11 Oscar Nominees Crime Readers Will Love
Oscar nominations have just been announced, and there are a few contenders that might not ring any bells. Whether they were independent productions or released to a largely international audience, here are a few films (and shorts!) that a thriller lover like you might want to re-examine.
Anatomy of a Fall
It’s been called a legal drama thriller, straight-up. A writer tries to prove her innocence in court when her husband dies by falling from their secluded chalet. Their blind, eleven-year-old son is the only witness. The investigation reveals not only the details of his death, but the recesses of their tangled marriage. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book With Prejudice by Robin Peguero.
Nominated for:
Best Picture
Actress in a Leading Role – Sandra Hüller
Directing – Justine Triet
Film Editing – Laurent Sénéchal
Writing (Original Screenplay) – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
Poor Things
This one was my favorite of the films that I’ve seen this year, adapted from the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. I have described it as a feminist retelling of Frankenstein, where the monster goes on sexual walkabout, but the actual synopsis is more like this: when she’s brought back to life by a gentle mad scientist, Bella runs away to explore the world with a hot lawyer and unspools the story of her creation and her place in the world through increasingly thrilling measures. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book The Monsters by Dorothy and Thomas Hobbler.
Nominated for:
Best Picture
Actor in a Supporting Role – Mark Ruffalo
Actress in a Leading Role – Emma Stone
Cinematography – Robbie Ryan
Costume Design – Holly Waddington
Directing – Yorgos Lanthimos
Fim Editing – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Makeup and Hairstyling – Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
Music (Original Score) – Jerskin Fendrix
Production Design – James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration – Zsuzsa Mihalek
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Tony McNamara
El Conde
Claude Pinoche is 250 years old. He’s faked his death twice already: once, as a royalist French soldier during the French Revolution, he’s discovered as a vampire. He flees abroad and participates in the suppression of other revolutions until he ends up in Chile in 1935. There, he takes up the name of Augusto Pinochet and becomes the dictator until he undergoes investigation. Now, the count is losing his will to live. He’s ready to die. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising by Raymond A. Villareal.
Nominated for:
Cinematography (Edward Lachman)
To Kill a Tiger
This thrilling documentary follows Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India. The morning after a family wedding, his daughter is found hours after she’s gone missing, stumbling home after being assaulted in the woods by three men whom the family knows. The villagers demand the tried-and-true solution of making the girl marry one of her assaulters, and they try to force Ranjit to drop his charges. This story shows Ranjit in his largely unprecedented decision to support his daughter. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Asking for It by Kate Harding.
Nominated for:
Documentary Feature Film (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim)
Io Capitano
Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, try to escape poverty through a Homeric saga to Europe. Every country they encounter poses a new brutal challenge: bribing policemen to overlook a forged passport, jail time in Libya, indentured servitude, and cunning negotiations. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Gaslight by Femi Kayode.
Nominated for:
International Feature Film (Italy)
Society of the Snow
Based on the true story covered in Pable Verci’s book by the same name, this survival film thriller gives survivors accounts of a truly terrifying situation. In 1972, an Uruguayan rugby team charters an Air Force flight, which then crashes into a glacier in the heart of the Andes. The situation is dire, and they take some drastic measures in the hope that any of them might survive. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book After the Crash by Michel Bussi.
Nominated for:
International Film Feature (Spain)
The Teachers’ Lounge
Carla Nowak’s is a new teacher at this elementary school where theft runs rampant. The administration takes drastic measures to catch any culprits, and when Carla sets out to trap the thief herself, and does so successfully, she becomes trapped between the school system’s protocols and her own code of ethics, all while the classroom order disintegrates around her. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Confessions by Kanae Minato.
Nominated for:
International Film Feature (Germany)
The After
Dayo is a rideshare driver. After witnessing a violent crime, Dayo shuts himself off, bottling up all the grief he feels after the incident. He hears snippets of life going on from his backseat, and even though they spark emotions in him, they don’t help. Finally, he picks up a passenger who pushes him to confront his grief. Maybe just in time. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Livid by Patricia Cornwell.
Nominated for:
Short film (Live Action)
May December
Twenty-three years ago, Gracie Atherton-Yoo, was caught and convicted for statutory rape with a 13-year-old boy, George Yoo, her son’s schoolmate. After giving birth to his child in prison, and eventually being discharged from serving her time, Gracie marries Georgie. Now, Elizabeth Berry has come to town to interview both parties because she will be playing the role of Gracie in the film adaptation of their story. If that’s not compelling enough, the story’s gray moral area increases exponentially throughout. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross.
Nominated for:
Writing (Original Screenplay) – Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
Killers of the Flower Moon
I probably don’t have to tell you about this one since it’s been all over the media, but I couldn’t write a list of Oscar-nominated thrillers without including it. It’s based on the true story detailed in David Grann’s book by the same name. The Osage tribe who was relocated to Oklahoma was moved onto extremely rich land, and in the 1920s, a local political boss tries to steal the tribe’s newfound wealth by any means necessary. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Unreal City by Judith Nies.
Nominated for:
Best Picture
Actor in a Supporting Role – Robert De Niro
Actress in a Leading Role – Lily Gladstone
Cinematography – Rodrigo Prieto
Costume Design – Jacqueline West
Directing – Martin Scorsese
Film Editing – Thelma Schoonmaker
Music (Original Score)
Music (Original Song) – “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People),” Music and Lyric by Scott George
Production Design : Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
Oppenheimer
Again, there’s no way you haven’t heard of this summer blockbuster, but I couldn’t not include it. Here we have a biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s biography American Prometheus. If you enjoy this, we recommend the book Atomic Women by Roseanne Montillo.
Nominated for:
Best Picture
Actor in a Leading Role – Cillian Murphy
Actor in a Supporting Role – Robert Downey Jr.
Actress in a Supporting Role – Emily Blunt
Cinematography – Hoyte van Hoytema
Costume Design – Ellen Mirojnick
Directing – Christopher Nolan
Film Editing – Jennifer Lame
Makeup and Hairstyling – Luisa Abel
Music (Original Score) – Ludwig Göransson
Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
Sound – Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
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Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She hosts the podcast about women in true crime, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.