From ‘Anora’ to ‘Wicked,’ Best Picture Hopefuls Race Toward the Oscars Finish Line

variety.com:

Academy Awards are still months away but the best picture landscape is already taking shape. Some question marks remain — for example, both “Nosferatu” and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” have yet to be widely seen.

And the staying power of smaller indies like “A Real Pain” and “The Nickel Boys” has yet to be tested. Critical attention could boost films like “I’m Still Here” and “Hard Truths.” And it’s been a great year for animation with films like “Inside Out 2” and “The Wild Robot” — can they break the bias into the lead race?

While we’ll have to wait a bit longer for answers, here’s a look at some of the films that are generating the most discussion to take home the top prize in March. AnoraNeon Anchored by Mikey Madison’s force-of-nature performance in the title role, Sean Baker’s tale of a young stripper’s pursuit of the ultimate payoff examines the rewards, and more vividly, the risks of defining your world in transactional terms.

Trying to stake a claim in a category seldom marked by the kind of chaos Baker’s film chronicles is obviously risky, but that’s also what makes it an intriguing choice: above all else, it’s unpredictable.