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11 Oscar Nominees Crime Readers Will Love

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lo Capitano (2023)

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

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.