe a radioactive dinosaur can shoot fire. Quite frankly, I do believe Godzilla Minus One deserved more nominations, including best original score (the most ambitious music I heard this year), best sound and, why not, even best director and best picture! But being nominated is already a victory. Speaking of other films, Koji Yakusho deserved at least a nomination for his role in Perfect Days, one of this year’s best performances. Marcello Seminara, 29, London
‘I was floored by Sandra Hüller’
I’ve barely left the inside of a cinema this past year. As incredible as Lily Gladstone was in Killers of the Flower Moon, and as absurd as Emma Stone was in Poor Things, I was floored by Sandra Hüller’s performance in Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall). As someone working internationally, I’m a sucker for communication across languages and cultures. It’s used fascinatingly as a theme in the movie, and Hüller’s performance, in her second and THIRD languages, adds an incredible dimension to the film that I think few working actors today could offer. The struggles to translate ideas while taking the stand, legally not being able to speak to her son in English for a year, and English as a compromise between her and her husband – all of it added to the uncertainty and subtlety of this twisty yet sincere film. Eimear, 25, Brussels
‘The best film only appears in two categories’
Never mind the Barbie snub furore – it has eight nominations! – the best film of the year only appears in a measly two categories. Past Lives is a beautiful, subtle, heart-breaking and soulaffirming movie with fantastic performances from little-known actors. It deserves to win both best picture and best original screenplay, especially as it’s writer and director Celine Song’s first ever(!) film. Richard Mason, 38, Edinburgh
‘Impossible to look away from’
My best director is Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon.When I saw this film’s nearly three-and-a-half hour run time, I admit I was worried. But from its first scene I realised what a treat I was in for. From start to finish, Scorsese’s epic depicting the horrors faced by the Osage nation is as expertly made as it is brilliantly entertaining. This terrifying car crash of a story is impossible to look away from. The performances are electric, especially Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart, who surely has to be the character of the year. The cherry on top was Scorsese himself delivering the film’s wrap-up, in a strange behind the scenes radio show broadcast scene featuring Jack White. Bravo. Most directors would have just used some text on screen. This is a true living master who has only improved with age as a director. Tom Crozier, 27, Huddersfield
a masterclass in dancefloor freedom. Mixing syncopated uptempo kuduro rhythms with the rustle of shakers, sweeping sirens and the harsh buzz of staccato synths, these are compositions effervescent with joy. And there is more to come: Dreijer is now following up the EP with another 12-inch record of electronic experimentation, Coral: three tracks of shuddering basslines, intricate percussion and meditative, ambient harmony.
What changed? “I eventually became more OK with who I am and didn’t want to hide under different pseudonyms,” he says. “I do a lot less overthinking, since I used to believe that I had to politicise everything, to make music a reflection of my activism, but I separate it now. I’m just somebody who makes music and that’s it.”
Indeed, the Knife ensured that the rare interviews they gave touched on topics concerning the patriarchy and gender disparity, while onstage they were equally vocal, labelling their final show Post-Colonial Gender Politics Come First, Music Comes Second. Even last year, Dreijer released a collaborative album with American producer Mount Sims, Souvenir, featuring material written in 2008 that repurposed a Swedish folk song to counter the Swedish far-right political movement’s aim of making folk culture a nationalist symbol. “There were hundreds of things we wanted to fit into that project,” he laughs.
Even if his current music is less explicit in its intention, it is no less political. “It’s embracing the fact that music gives us energy to overcome,” Dreijer says, “and perhaps that can be enough.” Sweden’s current government comprises a right-wing bloc featuring far-right party Sweden Democrats, yet the atmosphere on the ground is apathetic, says Dreijer, raising his eyebrows behind his glasses. “People demonstrate here much less since the last election when the fascist party came into government. It’s a very strange situation. Every Saturday there has been a Palestine demonstration that I’ve gone to but otherwise it’s nothing compared to the activity I grew up with.”
Raised in a politically engaged, leftwing family, Dreijer got his start in music as a teenager playing saxophone with his father in the local Gothenburg communist band. “We would play all kinds of jazz,” he says. “That jazz way of thinking, the freedom and confidence to be a bit outside the box, has stuck with me when it comes to making songs.”
Following a brief stint as a kindergarten teacher and hobbying DJ and beatmaker, by the late 90s Dreijer’s work with Karin as the Knife had become a full-time pursuit. The group released four albums, culminating in 2013’s Shaking the Habitual, which addressed everything from gender privilege to extreme wealth and the environmental impacts of fracking, the apex of his politicised output. The group disbanded the following year. (“We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun,” Karin said in their final interview.) In the decade since, Karin has largely focused on their solo alias Fever Ray, combining theatrical synth-pop with vocal acrobatics across three records.
Today, Dreijer’s Stockholm studio shares an adjoining wall with Karin’s and the pair see each other regularly. “We’ve had the great privilege to be able to do different things rather than just being stuck with the Knife,” he says of their enduring relationship. “That’s allowed us to still work together so well.” Dreijer co-produced several tracks on Karin’s latest album as Fever Ray, 2023’s Radical Romantics, and he is also planning several more solo releases for 2024, including a collaborative EP with Colombian percussionist Diva Cruz, who plays in the Fever Ray band, and a debut LP.
It seems that now he has embraced his name, Dreijer has plenty more to say through his ebullient tracks. “I’m allowing myself to have fun with the music and that’s enough,” he says. “It’s been a long journey but that was the only way.”
• Coral is out now on AD 93