2025 Oscars: Your cheat sheet for the 10 best picture Academy Award nominees
Any seasoned awards watcher will tell you it’s been a particularly strange Oscars year with a raft of scandals (AI use! Resurfaced blackface video! Racist old tweets!) and a race without a clear frontrunner.
Even now, this close to the ceremony, there’s still a livewire tussle between sex worker comedy Anora and papal election drama Conclave for best picture, while the possibility of a spoiler remains very much a possibility.
If you haven’t watched all 10 best picture nominees (we don’t blame you, two of the films were only released in Australia three days ago) consider this your cheat sheet to get you through any Oscars chat or tipping on Monday.
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ANORA
What else has it been nominated for: Director, actress, supporting actor, original screenplay, editing
What other major awards has it won: Cannes Palme d’Or, Directors Guild, Producers Guild, Independent Spirit, Writers Guild original screenplay, BAFTA best actress
What’s it about: A New York sex worker elopes with a Russian oligarch’s son only for him to abscond when his furious parents demand they get an annulment.
Who’s in it: Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov, Mark Edelshteyn, Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan
Who’s the director: Sean Baker, an indie filmmaker committed to working outside the studio system. His previous works include The Florida Project, Red Rocket and Tangerine.
Is it any good: Anora is a perfect film. Intoxicating, seductive and full of verve, it also leans into beats of screwball comedy as Ani and the goons chase her runaway husband all over New York while its emotional ending packs a wallop.
5 stars
How to watch: Cinemas, digital rental
CONCLAVE
What else has it been nominated for: Actor, supporting actress, adapted screenplay, original score, editing, production design and costume design
What other major awards has it won: BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild ensemble cast, Critics’ Choice acting ensemble, Golden Globe screenplay
What’s it about: The college of cardinals are cloistered to elect a new pope.
Who’s in it: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow
Who’s the director: Edward Berger, who also made the 2022 German version of All Quiet on the Western Front.
Is it any good: Thrilling, pulpy and yet baroque, the film gets into the nitty gritty politicking of the process and is far more entertaining than you had any right to expect. It’s also beautifully shot and the fact it wasn’t nominated for a cinematography Oscar is a travesty.
4 stars
How to watch: Cinemas, digital rental
THE BRUTALIST
What else has it been nominated for: Director, actor, supporting actor, supporting actress, original screenplay, original score, cinematography, editing and production design
What other major awards has it won: BAFTA director and actor, Critics Choice actor, Golden Globe drama, director and drama actor, Venice Film Festival director
What’s it about: Set in the post-WWII period, a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor migrates to the US where he is recruited by a wealthy industrialist to design a monumental building.
Who’s in it: Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Alessandro Nivola and Raffey Cassidy
Who’s the director: Brady Corbet, who’s only 36 years old and has previously made two other independent films – The Childhood of a Leader, based on a Jean-Paul Sartre short story, and Vox Lux with Natalie Portman.
Is it any good: The Brutalist is ambitious, grand filmmaking in the mould of old-school Hollywood. The first half of the three-and-a-half hour epic is perfect while the back half falters, but it certainly has a lot to say about trauma and the false promises of the American dream.
4 stars
How to watch: Cinemas
I’M STILL HERE
What else has it been nominated for: Actress, international feature
What other major awards has it won: Golden Globe drama actress, Goya Spanish-language foreign film, Venice Film Festival screenplay
What’s it about: Based on a true story, it tells the story of Eunice Paiva whose husband was murdered during the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Who’s in it: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Valentina Herszage and Luiza Kosovski
Who’s the director: Walter Salles, one of Brazil’s most acclaimed filmmakers. He’d previously directed Central Station, which was nominated for two Oscars including best actress for Fernanda Montenegro, who is Torres’ mother.
Is it any good: I’m Still Here is an accomplished piece of cinema that reminds audiences the human cost of autocratic political regimes, a timely punch. But it’s really Torres’ restrained performance, full of unexpressed rage and grief that has everyone talking.
How to watch: Cinemas
4 stars
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
What else has it been nominated for: Director, actor, supporting actor, supporting actress, adapted screenplay, sound and costume design
What other major awards has it won: Screen Actors Guild lead actor
What’s it about: A Complete Unknown is a biopic of Bob Dylan’s early years up until his switch from folk to electric during the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Who’s in it: Timothee Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton and Elle Fanning
Who’s the director: James Mangold, who is dad’s favourite filmmaker even if they don’t know his name yet. Mangold’s filmography includes Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Ford vs Ferrari and Logan.
Is it any good: Like many musical biopics, Chalamet’s performance is better than the film itself, which can be rote and very much of its genre. It also has some structural issues. But all the performances are great, the music is well deployed and it generally captures Dylan’s arrogance and genius as soon through the eyes of those around him.
3.5 stars
How to watch: Cinemas
WICKED
What else has it been nominated for: Actress, supporting actress, costume design, editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, original score, sound and visual effects
What other major awards has it won: BAFTA costume design and production design, Critics Choice director, costume and production design
What’s it about: A revisionist origin story about the Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West and how she was cast as a villain.
Who’s in it: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Dinklage
Who’s the director: Jon M. Chu, who is best known for directing Crazy Rich Asians but has an extensive history with musical, dance and concert movies including In the Heights, Step Up 2: The Streets and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.
Is it any good: Full of intense emotions, big moments and theatre kid energy, the screen adaptation of Wicked has more scope than the stage production. There’s a lot of dynamism in its musical numbers and Erivo’s tenacious performance of the show-stopping “Defying Gravity” will give you goosebumps.
3.5 stars
How to watch: Cinemas, digital rental
DUNE: PART TWO
What else has it been nominated for: Cinematography, production design, sound and visual effects
What other major awards has it won: BAFTA sound and visual effects, Critics Choice visual effects
What’s it about: Part two of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi tale about a young man fulfilling his manipulated destiny as a false messiah in an interplanetary war for power.
Who’s in it: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Josh Brolin
Who’s the director: Denis Villeneuve, a French-Canadian auteur who has established himself as the most exciting sci-fi director of this generation. His other works include Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Sicario.
Is it any good: An operatic saga of ambition, religious fervour, politics, revenge and love, Dune: Part Two has thrills and spectacle and absolutely delivers on filmmaking craft. It’s also bigger and more confident than the more contemplative part one.
3.5 stars
How to watch: Netflix, Binge and digital rental
NICKEL BOYS
What else has it been nominated for: Adapted screenplay
What other major awards has it won: Independent Spirit cinematography, Writers Guild adapted screenplay
What’s it about: Adapted from Colson Whitehead’s novel, the film tells the story of a young Black boy in the segregated American south in 1962 as he’s sent to a reform school.
Who’s in it: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Daveed Diggs and Fred Hechinger
Who’s the director: RaMell Ross, a first-time narrative feature director whose 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, about African Americans in Alabama, won the doco jury prize at Sundance.
Is it any good: With a strong script and perspective about injustice, Nickel Boys is an empathy machine, using an innovative technique in which it films everything from the point-of-view of its characters so that the viewer sees, hears and even feels everything they do. Deeply humanist.
3.5 stars
How to watch: Prime Video
EMILIA PEREZ
What else has it been nominated for: Director, actress, supporting actress, international feature, adapted screenplay, editing, sound, cinematography, make-up and hairstyling, original score and original song
What other major awards has it won: Cesar, BAFTA film not in the English language, supporting actress, Cannes actress, Critics Choice foreign language film, supporting actress, Golden Globe musical or comedy film, non-English language film, supporting actress, Goya European film, Screen Actors Guild supporting actress
What’s it about: The Spanish-language musical is about a Mexican drug cartel boss who, with the help of an overlooked lawyer, transitions to be a woman and starts a foundation to help the relatives of the victims of gang violence.
Who’s in it: Karla Sofia Gascon, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramirez
Who’s the director: Jacques Audiard, a French auteur who doesn’t actually speak Spanish. His previous films include the Palme d’Or-winning Dheepan, A Prophet and The Sisters Brothers.
Is it any good: Likely the most divisive film on the list, Emilia Perez has its ardent fans who love its heady, out-there musical sequences as well as a superb performance from Saldana, but also its detractors who take issue with its cultural inauthenticity (despite its Mexican setting, it was made in France and features no significant Mexican creatives) and what some have argued is a regressive portrayal of transgender people.
3 stars
How to watch: Cinemas, digital rental from March 4
THE SUBSTANCE
What else has it been nominated for: Director, actress, original screenplay, make-up and hairstyling
What other major awards has it won: Screen Actors Guild actress, Cannes screenplay, Golden Globe musical or comedy actress, Critics Choice actress, screenplay, BAFTA make-up and hair
What’s it about: An ageing actor decides to inject a mysterious goo which gives birth to a younger version of herself and the two must share living in a week-on-week-off arrangement.
Who’s in it: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid
Who’s the director: Coralie Fargeat, a French filmmaker whose only previous feature, Revenge, is about a young woman seeking vengeance against her abusers after she is raped and left for dead.
Is it any good: The Substance certainly has its fans but the its parade of full-on grotesque body horror is definitely not for everyone. Its primary tactic is shock and awe as it beats the audience into submission with its capital F feminist message about body shame, both internalised and from others, but is actually shallow, prosaic and lacks substance (pun intended). But Moore’s performance is a career-best.
2.5 stars
How to watch: Stan, digital rental
The Oscars will be broadcast on Monday, March 3 at 11am AEDT on Channel 7 and 7plus
